1.

BASIC CONCEPTS
What is culture?
the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as
excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.
a particular form or stage of civilisation, as that of a certain nation or period: Greek
culture
the behaviours and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic or age group: the
youth culture; the drug culture (Random House Unabridged Dictionary 2006)
all the arts, beliefs, social institutions, etc. characteristic of a community, race
etc.
(Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English 1974)
Macro-culture

Micro-culture

All the arts, beliefs, social institutions etc.

characteristic of a community, race etc.

The predominating attitudes and behaviour

that characterise the functioning of a group
or organisation.

Intercultural communication
Negotiation
Negotiation techniques
Example

Prodajem pojaalo Technics SU-A700, a uz njega ide i Technicsov daljinski upravlja.

Pojaalo je ispravno i ima nekoliko blagih ogrebotina sa prednje strane i na gornjoj povrini.
Moete ga isprobati sa mojim ili svojim zvunicima. Detaljnije karakteristike moete videti na
sledeem linku:
Fiksna cena
Bez SMS poruka
Nisam zainteresovan za razmene
Paradoxes of intercultural communication
Old vs. new conflicts, political issues, rivalry between cultures/countries/nations vs.
peace initiatives
Many cultures are being recognized, while English is becoming increasingly important
Intracultural vs. intercultural wars
Democracy vs. ethnic conflicts
Acculturation and the other
Acculturation: the process of the meeting of cultures and the changes which result from such
meetings; the process of adopting the cultural traits or social patterns of another group, esp. a
dominant one; restructuring or blending of cultures resulting from this.
The other: any group of people perceived as different in terms of nationality, ethnicity,
religion, political alignment, class or caste, or gender.
The process by which we interact with the otheris sometimes referred to acculturation.

When people interact with others from other cultures, they may acquire intercultural
sensitivity (they can discriminate and experience relevant cultural differences), which allows
them to develop intercultural competence (=they can act in interculturally appropriate ways).
Deardorffs model of intercultural competence

Hofsteddes model of culture

1) Power distance: a measure of the inequality within a culture
Low power-distance culture: students initiate some communication in class; subordinates
expect to be consulted, etc.
High power-distance culture: teachers initiate all commmunication in class; subordiantes
expect to be told what to do, etc.
2) Uncertainty avoidance: a concept that explains how cultures respond to the uncertain nature
of future events
Low uncertainty-avoidance culture: individual decisions are acceptable, independence for
female students, belief in common sense
High uncertainty-avoidance culture: ideological preference for group decisions, no
competition among peers, traditional role of female students, belief in specialists/expertise
3) Individualism: the extent to which a culture tolerates
individual expression and provides support; opposite: collectivism
Individualist culture: individual decisions are better, hedonism, weak family ties
Collectivist culture: group decisions are better, survival, strong family ties
4) Masculinity vs. femininity
Masculine culture traditional sex roles are observed
Feminine culture non-traditional sex roles are observed
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5) Long-term orientation culture

Low long-term orientation culture: meritocracy
High Long-term orientation culture: equality
Houses GLOBE model
GLOBE - global leadership and organisational behaviour effectiveness
Clusters: Anglo, Latin Europe, Nordic Europe, Germanic Europe, Eastern Europe, Latin
America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Arab, Southern Asia, Confucian Asia

2. CULTURAL CONTENT IN ELT TEXTBOOKS

What is the purpose of an ELT book?
What is culture?
literature, music, fine arts, films
way of life in the target community
social skills which enable successful communication
(based on Adaskou et al. 1990)
Source Culture in ELT books: characters talk about their own culture and customs in English
not realistic?
Target Culture in ELT books: British/American characters in local settings; minorities are
sometimes included; these books are sometimes made for particular markets and TC is
included confusing?

