--- title: "If Levi-Strauss met Langacker: Constructional foundations of cultural patterns" author: "Dominik Lukeš, @techczech, http://metaphorhacker.net" outline_version: 2 auto_title_slide: false auto_thanks_slide: false --- ## If Levi-Strauss met Langacker: Constructional foundations of cultural patterns {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-001} {title} Dominik Lukeš @techczech [http://metaphorhacker.net](http://metaphorhacker.net) ## Preliminaries {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-002} ### Preliminaries {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-003} {notitle} **Can culture be taught the same way that language can?** Culture is more like language than we assume in that language is more like culture than we assume. ### Preliminaries {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-004} {notitle} ![Portraits and labels compare Jakobson’s voiced / unvoiced distinction with Lévi-Strauss’s cooked / raw distinction.](assets/pages/page-04.png) - Jakobson - **voiced / unvoiced** - **cooked / raw** - Lévi-Strauss ### Preliminaries {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-005} {notitle} > “I saw a guy at a party wearing a leather jacket and I thought, ‘That is cool.’ But then I saw another guy wearing a leather vest and I thought, ‘That is not cool’. Then I figured it out: ‘Cool’ is all about leather sleeves.” > > – Demetri Martin ### Preliminaries {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-006} {notitle} ![Two portraits accompany the labels Langacker, construction inventory, Levi-Strauss and question marks.](assets/pages/page-06.png) - Langacker - **construction inventory** - **??????** - Levi-Strauss ### Preliminaries {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-007} {notitle} **Caveat** We need more than just using terms from one field to label phenomena in another without providing a benefit. ## (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-008} ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-009} {notitle} ![Book cover: Radical Construction Grammar: Syntactic Theory in Typological Perspective, William Croft, Oxford.](assets/media/img-3f51c4fc77cf61c2.jpeg) ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-010} {notitle} **Language** = Constructions (meaning/form pairs) + Integration (blending) ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-011} {notitle} - Language is a structured **inventory** of symbolic units - Units are best described as **constructions** linking form and meaning - Formal and semantic compositionality is the process of conceptual **integration** ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-012} {notitle} Everything we know as words and rules are just **constructions**. ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-013} {notitle} Knowledge of linguistic units is the **same kind of knowledge as other kinds of knowledge** (encyclopedic) and exhibits the same kinds of organizational, cognitive and social properties (incl. basic-level hierarchies, prototype category effects, underspecification, redundancy, conventionalization, culture/language-specificity, explication, negotiation) ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-014} {notitle} Knowledge is structured by frames (cognitive models). (See talk on Frames.) ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-015} {notitle} **conceptual integration** is constrained, underspecified, opportunistic, dynamic, conventionalized ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-016} {notitle} **Meaning** of constructions can be very **rich** (encyclopedic/lexical – ‘horse’) or very **schematic** (grammatical ‘N’, ‘N+pl’) ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-017} {notitle} | meaning | / dog / | | --- | --- | | form | [ d ɔ g ] | ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-018} {notitle} | / dog / | / plural s/z/ɪz / | | --- | --- | | [ d ɔ g ] | [ z ] | ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-019} {notitle} ![Six photographs of dogs on boats or at the wheel surround the pairs / dogs / above d ɔ g z and / sail / above s aɪ l, each pair separated by a horizontal line.](assets/pages/page-19.png) | / dogs / | / sail / | | --- | --- | | [ d ɔ g z ] | [ s aɪ l ] | ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-020} {notitle} Constructions are of different **degrees of schematicity** (e.g. style is a construction) and their working is available for introspection to various degrees (cf. Talmy) ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-021} {notitle} - ***because*** **construction** - *meaning:* - profile logical cause in the discourse space; - activate logical prosody of causation - *form:* [because] clause-initial (stressed) position + collocational patterns ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-022} {notitle} - **English causal cohesive harmony construction** - *meaning:* profile necessary (logical) causal coherence links through connectives *plus* direction and/or semantic prosody of logical inference - *form:* zero, for, because, so, therefore, thus, which is why, then *plus* English elegant variation ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-023} {notitle} - ***introduction*** **construction** - *meaning:* - identify genre; activate conceptual spaces for blending; hypostasize entrenched blends and activate gaps; establish credibility of author - *form:* - local grammars of introduction: opening statement, definition, anecdote (it is said, when I), analogy (just like), name-drop (it is Lakoff’s claim), statement of generality (language is one of the most complex systems), statement of agreement (the concensus is) ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-024} {notitle} Construction inventory (Croft and Cruse 2004) ![Three construction diagrams appear. The first links constructions to word, NP VP and Quant N boxes, with a grammar arrow. The second links Sbj IntrVerb and Sbj Aux-n’t Verb to “I didn’t sleep”. The third branches from Clause through Sbj IntrVerb and Sbj TrVerb Obj to examples including Sbj sleep, Sbj run, Sbj kiss Obj, Sbj kick the bucket and Sbj kick the habit.](assets/pages/page-24.png) ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-025} {notitle} Constructions are organized in a **patterned inventory** that is subject to both collective convergence and individual divergence. ### (Radical) Constructional view of language {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-026} {notitle} The inventory is collectively **negotiated** both implicitly through imitation and explicitly. ## Culture as inventory of constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-027} ### Culture as inventory of constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-028} {notitle} Behaviours, beliefs, social hierarchies, forms of speech = patterned **inventory of form / meaning pairs** ### Culture as inventory of constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-029} {notitle} Culture cannot be summarized by general principles. There are regularities and patterns of motivation but no determination. ## Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-030} ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-031} {notitle} ![An open palm has a smiling face drawn on it.](assets/media/img-5fc5b24a51a2e565.png) ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-032} {notitle} ![A kitten with narrowed eyes and a smiling baby accompany the question “The universal smile?”