Language and Culture

Culture, defined as membership in a discourse community that shares a common social space and history and common imaginings, entered the field of applied linguistics through the study of language in its sociocultural context – that is, discourse. Discourse, as a verbal communicative practice and habit of thought, embodies a community’s identity and moral values, its understanding of history, and its aspirations for the future. Cross-cultural pragmatics, intercultural communication, and intercultural learning are some of the areas of applied linguistics that study the link between language and culture. The field right now is grappling with the tension between structuralist and post-structuralist approaches to culture and with the revolution brought about by computer technology in our experience of time and space and our sense of reality. Today, the attention of applied linguists is shifting from stable, national cultures to portable historicities and subjectivities that people carry in their minds as so many potential strategies for action.