On The Influence Of Language Upon Culture

There are several theories of the relationship between language and culture such as linguistic determinism and cultural determinism, etc.. No matter what positions linguists take, they all admit that language and culture influence each other. Although this notion is occasionally expressed in the study of the relationship between language and culture, systematic and comprehensive studies on the influence of language upon culture are rarely discussed.In this thesis, the author attempts to probe into, on the basis of scientific proof, the reasons why language can influence culture from the perspectives of language structures, language functions, including language as social semiotics. Moreover, from the angle of external linguistics, the author further tries to analyze the causes by adopting interdisciplinary approaches, such as sociolinguistic, anthropological linguistic, psycholinguistic and cognitive linguistic.Furthermore, the author gives systematic and comprehensive contrastive analyses of thinking patterns, interpersonal relations, world outlooks and values reflected in Chinese and English proverbs, in which, the author argues that proverbs not only reflect culture, but also exert influence on the shaping of national mentality to some extent.In addition, with the studies on representative and important language reforms at home and abroad, the author summarizes the similarity among those linguistic movements, that is, the liberation of ideas is closely associated with linguistic reforms, and language reforms, in turn, promote the formulation of new concepts.Finally, the author makes clear the significance of the study on the influence of language upon culture. Meanwhile, the author maintains that the positive and negative effects caused by language upon culture can never be underestimated.