The definition of Culture and intercultural communication

Culture is Based on Symbols

? The anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn once wrote, “Human culture without language is

unthinkable.” The emergence of language was the giant step that made possible the remarkable and intricate system we call culture. Our cerebral cortex (大脑皮层；) and all the neurological structures associated with it have developed in a way that enables us to use symbols at a level of sophistication not shared by any other creature. Not only can we transmit knowledge from person to person, we also can pass ideas from generation to generation---a characteristic of culture we just examined. ? At our disposal are the speculation, observations, facts, experiments, and wisdom

accumulated over thousands of years---what the linguist Weinberg called “the grant insights of geniuses which, transmitted throughsymbols enable us to span the learning of centuries.” Through language---be it verbal, nonverbal, or iconic---it is, as Goodenough says, “possible to learn from cumulative, shared experience.” An excellent summary of the importance of language to culture is offered by Bates and Plog: ? the importance of language to culture:

? Language thus enables people to communicate what they would do if such-and-such

happened, to organize their experiences into abstract categories (“a happy occasion,” for instance, or an “evil omen”), and to express thoughts never spoken before. Morality, religion, philosophy, literature, science, economics, technology, and numerous other areas of human knowledge and belief---along with the ability to learn about and manipulate them---all depend on this type of higher-level communication.

? As we have already indicated, the symbols any culture employs take a variety of forms.

Cultures can use the spoken word as a symbol and tell people about the importance of freedom. They can use nonverbal actions, such as shaking hands or bowing, as symbols to greet one another. They can use flags as symbols to claim territory or demonstrate loyalty. They have the means to use automobiles or jewelry as symbols of success and status. They can use a cross, crescent, (新月旗;) or six-pointed star to show the love of God.

? The portability of symbols allows us to package and store them as well as transmit them.

The mind, books, pictures, films, videos, computer disks, and the like enable a culture to preserve what it deems to be important and worthy of transmission. This makes each individual, regardless of his or her generation, heir to a massive repository (存放处；) of information that has been gathered an maintained in anticipation of his or her entry into the culture. Culture is therefore accumulative, historical, and preservable. As the French novelist Marcel Proust wrote, “The past remains the present.”