Prof. Ed.

3
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Learning Objectives
Students should be able to:
1. show the relationship between language and
culture
2. explain how language distinguishes man from
animals
3. enumerate the characteristics of culture
4. Identify the communication, behavioral, cognitive,
and material components of culture
5. understand and explain cultural relativism
Communication and
Language
• Types of communication
 Verbal refers to use of language
 Non-verbal refers to the use gestures, facial expressions and other body
movements

• Language is an abstract system of word meaning

and symbols for all aspects of culture. It includes
speech, written characters, numerals, symbols, and
gestures and expressions of non-verbal
communication
• Communication is far more than speech and
writing. Most of us are unaware that we are
communicating in many different ways even when
we are not speaking.
• Growing up in a society, we learn how to use
gestures, glances, slight changes in tone of voice,
and other auxiliary communication devices to alter
or emphasize what we say and do. We learn these
highly culture-bound techniques over years largely
by observing others and imitating them.
• Paralanguage refers to all auxiliary communication
devices.
• It has been suggested that as much as 70% of what
we communicate when talking directly with others
is through paralanguage.
• Kinesics or body language, the language of
gestures, expressions and postures.
• Language enables people to store meanings and
experiences to pass heritage on to new
generations. Through language, we are able to
learn about and from the experiences of others.
• Language enables us to transcend the here and
now, preserving the past and imagining the future.
It also makes possible the formulation of complex
plans and ideas. (Calhoun, et. al., 1994)
• A man’s language is a reflection of the kind of
person he is, the level of education he has attained,
and an index to the behavior that may be
expected from him.
• Language is the key factor in the success of the
human race in creating and preserving culture, for
without language the ability to convey ideas and
traditions is impossible.
The study of language is divided into four areas:
• Phonology, the system of sounds that a particular
language uses, includes not only the language’s
basic unit of sounds, or phonemes, but rules about
how we put phonemes together to form words and
rules about the proper intonation patterns for
phrases and sentences.
• Semantics is the study of word meanings and word
combinations.
The study of language is divided into four
areas:
• Grammar describes the structure of a language
which consists of two major parts: morphology and
syntax.
 Morphology is the study of the language’s smallest units of meaning
called morphemes.
 Syntax specifies how words are combined into sentences.

• Pragmatics consists of rules for the use of

appropriate language in particular contexts. Thus, it
is concerned not only with speaking and writing but
with social interaction, and it directly addresses the
issue of effective communication.
Relationship between Language and Culture
• If culture can affect the structure and content of its
language, then it follows that linguistic diversity
derives in part from cultural diversity.
• Every society has a culture, no matter how simple
the culture may be, and every human being is
cultured in the sense of participating in some
culture or other.
• The linguistic relativity hypothesis asserts that
language determines thought and therefore
culture. In reality, language and culture influence
each other.

- Edward Sapir
CULTURE
• the set of learned behaviors, beliefs, attitudes,
values, and ideals that are characteristics of a
particular society or population (Ember, 1999)
• the learned norms, values, knowledge, artifacts,
language, and symbols that are constantly
communicated among people who share a
common way of life (Calhoun, et. al., 1994)
• the sum total of symbols, ideas, forms of expressions,
and material products associated with a system
(Allan Johnson, 1996)
CULTURE
• complex whole which includes knowledge, belief,
art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities
and habits acquired by man as a member of
society (E.B. Taylor in Panopio, 1992)
• an organization of phenomena that is dependent
upon symbols, phenomena which include acts
(patterns of behavior); objects (tools and things
made by tools); ideas (beliefs, knowledge); and
sentiments (attitudes and values). (Hunt et. al., 1998)
CULTURE
• consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for
behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols,
constituting the distinctive achievement of human
groups, including their embodiments in artifacts
(Hofstede, 1997)
Why do cultures differ? :

