Hello!
Do you know of any equivalents for culture to Saussure’s distinction between langue and parole for language?
I’m looking for models/theories of culture that are based on a dichotomy similar to that of Saussure (langue/parole), or perhaps to that of Chomsky (competence/performance).
Thank you!
Hi Etienne,
In the field of culture, there are many dichotomies. Hofstede's dimensions are each dichotomous (for example, individual vs collective).
Another set of dimensions, related but slightly different to Hofstede's) is from GLOBE (https://globeproject.com/). Again, each dimension is dichotomous.
However, what might be closest to the concept of langue and parole, but for culture, is Hall's work on "high context" vs "low context" where people get more or less information from the context. For example, in the US, we tend to be very exact in our use of language, because we expect to get less from the context. In the East, we tend to be much more general, for exactly the opposite reason. As you can imagine, this is a common source of cultural conflict. An American in Vietnam may be seen as too wordy when speaking and clueless when listening, because that person is paying less attention to context.
Thank you for your kind answer, but that’s not exactly what I’m looking for. What I’m trying to find would have to do with culture as (a) system vs. culture as (a) performance…
I have always liked to think about the distinction between "context of culture" and "context of situation", as discussed in the work of Firth and later Halliday (linguists), but drawing on Malinowski (anthropologist). The context of culture determines the range of expressive possibilities available in a given community, and the context of situation refers to the circumstances that trigger particular behaviour.
Of course that doesn't take into account the subtleties of the langue/parole or competence/performance distinctions, but I think it's close, particularly as there's a strong linguistic element to this view of culture.
That being said, once you abstract in this manner, a lot of organizational models could potentially apply that have a range/selection principle at the core, and in translation studies it would perhaps be interesting as well to think about polysystems and the "culture repertoire".
Actually, I’ve just found a chapter by William H. Sewell, Jr. entitled “The Concept(s) of Culture” that is almost exactly what I’d been looking for!
Les distinctions entre “langue/parole” de Saussure et “compétence/performance” de Chomsky apportent des éclairages précieux sur la langue et la culture, mais la sociolinguistique va plus loin en explorant la langue dans son contexte social global.
Saussure’s Dichotomy:
Langue: The abstract, shared knowledge of a language. Parole: Actual language use by individuals. Saussure emphasized the social aspect of language.
Chomsky’s Framework: Competence: Idealized language knowledge. Performance: Real-world language use. Chomsky focused on innate cognitive structures.
Sociolinguistics: Studies language variation in society.
Hi there,
As competence is the language potential that may or may not come true, I assume the notion of 'meme' in cultural studies (from memetics) could be equated with it because memes (like genes) may or may not transfer from one generation to another or come true. Therefore, I like to innovate the terms latent and living memes.
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