Essay: How Registers Demonstrate the Influence of Culture on Language Usage
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Linguistic anthropology (CFMINAN001)
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Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RuG)
This is an Essay that is written for the course Language, Culture and Meaning as taught in the minor Anthropology, what it means to be human. The essay is about registers and the main argument is that registers are proof that language and the use of language are highly influenced by culture. This p...
How Registers Demonstrate the Influence of Culture on Language Usage
Freke de Lange
S4688635
Language, Culture and Meaning
CFMINAN001
October 12th 2023
, 2
Language, as one of the most important, if not the most important, forms of human
expression, is closely intertwined with the social and cultural world. One illustration of this
fact can be found in the phenomenon of registers, which are defined as “repertoires of
linguistic and non-linguistic signs that are recognized, culture-internally, as comprising a
variety of communicative code that is appropriate to particular people and situations” (lecture
7). In other words: a register is a certain way or style of using a language, that is appropriate
in specific cultural and social situations. You could almost think of a register as a dialect, as it
is a variation of an existing language. A register consists of both linguistic and non-linguistic
properties, meaning that the register used can be recognized both in the words one speaks and
in the way the words are spoken.
In this essay we will explore the world of registers using two examples, that of Geef-
Frysk, and that of Guugu Yimidhirr brother-in-law language. We will discover that both of
these registers have a common motive: respect. But we will also find out that this value is
expressed very differently in both cultural contexts. The goal of this exploration is to
demonstrate the point that registers are unequivocal proof that language usage is profoundly
influenced by culture.
Let me start by introducing you to the register of Geef-Frysk, or “Pure-Frisian”, which
is a register of the Northern Dutch language Frisian. Fryslân is the only province of the
Netherlands with its own official language, but because more and more day-to-day business in
Fryslân is conducted in Dutch, the Frisian language has been highly influenced by the Dutch
language. A new way of speaking Frisian has developed, sometimes called ‘linich Frysk’,
which translates to flexible Frisian, and this is now mostly seen as the ‘regular’ or ‘normal’
way of speaking Frisian. This influence of the Dutch language on Frisian is something that
has not been around for many generations, so that a lot of elderly Frisian people who are still
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