History
Educational Backgrounds
Social backgrounds
Ethnic
Religion
Ecology
Technology
Various cultures in India
 Characteristics
1. Culture is learned.
of Culture
2. Culture is shared by a group of people.
3. Culture is cumulative.
4. Cultures change.
5. Culture is dynamic.
6. Culture is ideational.
7. Culture is diverse.
8. Culture gives us a range of permissible behavior
patterns.
Components of Culture
A. Communication
 Language
 Symbols
B. Cognitive
 Ideas
 Knowledge
 Beliefs
 Values
 Accounts
C. Behavioral
 Norms
 Mores
 Laws
 Folkways
 Rituals
D. Material
 Tools, Medicines
 Books
 Transportation
 Technologies
Components of Culture
A. Communication Component
1. Language
 Language defines what it means to be human. It forms the
core of all culture. When people share a language, they share
a condensed, very flexible set of symbols and meanings. That
makes communication possible, at least communication
beyond grunts and hand signals, and provides the basis for
symbolic interaction, along with non-verbal communication
and symbols.
2. Symbols
 Along with language and non-verbal signals, symbols form the
backbone of symbolic interaction. They condense very
complex ideas and values into simple material forms so that
the very presence of the symbol evokes the signified ideas
and values. A symbol is anything that carries a particular
meaning recognized by people who share culture. Symbols
serve as the basis for everyday reality. Symbols vary within
cultures, cross-culturally, and change over time.
Symbols
• Mickey Mouse
• Clothing (baseball hats worn sideways, belly shirts,
etc.
• Behavior (ritualized behavior)
B. Cognitive Component
1. Ideas/Knowledge/Beliefs
 Ideas are mental representations (concepts, categories,
metaphors) used to organize stimulus; they are the basic
units out of which knowledge is constructed and a world
emerges.
 Knowledge is the storehouse where we accumulate
representations, information, facts, assumptions, etc.
 Beliefs accept a proposition, statement, description of fact,
etc. as true.
2. Values are defined standards of desirability,
goodness and beauty, which serve as broad
guidelines for social living.
3. Accounts are how people use that common
language to explain, justify, rationalize, excuse, or
legitimize our behavior to themselves and others.
C. Behavioral Component (how we act)
1. Norms
• rules and expectations by which a society guides
the behavior of its members.
• can change over time
• reinforced through sanctions which take the form of
either rewards or punishment
• standards that define the obligatory and expected
behaviors of people in various situations
 Types of Norms
1. Mores are customary behavior patterns which have taken
on a moralistic value.
2. Laws are formalized norms, enacted by people who are
vested with government power and enforced by political
and legal authorities designated by the government.
3. Folkways are behavior patterns of society which are
organized and repetitive. They are commonly known as
customs.
4. Rituals are highly scripted ceremonies or strips of
interaction that follow a specific sequence of actions.
 Ceremonies (graduation, baptism, funerals, weddings, birthdays)
 Holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas)
 Everyday public rituals (handshake, greeting, kissing, walking)
 Bonding rituals (parties, gift-giving, holding hands, exchange cards
 Signal rituals (eye contact, holding the door)
D. Material Component
• refers to physical objects of culture such as
machines, equipment, tools, books, clothing, etc.
• Its form and function is an expression of culture and
culturally-defined behavior often depends on the
presence of specific objects
The Organization of Culture
• Cultural traits are simple units or elements, either of
a material or non-material culture, represents a
single element or a combination of elements
related to a specific situation.
• Clusters of culture traits are known as culture
complexes which, in turn, group together to form
cultural pattern.
How is Culture Transmitted
1. Enculturation
 the process of learning culture of one’s own
 Ex. Learning the folkways, mores, social traditions, values and beliefs
of one’s own group.

2. Acculturation
 the process of learning some new traits from another culture
 Ex. When students from the rural areas migrate to the urban areas or
city and gradually learn some urban customs, they become
acculturated.
 The interaction of Filipinos with Americans in the Philippines

3. Assimilation
 the process in which an individual entirely loses any awareness of his/her
previous group identity and takes on the culture and attitudes of another
group.
 Ex. An Ilocano moves to a point where he/she speaks only Visayan
and assumes the folkways of the local group.
Importance and Functions of Culture
1. Culture helps the individual fulfill his potential as a
human being.
2. Through the development of culture, man can
overcome his physical disadvantages and allows
him to provide himself with fire, clothing, food and
shelter.
3. Culture provides rules of proper conduct for living
in a society.
4. Culture also provides the individual his concepts of
family, nation and class.
Cultural Relativism
• Is an essence, an approach to the question of the
nature and role of values in culture (Rosado, 2003)
• Is an anthropological approach which posits that all
cultures are of equal value and need to be studied
in a neutral point of view (Glazer (1996).
• Practices considered immoral or taboo to a certain
group of people but are accepted by other groups
with a different cultural orientation.