source culture materials that draw on learners own culture and content
target culture materials that use the culture of a country where English is spoken as a
first language
international target culture materials that use a great variety of English and nonEnglish speaking countries
(Cortazzi and Jin 1999:204-5)
Textbooks can also be aimed at international target cultures English as a global language;
characters are from all over the world and they speak English; various elements, e.g. Picasso
(Spain), Bob Marley (Jamaica), Thomas Mann (Germany), Nelson Mandela (South Africa),
Brigitte Bardot (France), Mahatma Gandhi (India), Kofi Annan (Ghana) etc.
Views
Culture and language are inseparable, therefore, English cannot be taught without its
culture(s)
English should be taught independently of its cultural context. Instead, contexts familiar to the
students should be used
British or American English?
trainers: sneakers
pupil: student
primary/secondary school: elementary/high school
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flat: apartment
film: movie
maths: math
chips: [French] fries, [potato] wedges
autumn: fall
cinema: movie theater
Graddol (1999): in the next 50 years the balance between native and non-native speakers will
shift significantly, with L2 speakers overtaking L1 speakers
The number of second-language speakers of English has already surpassed the number of
native speakers
EIL vs. culture
learners dont need to internalize cultural norms (YES/NO?)
international language is de-nationalized
learners should communicate their culture to others (Smith:1976)
ownership of English has become re-nationalized (Kachru 1985)
Chinglish (Chinese + English)
Hinglish (Hindi + English)
Scottish English/Scots
Irish English (Hiberno-English)
Jamaican English/Jamaican Patois
African American English
Australian English, etc.
Culture is ALWAYS present
SC: TC : IC can vary
Culture-neutral/international content
Are children already aware of TC?

3. LANGUAGE AND CULTURE AS CURRICULAR CONTENT

Approaches
The Natural Approach (Krashen and Terrell)
Cognitive approaches:
1) Input enhancement (Van Patten)
2) Focus-on-form instruction (Doughty and Williams)
3) Consciousness-raising tasks (Ellis, Fotos)
4) TBLT (task-based language teaching)
These approaches differ in terms of the role of interaction, but they all give primacy to
linguistic structures as forming the curricular content of language classrooms. Acquiring
linguistic structures is influenced by UG, but instruction is important.
An intercultural approach to SLA
Intercultural learner is a mediator between two social groups
Goal of an intercultural approach: intercultural communicative competence
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Intercultural communicative competence: the ability to understand the language and behavior
of the target community and explain it to the members of the home community and vice
versa (practical definition important for teaching)
Knowledge of language and culture
Communicative competence
Hymes: Chomskys definition of language knowledge does not account for the knowledge and
skills that individuals need to understand and produce utterances appropriate to the particular
cultural contexts in which they occur criticism
Knowledge and ability that individuals need to understand and use linguistic resources in
ways that are structurally well- formed, socially and contextually feasible in cultural contexts
etc.
According to Hymes, communicative competence has four dimensions: systemic potential,
appropriateness, occurrence and feasibility
Systemic potential: knowledge and ability to use generative base of the language
Appropriateness: knowledge of language behavior, its contextual features and the
ability to use language appropriately
Occurrence: knowledge of whether and to what extent action is taken with language
and the ability to use language for that action
Feasibility: knowledge of whether and to what extent something is possible and the
ability to be practical and feasible
Canale and Swain used Hymess model in curriculum design. Their own model of
communicative competence contains four components: grammatical, sociolinguistic, strategic
and discourse competence
Grammatical: knowledge of lexical items, rules of phonology, morphology, syntax and
semantics
Sociolinguistic: knowledge of rules of language use
Strategic: strategies to compensate for breakdowns in communication
Discourse competence: knowledge one needs to participate in literacy activities
Which components to teach?
(Canale and Swain)
Each component should be addressed in terms of its probability of occurrence in authentic
texts
= it should be based on ana analysis of the linguistic, sociolinguistic, discourse and strategic
components which learners need
How to design language curricula and tests (based on communicative competence)?
Celce-Murcia et al. five interrelated areas of competence: discourse, linguistic,
actional/rhetorical, sociocultural and strategic.
Discourse competence: knowing how to use linguistic resources to create cohesion and
coherence, conversational rules
Linguistic competence: very similar to Chomskys definition, but more comprehensive
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Actional/rhetorical competence: matching actional intent with linguistic form based on

