- It is often held that language fulfills two main functions: the function of communication and that of cognition. But the survey of literature shows that language also fulfills many other functions: emotive, phatic, poetic, etc. Along with these functions one of the essential functions of language is, in our opinion, the function of expressing and transmitting culture.
D. Krech asserts that language in this sense fulfills three main functions: - language is the primary vehicle of communication;
- language reflects both the personality of the individual and the culture of his history. In turn, it helps shape both personality and culture;
- language makes possible the growth and transmission of culture, the continuity of societies, and the effective functioning and control of social groups (Krech, 1962）.
Relationship between language and culture So, language serves not only as a means of communication and the main tool of expressing people’s thoughts but also it is the accumulation of cultural information. Being a complex system of signs, language is a means of delivering, storing, using and transmitting culture from generation to generation. As W. Humboldt states: “A language being a universal form of initial conceptualization of the world, can be perceived as a component of culture, or a tool of culture” (cited from Helferich, 2004, p. 24). - The idea of relationship between language and culture was initially put forth by V. Humboldt W. who proclaimed that: “Language is deeply entwined in the intellectual development of humanity itself, it accompanies the latter upon every step of its localized progression or regression; moreover, the pertinent cultural level in each case is recognizable in it. ... Language is, as it were, the external manifestation of the minds of peoples. Their language is their soul, and their soul is their language. It is impossible to conceive them ever sufficiently identical... . The creation of language is an innate necessity of humanity. It is not a mere external vehicle, designed to sustain social intercourse, but an indispensable factor for the development of human intellectual powers, culminating in the formulation of philosophical doctrine” (Humboldt, 1988).
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