Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.
Language and culture are intertwined. A particular language usually points out to a specific group
of people. When you interact with another language, it means that you are also interacting with the culture
that speaks the language. You cannot understand one’s culture without accessing its language directly.
When you learn a new language, it not only involves learning its alphabet, the word arrangement and the
rules of grammar, but also learning about the specific society’s customs and behaviour. When learning or
teaching a language, the culture where the language belongs must be referenced because language is very
much ingrained in the culture.
Complex is one term that you can use to describe human communication since paralanguage is used to
transmit messages. Paralanguage is specific to a culture, therefore communication with other ethnic groups
can lead to misunderstandings.
When you grow up in a specific society, it is inevitable to learn the glances, gestures and little changes in
voice or tone and other communication tools to emphasize or alter what you want to do or say. These specific
communication techniques of one culture are learned mostly by imitating and observing people, initially from
parents and immediate relatives and later from friends and people outside the close family circle.
Body language, which is also known as kinesics, is the most obvious type of paralanguage. These are the
postures, expressions and gestures used as non-verbal language. However, it is likewise possible to alter the
meaning of various words by changing the character or tone of the voice.
The phrase, language is culture and culture is language is often mentioned when language and culture are
discussed. It’s because the two have a homologous although complex relationship. Language and culture
developed together and influenced each other as they evolved. Using this context, Alfred L Krober, a cultural
anthropologist from the United States said that culture started when speech was available, and from that
beginning, the enrichment of either one led the other to develop further.
If culture is a consequence of the interactions of humans, the acts of communication are their cultural
manifestations within a specific community. Ferruccio Rossi-Landi, a philosopher from Italy whose work
focused on philosophy, semiotics and linguistics said that a speech community is made up of all the messages
that were exchanged with one another using a given language, which is understood by the entire society.
Rossi-Landi further added that young children learn their language and culture from the society they were
born in. In the process of learning, they develop their cognitive abilities as well.
What is the synonym of the word complex highlighted in the passage?