the knowledge of an inventory of verbal schemata that carry illocutionary force = how
to use language to do things; rhetorical competence (in writing): knowing speech acts
associated with written genres
Socio-cultural competence: non-linguistic, contextual knowledge one needs to
understand a communicative activity
Strategic competence: knowledge skills and ability to resolve communicative
difficulties and improve communicative effectiveness
Model of communicative competence (Celce-Murcia)

Intercultural communicative competence (ICC - Byram et al.)

Byram: Learners of other languages should be treated not as aspiring native speakers, but as
developing intercultural communicators
ICC: knowledge, skills and abilities to participate in activities where TL is the primary
communicative code and in situations where it is the common code for those with different
preferred languages
Components of ICC
Savoirs: general knowledge of relevant sociocultural groups and their significant
communicative activities & events
Savoir-apprendre: ability to use this knowledge to communicate in conventional/expected
ways, to deal with differences etc.
Savoir-faire: skills of identification, interpretation, analysis and synthesis of patterns &
perspectives, potential sources of miscommunication etc.
Savoir-tre: general attitudinal dispositions, accepting differences, willingness to understand
perspectives of others
Pedagogical approaches for redesigning language classrooms
Participatory pedagogy
Multiteracies project
Participatory pedagogy (Freire)
It uses the worlds of learners as the primary basis for curriculum design and instruction

Aim: to develop learners voices in response to their local conditions and transform their lives
in socially meaningful ways
Learning is a socially situated, collaborative process of transformation in which Ts and Ss
build a common base of knowledge, system of meanings, values etc.
Ss acquire skills for full participation in larger social worlds
Teachers role is to create a safe environment in which Ss feel comfortable and validated as
they raise questions and consider alternatives
Activities raise awarness of social, cultural and political inequities
Focus on informed action
Language knowledge is about knowing how to take action and make a difference to ones
world
The multiteracies project
Developed by the New London Group (group of international scholars)
Learner-centered focus + knowledge-centered focus
To help learners acquire knowledge, skills and abilities they need to expand their
communicative horizons and move into other worlds
Major challenges to education: increasing cultural and linguistic diversity all over the world;
proliferation of means of communication (requires more knowledge)
Product of this project: pedagogy of multiliteracies
Pedagogy of multiliteracies
Situated practice its purpose is to socialize learners into those communicative
activities in which they are expected to become competent
Overt instruction its purpose is to provide opportunities for learners to focus on,
practice and take control of various linguistic and other conventions needed for
competent engagement in communicative activities
Critical framing: larners will understand historical, social, political cultural and
ideological contexts, i.e. they will see how linguistic resourses are used
Transformed practice based on critical framing; purpose: to use what has been
learned
Some practical considerations

4. STEREOTYPES IN ELT
Stereotypes are part of the common, background or world knowledge shared by a social
group, most frequently defined as accumulated wisdom of a community about an object,
being, or phenomenon
Nature of stereotypes:
a) often inherited from or socially transmitted by members of a cultural group
b) products of excessive generalization reduction to polar opposites, resulting from underrating differences within a category
c) rigid, treating everyone and everything in either /or terms, not allowing for any exceptions
d) they often carry an ideological position
Functions of stereotypes:
a) Cognitive function: an aid to humans to reduce excess information and in its subsequent
organization into a meaningful whole
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b) to identify and clearly mark distance between two social or cultural groups
Prejudice: a mental state composed of usually negative attitudes towards social groups and
of matching stereotypical beliefs
National stereotypes
a) direct: achieved due to geographic proximity, by means of cultural influence and trade, or
are consequences of political alliances and hostilities, colonial domination, etc.
b) indirect - undertaken or imported from other cultures, civilizations and literature
National stereotypes can also be other-oriented or self-oriented: we/they are clever/stupid
etc.
Other stereotypes
Stereotypes refer to social categories and can refer to:
ethnic groups
national groups
gender groups
professions
different social classes, etc.
National stereotypes and ELT
To deal or not to deal with them?
Option 1: avoid them avoid controversial topics, books that contain stereotypes; problem
which stereotypes to avoid? (e.g. tea at 5 oclock)
Option 2: teach culture; problems does it impose cultural values? is the learner just an
observer?
Option 3: tackle them confront differences, barriers to communication and stereotypes

