PartAVocabularyandReading

Readthepassagebelowandthencompletethetasksthatfollow：

LanguageandCulturalIdentity

C。Kramsch

para。1Itiswidelybelievedthatthereisanaturalconnectionbetweenthelanguagespokenbymembersofasocialgroupandthatgroup‘sidentity。Bytheiraccent，theirvocabulary，theirdiscoursepatterns，speakersidentifythemselvesandareidentifiedasmembersofthisorthatspeechanddiscoursecommunity。Fromthismembership，theydrawpersonalstrengthandpride，aswellasasenseofsocialimportanceandhistoricalcontinuityfromusingthesamelanguageasthegrouptheybelongto。

para。2Buthowtodefinewhichgrouponebelongsto？Inisolated，homogeneouscommunitiesliketheTrobriandersstudiedbyMalinowski，onemaystilldefinegroupmembershipaccordingtocommonculturalpracticesanddailyface－to－faceinteractions，butinmodem，historicallycomplex，opensocietiesitismuchmoredifficulttodefinetheboundariesofanyparticularsocialgroupandthelinguisticandculturalidentitiesofitsmembers。

para。3Takeethnicityforexample。Intheir1982surveyconductedamongthehighlymixedpopulationofBelize，LePageandTabouret－Kellerfoundoutthatdifferentpeopleascribedthemselvestodifferentethnicitiesaseither‘Spanish‘，‘Creole‘，‘Maya‘or‘Belizean‘，accordingtowhichethniccriteriontheyfocusedon—physicalfeatures，generalappearance，geneticdescent，provenance，ornationality。Rarelywaslanguageusedasanethnicallydefiningcriterion。Interestingly，itwasonlyunderthethreatofaGuatemalantakeoverassoonasBritishrulewouldcease，thatthesenseofaBelizeannationalidentityslowlystartedemergingfromamongthemultipleethnicascriptionsthatpeoplestillgivethemselvestothisday。

para。4Groupidentitybasedonracewouldseemeasiertodefine，andyettherearealmostasmanygeneticdifferences，say，betweenmembersofthesameWhite，orBlackraceastherearebetweentheclassicallydescribedhumanraces，nottospeakofthedifficultyinsomecasesofascertainingwith100percentexactitudeaperson‘sraciallineage。Forexample，in1983theSouthAfricanGovernmentchangedtheracialclassificationof690people：two－thirdsofthese，whohadbeenColoreds，becameWhites，71whohadbeenBlacksbecameColoreds，and11Whiteswereredistributedamongotherracialgroups！And，ofcourse，thereisnonecessarycorrelationbetweenagivenracialcharacteristicandtheuseofagivenlanguageorvarietyoflanguage

para。5Regionalidentityisequallycontestable。AsreportedintheLondonTimesofFebruary1984，whenaSovietbook，PopulationsoftheWorld，claimedthatthepopulationofFranceconsistedof‘French，Alsatians，Flemings，Bretons，Basques，Catalans，Corsicans，Jews，Armenians，Gypsiesand“others‘“，GeorgesMarchais，theFrenchCommunistleader，violentlydisagreed：‘Forus‘，hesaid，‘everymanandwomanofFrenchnationalityisFrench。Franceisnotamultinationalstate：itisonenation，theproductofalonghistory。。。。‘

para。6Onewouldthinkthatnationalidentityisaclear－cuteither/oraffair，butitisonething，forexample，tohaveaTurkishpassport，anotherthingtoascribetoyourselfaTurkishnationalidentityifyouwereborn，raisedandeducated，say，inGermany，arenativespeakerofGerman，andhappentohaveTurkishparents。