Relative Points of View

by Stroinska, Magda

• ISBN13: 9781571812025
• ISBN10: 1571812024
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781800734913
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-05-01
• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• More Book Details

Summary

The relationship between language and various kinds of non-linguistic behaviour has been of great fascination for many of those working in the fields of cultural anthropology, linguistics, and philosophy or, broadly understood, cultural studies. The authors in this volume explore this relationship in a number of cultures and social contexts and discuss the problem of linguistic relativism and its application to a several areas of social interaction across cultures. The authors deal with such questions as how language and culture intersect resulting in different points of view on reality that are all equally authentic and rooted in experience. The question of the influence of language and culture on our perception of physical and social reality is re-examined for such domains as politics, commerce, working with people, religion, and gender relations.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
Preface	ix
Introduction: Beyond Language and Culture: Relative Points of View
Magda Stroinska	1	(18)
PART I THINKING IN WORDS
Space and Time in Natural Language: Some Parallels between Spatial and Temporal Expressions in English and Russian	19	(20)
Jim Miller
Rendering Metaphor in Reported Speech: Pragmatic Contingencies	39	(22)
Teresa Dobrzynska
PART II: LANGUAGE AND POLITICS
Politicians on Drugs: Functions of Political Metaphor across Cultures	61	(20)
Sakis Kyratzis
Nationalism and Culture: Some Reflections on the Construction of National Languages	81	(20)
Francois Nectoux
PART III: DIVIDED BY A COMMON LANGUAGE
Between Relativism and Truth: Jean Baudrillard, the Sokal Affair and the Use of Scientific Terminology across Cultural Boundaries	101	(18)
Chris Horrocks
Language, Culture and Gender Identities: Examining Arguments about Marriage	119	(24)
Lia Litosseliti
PART IV: DIFFERENT LANGUAGE, DIFFERENT THOUGHTS
Management, Culture and Discourse in International Business	143	(18)
Francesca Bargiela-Chiappini
Intercultural Competence: Theories into Practice	161	(22)
Libby Rothwell
PART V: BEYOND THE LIMITS OF LANGUAGE
Emotion and Labour in Cultural Comparison	183	(20)
Stephen Lloyd Smith
Language about God: Meeting the Other	203	(16)
Ben Wiebe
Notes on Contributors	219	(4)
Index	223