5. LEARNING STYLES AND CULTURAL BACKGROUND

Learning styles preferences in the ways that learners take in and process onformation
How do we learn?
Rote learning learning by heart; repetition
Meaningful learning relating new knowledge to relevant concepts one already knows
Rote learning: multiplication table, poems, etc.
Meaningful learning: mathematics, physics, etc.
Example: Ss studied from the following material
Diglossia use of two markedly different varieties of a language in different social situations,
such as a formal variety at work and an informal variety at home
Examples: Swiss German vs. standard German (Hochdeutsch)
Dialects spoken in the south (Leskovac, Ni, Vranje) vs. standard Serbian
Answers in the test
7. What is diglossia? Use of two markedly different varieties of a language in different social
situations, such as a formal variety at work and an informal variety at home, such as Swiss
German vs. standard German (Hochdeutsch), or dialects spoken in the South (Leskovac, Ni
Vranje) vs. standard Serbian. Rote learning
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7. What is diglossia? Parallel use of two different varieties of the same language. A situation
in which there are two forms/varieties of the same language used in different contexts.
Meaningful learning
Examples
Questions based on rote learning:
4. Name the speech acts mentioned in Austin and Searles theory.
Questions based on meaningful learning:
12. Provide an example of pragmalinguistic failure of your own choice. Do not use examples
from the lecture or the book.
Learning styles (Kolb)
Converging: abstract conceptualization + active experimentation practical
application of ideas, learning by doing
Diverging: concrete experience + reflective observation viewing situations from
different perspectives
Assimilating: abstract conceptualization + reflective observation; watching, induction
Accomodating: learners tend to solve problems through experiments supported by data
and observations; using trial and error
Impact of culture on learning
Power distance S/T relationship: T as authority (HP) vs. T as facilitator (LP)
Individualism vs. collectivism: contradicting/not contradicting a fellow student
Uncertainty avoidance: precise learning objectives, unambiguous assessment,
structured learning etc. (high u.a.)
Long-term vs. short-term time orientation: LT learning helps you acquire skills for a
good job
Masculinity vs. femininity: (masc.): success is important, best students are
benchmarks, stressful climate
Bad teaching/learning practices roooted in Serbian culture (ELT)
The Present Simple is used to express the idea that an action is repeated or usual. It
shows the action to be a habit, a hobby, a scheduled event... especially with younger
children, poorly educated adults etc.
Reading and translating texts you are not coaching TV anchors or translators
Sticking to the book
Doing useless activities
Testing memory (in reading/listening tasks)
Not testing comprehension
They saw a palgish flester in the corridor
What did they see?
Where did they see the palgish flester?
They saw a palgish flester.
They saw the palgish flester in the corridor.
Anyone can answer the questions. What does palgish mean? Who/what is a flester?
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I saw a worried patient in the corridor.

