According to UNESCO (1983), Languages are human kind’s principle tools for interacting and for expressing ideas, emotions, knowledge, memories and values. Languages are also primary vehicles of cultural expressions and intangible cultural heritage, essential to the identity of individuals and groups.
According to the Oxford Dictionary language is the word and the way of speaking, writing etc usually connected with a particular group of people. A language of a person is the identity of that person. For a group of people, a language is a tool by which information that is precise is transferred from one person to another through the use of communication.
Culture on the other hand, comes from the Latin word “cultura” stemming from ‘colere” meaning “to cultivate” the word “culture” is most used commonly in three basic sense i.e. excellence in taste, in the fine arts and humanities.
Another definition of culture according to the internet is an integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behaviour that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning. It is the set of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group.
According to Devito (2000), cultures refers to the relatively specialized lifestyle of a people consisting of their values, beliefs, artifacts, ways of behaving and ways of communication.
Culture is transmitted from one generation to another through enculturation, the process by which you learn the culture into which you are born. Parents, peers, groups, schools, religious institutions and government agencies are the main teachers of culture. The way a person communicates, is as a result of the person’s culture. Language is the keynote of culture. Without language, culture does not exist. Language gives access to the social experience and accumulated knowledge of generations that have gone before, and projects into the future. It is through language that we become cultured and thus fully human. It is the physics and chemistry of culture including the potential and kinetic energies in power terms.
Language and culture are in constant interaction. Culture influences the structures and use of language and in turn language can influence cultural interpretations of reality. Language is the communication tool of culture. It is the documentary confirmation of culture.
In the Yoruba language, Yoruba language is the core communication of Yoruba culture it is an asset over and above the colonially inherited English language. It helps the Yoruba group to speak into one’s vision, mission and programme in the Histo-philosophy of Omo Oduduwa. (Aja Akpuru – Aja (2008).
Culture is a network of meaning embedded in symbols which people communicate, perpetuate and stretch their language concerning their attitude towards life. Through language, the people’s culture is known Goertz (1975).
Language is a cultural tool for the easy identification of a people and should be allowed to be learnt from birth to adulthood for the promotion of a people’s culture and tradition (Ogum, 2008). The English language in Nigeria is threatening other indigenous language because it is the official language of communication. He says:
Proffering solutions to the realization of the dream in studying our indigenous languages, he said there is the need to recognize the fact that teachers should be trained sufficiently to take care of the teaching of our children using well developed orthographies of the local language.
Fishman (1996) states that a language long associated with the culture is best able and most exactly, most richly with appropriate overtone relay the concerns, artifacts, values and interests of that people.
The Sapir – Whorf hypothesis (SWH) posits that a particular language nature influence the habitual thought of its speakers. That is different language patterns yield different patterns of thought.
Also the term cultural relation is a principle that an individual human’s beliefs and activities should be understood interims of his or her culture.
The language and culture of a people cannot be treated separately. It has to be understood adequately in order that the real issue which is how to use our indigenous language to preserve our cultural values would be understood adequately
According to the Oxford Dictionary language is the word and the way of speaking, writing etc usually connected with a particular group of people. A language of a person is the identity of that person. For a group of people, a language is a tool by which information that is precise is transferred from one person to another through the use of communication.
Culture on the other hand, comes from the Latin word “cultura” stemming from ‘colere” meaning “to cultivate” the word “culture” is most used commonly in three basic sense i.e. excellence in taste, in the fine arts and humanities.
Another definition of culture according to the internet is an integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behaviour that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning. It is the set of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group.
According to Devito (2000), cultures refers to the relatively specialized lifestyle of a people consisting of their values, beliefs, artifacts, ways of behaving and ways of communication.
Culture is transmitted from one generation to another through enculturation, the process by which you learn the culture into which you are born. Parents, peers, groups, schools, religious institutions and government agencies are the main teachers of culture. The way a person communicates, is as a result of the person’s culture. Language is the keynote of culture. Without language, culture does not exist. Language gives access to the social experience and accumulated knowledge of generations that have gone before, and projects into the future. It is through language that we become cultured and thus fully human. It is the physics and chemistry of culture including the potential and kinetic energies in power terms.
Language and culture are in constant interaction. Culture influences the structures and use of language and in turn language can influence cultural interpretations of reality. Language is the communication tool of culture. It is the documentary confirmation of culture.
In the Yoruba language, Yoruba language is the core communication of Yoruba culture it is an asset over and above the colonially inherited English language. It helps the Yoruba group to speak into one’s vision, mission and programme in the Histo-philosophy of Omo Oduduwa. (Aja Akpuru – Aja (2008).
Culture is a network of meaning embedded in symbols which people communicate, perpetuate and stretch their language concerning their attitude towards life. Through language, the people’s culture is known Goertz (1975).
Language is a cultural tool for the easy identification of a people and should be allowed to be learnt from birth to adulthood for the promotion of a people’s culture and tradition (Ogum, 2008). The English language in Nigeria is threatening other indigenous language because it is the official language of communication. He says:
Virtually, every body in every circumstance tries to accommodate the use of English language and the indigenous languages are threatened in term of career opportunities. The English language is dangling like the sword of Damodes; because the better English you speak, the more you uphold your social economic status in the society. (p 15).
Fishman (1996) states that a language long associated with the culture is best able and most exactly, most richly with appropriate overtone relay the concerns, artifacts, values and interests of that people.
The Sapir – Whorf hypothesis (SWH) posits that a particular language nature influence the habitual thought of its speakers. That is different language patterns yield different patterns of thought.
Also the term cultural relation is a principle that an individual human’s beliefs and activities should be understood interims of his or her culture.
The language and culture of a people cannot be treated separately. It has to be understood adequately in order that the real issue which is how to use our indigenous language to preserve our cultural values would be understood adequately
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