Chapter Introduction

Figure 4.1: U.S. Army veterans at a recruiting table in Miami, Florida.

(Jeff Greenberg/AgeFotostock.)

Language is one of the primary features that distinguishes humans from other animals. Many animals, including dolphins, whales, and birds, do indeed communicate with one another through patterned systems of sounds, movements, or scents and other scent- and taste-based chemicals. However, the complexity of human language, its ability to convey nuanced emotions and ideas, and its importance for our existence as social beings set it apart from the communication systems used by other animals.

In many ways, language is the essence of culture. It provides the single most common variable by which different cultural groups are identified and by which groups assert their unique identity. Language not only facilitates the cultural diffusion of innovations but also helps to shape the way we think about, perceive, and name our environment. Language, a mutually agreed-on system of symbolic communication that has a spoken and usually a written expression, offers the main means by which learned belief systems, customs, and skills pass from one generation to the next.

Most cultural groups have their own distinctive form of speech, either a separate language or a dialect. Because languages vary spatially and tend to form spatial groupings, they reinforce the sense of place through the linguistic culture regions they form. Different types of diffusion have helped shape the contemporary linguistic map, as languages relocate through human movement or adapt to the needs of their users. Clearly, the specific physical habitats in which languages evolve shape their vocabularies. Moreover, the environment can guide the migrations of linguistic groups or provide refuges for languages in retreat. The fact that language is entwined with all aspects of culture allows us to probe complex cultural-linguistic phenomena. Finally, the cultural landscape is shaped by such linguistic acts as naming, writing, and speaking. Power relations are reflected in the cultural landscape, in this case, by who is heard and who is silenced.