Where does the action take place?
Key word: patient

6. PRAGMATIC ASPECTS OF LEARNER LANGUAGE

Linguistic competence vs. pragmatic competence
A: Hvala. B: Molim.
A: Thank you. B: Please.
A: Thank you. B: OK.
A: Thank you. B: You are welcome.
A: Thank you. B: [no response]
A: Where are you going for your summer holiday?
B: To the village/To my village.
C: To the sea/To sea.
D: To Greece.
E: To Spain.
F: To the mountains.
A friend needs money to rent an apartment. She turns to you and says:
Say, could you lend me $ 100 until next week?
You can lend me $ 100 until next week, right?
Lend me the money, please.
Could you lend me $ 100 until next week?
Do you think you could lend me $ 100 until next week?
Maybe you have a little money to give me so that I could take the apartment?
(Olshtain and Blum-Kulka 1985: 324)

Linguistic competence = knowledge of the language

Pragmatic competence = using it appropriately

Form versus function

Open the window.
Could you open the window? [form: question]
= I want you to open the window.
Are you OK? [form: question] actual question
= I want to know if everything is OK with you.
Are you crazy? [form: question] not an actual question
= What you did/said is stupid.
Speech acts (Austin & Searle)
Locutionary act the conveyance of propositional meaning; utterance + meaning; the
fact that you are saying something
Illocutionary act performance of a particular language function; saying means
doing, e.g. I promise..., I swear I will...; warnings, orders, thaexpressing gratitude etc.
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 Perlocutionary act the effect you achieve; the addressee is amused, persuaded etc.
Illocutionary act conditions for success
Preparatory conditions
Sincerity conditions
Essential conditions
Example: ordering (give me the book)
Both the speaker and hearer recognize speakers authority ( preparatory condition), the
speaker wants something to be done ( sincerity condition), the speaker indends the
utterance to get the hearer do something ( essential condition)
Illocutionary acts in learner language
A: You have a beautiful accent.
B: ......
A: You have a beautiful accent.
Its very old
A: You have a beautiful accent.
B: Thank you. It is good to hear that from a native speaker. Ive been learning English for
years and...
Sociopragmatic failure: a learner fails to perform the illocutionary act required by the
situation, e.g. not saying thank you, response to compliments etc.
Pragmalinguistic failure: a learner tries to perform the right speech act, but uses wrong
linguistic means, e.g. saying may God reward you instead of thanks.
Problems occur in requests, apologies, refusals, etc.
Examples - refusal
Examples - apologies
Examples other
Excuse me vs. sorry; I apologize...
Happy 8th March*; happy July 4th *; happy May 1st
I respectfully disagree I dont agree Nonsense
Please, be quiet Quiet Shut up
Ill take you to drink* Let me buy you a drink
Can I help you, love? [British English, informal]
How are you, duck? [British English, informal]
Impression management
How speakers achieve communicative effects by manipulating their linguistic and nonlinguistic resources
How speakers change the attitudes of other speakers; using contextualization cues
Conversations between L1 ind L2 speakers
British empoyer and foreign worker

