When delivering daily speech, the word "culture" refers to pursuits such as literature and music. More broadly, we can de-fine "culture" as all the modes of thought, behavior, and produc-tion that are handed down from one generation to the next by means of communicative interaction── speech, gesture, epic, construction, and all other communication among humans── rather than by genetic transmission or heredity. "Culture" is an essential concept for it is what makes humans unique in the ani-mal kingdom. All familiar forms of social organizations, ranging from the simplest family to the most sophisticated corporation de-pend upon "culture" for their existence. Nevertheless, "society" and "culture" might be confusing for one to distinguish. "Society" is population that is organized to carry out the major function of life. A society's "culture" consists of all the ways in which its members think about it among themselves.

Probably the most significant of the inventions made possible by culture is language. In fact, the research of culture takes place through language. From our tremendous capacity to manipulate language is derived collective memory──myths, fables, proverbs, ballads, etc. And all the other mass media that shape human consciousness and transmit erudition. Human language is unique in that it allows its speakers to express an infinite number of thoughts and ideas which can persist even after their origina-tors are gone. It is superior to the instability of sound and trouble of gesture.

So complete is the human reliance on language that it fre-quently seems as if language really determines the possibilities for thought and action in any given culture. Perhaps we are actually incapable of perceiving phenomena for which we have no nouns nor engaging in action for which we have no verbs. Generally speaking, language really determines the possibilities for a culture's norms, beliefs, and values. For instance, people living in Quebec or North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, where it might be exceedingly cold in winter, are likely to possess a much larger vocabulary for discussing snow than residents living in Florida, New Mexico, or Texas, where snow might be consid-ered a miracle.

Though the extreme version of the hypothesis is inappropri-ate, it has been a valuable stimulus to the development of a less biased view of other cultures. We now understand that a culture's language expresses how the people perceive and realize the world and at the same time impacts their perceptions and understand-ings.

Another vital issue is that cultures in all societies change, norms and values that once were thought to be eccentric or delin-quent may come to be prevalent in the majority of the society. For example, women have previously been weak performers. They were reluctant to improve strength for fear of being consid-ered masculine. As world has changed, they have traced ways to overcome the rigid discrimination that women have to be effemi-nate. Female star athletes continue to demonstrate to the public that women can be muscular and still project a "FEMININE" identity.

As population grows and societies become more complex through immigration and urban growth, conflicts over values and norms are likely to be more severe. Cultures tend to become more punitive in order to maintain order, often without success. How-ever , new ideas, styles, and technologies contribute to changes in norms and behaviors. In short, "culture" is the accumulation of language, social change, history, customs as well as institutions etc. When people really digest the implication of the linguistic theory of culture, they get wiser and erudite.

指导教师：杨学庆