.](assets/pages/page-32.png) The universal smile? ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-033} {notitle} ![A photograph shows a shopkeeper and customers across a shop counter, with the caption “Russian shopkeepers should be more friendly”.](assets/media/img-cf269c06622a869c.jpeg) Russian shopkeepers should be more friendly ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-034} {notitle} ![A photograph of Hillary Clinton smiling broadly accompanies the caption “Americans are insincere”.](assets/media/img-4aeb3e8dcc7b942c.jpeg) Americans are insincere ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-035} {notitle} SMILE - Person you know - Express happiness - Confirm emotional relationship ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-036} {notitle} SMILE - Person you meet - Express general connection/acknowledgement ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-037} {notitle} IMAGES OF SMILE / SAYINGS ABOUT SMILING / … - Smiling means friendliness - Smiling is better when sincere - More people should smile - … ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-038} {notitle} Collectivist / Individualist cultures (Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 1983) [http://geert-hofstede.com/dimensions.html](http://geert-hofstede.com/dimensions.html) ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-039} {notitle} **Individualist** > “a loosely-knit social framework in which individuals are expected to take care of themselves and their immediate families only” ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-040} {notitle} **Collectivist** > “a tightly-knit framework in society in which individuals can expect their relatives or members of a particular in-group to look after them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty” ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-041} {notitle} ![A grouped bar chart compares United States, Russia and China across PDI, IDV, MAS, UAI and LTO. The IDV group is outlined: United States 91, Russia 39, China 20. Source printed on the slide: geert-hofstede.com/countries.html.](assets/media/img-9225dfbb5214efde.png) [http://geert-hofstede.com/countries.html](http://geert-hofstede.com/countries.html) ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-042} {notitle} **United States** - Chamber of Commerce - Teams, organizations, etc. - “No ‘I’ in team” - “Friends” ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-043} {notitle} **China / Russia** - Local government individualistic - Individuals in teams - Family is the individual - “Friends” ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-044} {notitle} ![Book cover: Understanding Cultures Through Their Key Words: English, Russian, Polish, German, and Japanese, Anna Wierzbicka. The slide labels it Wierzbicka, 1997.](assets/media/img-00d1e91e8a2e9420.png) Wierzbicka 1997 ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-045} {notitle} > “I hate the prostitution of the word friendship to signify modish and worldly alliances.” (Emerson cited by Wierzbicka, p. 48) ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-046} {notitle} > “By contrast, the modern expression *close friend* is not meant to have the same range of referents as the word *friend*; it is indeed intended to stand for a different category of people, linked to the target person by a different kind of relationship.” > > Wierzbicka, p. 49 ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-047} {notitle} FRIEND (forms) FRIEND (meanings) ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-048} {notitle} > “I'll be there for you > > When the rain starts to pour > > I'll be there for you > > Like I've been there before > > I'll be there for you > > 'Cuz you're there for me too...” > *“V nouzi poznáš přítele.”* Friendship is important Czech friend, American friend ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-049} {notitle} “How much money do you make now?” Knowledge of earnings of a person Czech friend, American spouse, Albanian acquaintance ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-050} {notitle} ![Book cover: The Little Czech and the Great Czech Nation: National Identity and the Post-Communist Social Transformation. The slide labels it Ladislav Holý, 1996.](assets/media/img-909e3b9745838e92.png) Ladislav Holý 1996 ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-051} {notitle} ![A scanned table titled “Traits ascribed by Czechs to themselves (percentages), 1990 and 1992” groups negative and positive traits into two year columns.](assets/media/img-7bb424c877a4d688.png) ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-052} {notitle} > “ [Czechs] see themselves as petty-minded, intellectually limited, and mediocre, and yet consider the Czech nation highly cultured and well educated. The **coexistence of the two images** poses constant dilemmas.” (p. 77) ### Examples of cultural constructions {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-053} {notitle} Little England > “Little Englander is also, colloquially speaking, an [epithet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epithet) applied in criticisms of [English people](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_people) who are regarded as[xenophobic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophobia) and/or overly [nationalistic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalistic) and are often accused of being "ignorant" and "boorish".” [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Englander](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Englander) ## Conclusion {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-054} ### Conclusion {id=pptx-849b276cc2cf-055} {notitle} Non-reductionist view of culture is possible. Research needs to focus on **form/meaning pairings of different generality** not the identification of general principles.