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7. WRITING AND CULTURE

Handwriting
Native-language orthography is sometimes different from English orthography
Handwiting - problems
Genre and style
Writer-responsible cultures: clarity, concision, practicality instead of theory, deductive
Reader-responsible cultures: flowery and ornate prose, focus on theory, (quasi-)inductive
Overwriting saying more than is necessary to convey an idea, concept, etc.
Has this ever been seen before? (easy to read)
Is it possible that no one has ever seen anything like that anywhere? (difficult to read)
Fourth, by looking at the huge discussion about the belated modernization of the whole
Balkan area including Greece and its notorious economic backwardness (cf. Chirot 1989;
Palairet 1997), we can see that these phenomena have been attributed to multifarious reasons
and factors. In the discussion of this broad issue, scholars usually paid little or at least very
minimal attention to the religious/Orthodox Christian factor, which is not considered as the
main hindrance towards socio-economic development and modernity (Mouzelis 1978). Far
more attention is paid, on the contrary, to other factors, such as [...]. Furthermore, emphasis is
also placed upon the specific socio-political and cultural development of the Balkan area in
modern times, Greece included, when the West was developing towards modernity at an
incredible pace. The long period of Ottoman domination has in fact secluded this whole
geographical area from the tremendous Western developments, at least up to the eighteenth
century, and this had a serious impact upon the cultural and economic lag of the Balkans
including Greece vis--vis the West.
Task
Write a very brief CV
State your name, basic data about yourself and contact data (you do NOT have to provide real
information)
State your qualifications, personal achievements, work experience or anything you find
approproate (hobbies etc.)
Common mistakes
I was born in a small vilige Trnjani located in the region of Doboj city in Republica of
Serpska (Bosnia and Hercegovina), since 1984 I am living in Belgrade
1. Personal data
Date of birth: 16th April 1964
Birth place: Trnjani near Doboj, Yugoslavia
Martial: Married
Number of children: 2
Children's birth dates: 10th June 1990 and 5th March 1994
Common mistakes
Name: Jane Smith
Children: none private matter
Marital status: single private matter
Email: crazygirl@email.com vs. jane.smith@email.com
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Education:
Winston Nursery irrelevant and silly
Hartford Heights Elementary irrelevant and silly
Hobbies: hanging out with friends, skiing, hiking, reading, watching TV, playing games on
my computer irrelevant
Common mistakes
Achievements: Captain of the University Women's Hockey Team , winner of high school
math contest in 2002
Working experience: my 1st job was at an insurnace company & im still working for them.
Referees: John Smith [address]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------S potovanjem; roen sam u X kod Y, optina Z, kao najmlae dete u estolanoj porodici
(dva starija brata i jedna mlaa sestra, roditelji); osvojeno prvo mesto na optinskom
takmienju recitatora u VIII r. O.

8. CULTURES AND EDUCATION

Different cultures have different views on education, e.g. in some cultures (Latin Americans)
it is seen as something that brings economic reward
Learning and knowledge differ from culture to culture
Schools provide knowledge and skills necessary for participation in a particular society (=
culture)
Education shapes each individual and helps him/her function properly within a particular
society (moral norms, customs, communication; individuality vs. collectivity etc.)
Informal knowledge; basic values and beliefs, e.g. gender roles, correct conduct, etc.
Universal: each culture teaches history
Particular: national history is in the image of its ideal
=> What is mine is the best/most important
Every culture tends to glorify its historical, scientific, economic, and artistic accomplishments
Examples: the Bible (Western countries); the Torah (Israel), the Koran (Arab world); best
writers: E.A. Poe, Mark Twain, Emilz Dickinson (USA); J.W. Goethe, Thomas Mann,
Friedrich Schiller (Germany)
Every culture tends to glorify its historical, scientific, economic, and artistic accomplishments
Authority vested in teachers
Non-verbal aspects: space, distance, time, dress code etc.
Contrasts in systems of education
Goals of education:
a) social: character development, respect, participation etc.
b) practical: intellectual skills, physical skills, vocational training etc.
Multicultural education challenge for the teacher
Aim: to teach about cultural practices of others without stereotyping or misinterpreting and to
teach about ones own practices without casting others negatively
Due to underlying difference in styles of language use and interaction patterns, potential for
teachers to misread aptitudes, intent, abilities
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Culture and learning: personal cognitive abilities determined by demands of our environment
Cultural ways of knowing: methods people employ to think
Cultural learning approaches
Influenced by learners preferred modalities (auditory, visual, kinesthetic), perceptions
Approach #1: Four bi-polar scales = continuums of learning preferences
- Field Independence vs. Field Sensitivity: whole concept versus parts
- Cooperation vs. Competition: collective versus individualistic cultures
- Trial and Error vs. Watch, then Do
- Tolerance vs. Intolerance for Ambiguity: low or high uncertainty cultures
Approach #2: Perception and judgment
- Mastery (Sensing-Thinking) Learners: realistic, results-oriented, active engagement)
- Understanding (Intuitive-Thinking) Learners: theoretical, knowledge-oriented
- Self-expression (Intuitive-Feeling) Learners: curious, insightful, imaginative
- Interpersonal (Sensing-Feeling) Learners: interpersonally-directed
Relational styles for learning (the manner in which people relate to one another carry over
into the classroom)
- Dependency/Independence: student reliance on support, help, opinions of teachers
- Participation/Passivity: engaging in versus observing the learning process
- Impulsivity/Reflectivity: rapid versus slow arrival at answers; risk to saving face
Cultural motivation style
Four styles that impact multicultural classroom:
- Intrinsic: internal drive to succeed, excellence reward in and of itself
- Extrinsic: stimulated by external rewards
- Learning on demand: set, scheduled curriculum; student interest not a factor
- Learning when interested: study of whats interesting, relevant to the learner
Language and identity
- Language helps individuals construct and maintain their ethnic identity
- Assimilation into English-speaking culture can become wedge between identity and social
system
Four sources of difficulty for ELLs:
dual concern with cognitive (content) and linguistic (new language expression)
academic insufficiency
higher grade level entries create heavier cognitive and linguistic loads
deductive instructional approach in U.S. in conflict with inductive-approach cultures
Teacher Multiculural Competence
Becoming multiculturally competent
- Develop competencies in multiple ways of perceiving, evaluating, believing, and doing
- Engage in practices that provide equitable outcomes for all learners
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1) Understanding self
2) Understanding diversity
3) Classrooms for multicultural education
4) Multicultural competence and communication strategies

