Linguistik und Kulturanalyse – Ansichten eines symbiotischen Verhältnisses / <i>Linguistics and cultural analysis – aspects of a symbiotic relationship</i>

Abstract

Abstract The present issue of „Zeitschrift für Germanistische Linguistik“ focuses on the relationship between language and culture on the one hand and linguistics and cultural analysis on the other hand. This introductory article unfolds some of the facets of these relationships in a programmatic way and outlines a concept of language which zooms in on the study of language as a cultural resource and communicating as a cultural practice. Besides discussing pertinent definitions of „culture“ by scholars of cultural anthropology, we shall examine possible impacts of these definitions on a cultural notion of language. Furthermore, we shall show affiliations to concepts of language and culture developed by Herder and Humboldt in the late 18th and early 19th century and reshaped by Cassirer in the beginning of the 20th century. The article will also look into recent developments inside and outside linguistics (especially Ethnography of Communication, Anthropological Linguistics and Interactional Sociology) to trace out grounds for a new perspective on linguistics as part of the interdisciplinary field of cultural studies.