9. LANGUAGE AND SOCIAL IDENTITY

Social stratification
Social classes: aggregates of people with similar social or economic characteristics
Factors (sociology): family lineage, rank, occupation, material possessions etc.
Sociolinguistics: broadest distinctions, e.g. high vs. low; upper vs. middle vs. low
Markers of social class
What are you doin?
What ave you seen?
He dont have no choice.
Yessuh, dat'd be real good. =Yes, sir, that...
Pa de si brate? a ima?
U and Non-U
U upper class language usage; non-U: other kinds of usage; terms coined by A.S.C. Ross
Examples (1950s)
U

Non-U

looking-glass

mirror

wireless

radio

vegetables

greens

telegram

wire

lavatory-paper

toilet-paper

Restricted and elaborated codes

Code = language, dialect or register; the same as variety
Restricted code: a style of language use associated with informal situations,
characterized by linguistic predictability and by its dependence on the external context
and on the shared knowledge and experience of the participants for conveying
meaning
Elaborated code: a style of language use associated with formal situations and
characterized by explicitness, lack of dependence on the external context, syntactic
complexity, and individuality of expression.
Examples
"If you're going to town, get Rupert a new April from you-know-where" (Restricted)
"If you are going into Bedford, please get a new toy for Rupert the dog from the pet-shop
(which we can't name because if the dog hears it he will go mad), to replace the one which we
have come to call "April", which he has almost chewed to bits." (Elaborated)

15

"Cameron's at it again." (Restricted)

"I see from the newspaper I am reading that David Cameron, leader of the Opposition, is once
again trying to attack the government from a position of right-wing populism as we discussed
a couple of days ago." (Elaborated)
Social status and role
Status the position a person holds in the social structure or a community: a teacher, an
official, a husband/wife, a judge, a police officer etc.
Role a conventional mode of behavior the society expects a person to adopt when holding a
particular status, e.g. when a lawyer says Your Honor to the judge, or when a priest says:
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today...
Linguistic features of social roles are often easy to identify, but not always
Diglossia
Diglosia use of two markedly different varieties of a language in different social situations,
such as a formal variety at work and an informal variety at home
Examples: Swiss German vs. standard German (Hochdeutsch)
Dialects spoken in the south (Leskovac, Ni, Vranje) vs. standard Serbian
Modes of address in English
First name (FN): John
Title + last name (TLN): Mr./Dr/Professor/Captain Smith
Last name (LN business, military, schools): Come in, Smith
Abbreviations (Is JJ at home?), formal situations (Mr. President, your honor, Father Smith)
T or V?
German du/Sie, French tu/vous, Italian tu/Lei, Russian /, Serbian ti/vi, English...?
ta radi? T-form
ta radite V-form
How are you, Peter? /Kako si, Petre? T-form
How are you, Mr. Smith?/Kako ste Petre/g. Kovaeviu? V- form
Sexism
If anyone wants a copy, he can have one.
If anyone wants a copy, he/she can have one.
If anyone wants a copy, s/he can have one
If anyone wants a copy, they can have one.
Profesor/Profesorka Marija Petrovi
Sudija/sudijka/sutkinja Marija Petrovi
Sekretar/sekretarica/sekretarka Marija Petrovi

10. CULTURAL MARKEDNESS AND PROBLEMS IN COMMUNICATION

(different cultures, different ways of thinking)
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Language determines the way we think
Distinctions encoded in one language are not encoded in any other
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Examples:
I bought a/the book = Kupio sam knjigu.
*I bought book
Kupio sam/kupila sam... = I bought...
uncle = ujak, stric, tea
lend, borrow = pozajmiti
Loanword a word borrowed from another language
Examples (English): mayonnaise, caf (French), pizza, bravo (Italian), kindergarten
(German), sombrero (Spanish), democracy (Greek) etc.
Examples (Serbian): fudbal, kompjuter (English), makaroni (Italian), kroasan (French),
uprija (Turkish), farba, alter (German) etc.
Compare these words:
In English:
The Mexican was wearing a sombrero.
What is guerrilla warfare? (Spanish)
Some sections of the German Autobahn have speed limits.
My son is in the kindergarten. (German)
In Serbian:
Erl od Kardigana mogao bi da izgubi kuu koja je u vlasnitvu njegove porodice hiljadu
godina.
Naa kola dobila je nekoliko novih kompjutera.
Turski paa je odmah shvatio da e izgubiti bitku.
Jesi li ostavio baki taksisti?
Cultural markedness
A word is culturally marked if it is necessary to know some specificities of the culture it
comes from in order to understand it.
Every word which is culturally marked IS a loanword
Not all loanwords are culturally marked
Examples:
music/muzika, democracy/demokratija
sombrero, kimono marked
Degrees of cultural markedness
Strong: sombrero, kimono; baibozuk, arda strong association with the culture they come
from
Weak: vampire, pizza; dragstor, tost weak association with the culture they come from
Zero: music, democracy; fudbal, kompjuter common vocabulary
The degree of cultural markedness depends on the context,
e.g. kauboj:
stoar sa amerikog divljeg zapada strong
osoba koja se bahato ponaa (ponaati se kao kauboj)
Problems (Serbian words and phrases)
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opanak, slava, kajmak, ajvar, evapii, prebranac, dizela (person), balvan-revolucija, jogurtrevolucija, petooktobarske promene, via kola, euro-krem, pusto tursko, ko te ljivi/ia?,
mator konj, bus-plus kartica, irilica (nationalist music), indeks (students booklet)
Euro-Cream???
The Yoghurt Revolution???
Bus Plus Card???
Open your indexes???
Possible solutions
slava = Slava (Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition)
When is your Slava? (???)
slava family patron saints day (description)
opanak Serbian peasant shoe (description)
sarma cabbage rolls filled with mincemeat and rice (description)
kulen a kind of spicy sausage (description)
kulen = pepperoni (similar object, concept, etc.)
opanak = moccasin (similar object, concept, etc.)
prebranac = beans (general term)
kajmak = cheese (general term)
ljivovica = brandy (general term)
Problems in communication
Culturally marked words in ELT problems and solutions
Slava = family + patron + saint + day + feast
burek = pastry + cheese + pie
indeks = student + booklet + ID
= Expanding vocabulary, enhancing verbal skills
Teacher, teacher, may I...? you still have some time
Dear Sir,
Take my heartiest love and cordiality from my inner psychology. I hope, all of you are
keeping fine.
I would like to work for your company if you have a mercy upon me, it will bring a grand
success for my professional life. beyond repair
= Awareness raising

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