Understanding Culture and Its Traits

Culture

• Culture: The combined knowledge, attitudes, technologies, and behaviors shared and passed down in a society.
• Cultural Traits: A single aspect of a culture (e.g., food, architecture). Example: A turban in Sikhism.
• Cultural Complex: Related cultural traits. Example: The five Ks in Sikhism.
• Cultural Hearth: The origin point for cultural traits, spreading to other locations. Example: England's medieval club ball game.
• Cultural Diffusion: The movement of cultural traits from their source to other regions. Example: McDonald's adapting to Indian culture.
• Time-Distance Decay: Cultural influence diminishes with distance and time from its origin. Example: NFL's influence weaker outside the U.S.
• Time-Space Compression/Convergence: Modern technology reduces barriers, accelerating cultural diffusion. Example: K-Pop's global spread.
• Cultural Barrier: Cultural factors preventing the adoption of ideas or innovations. Example: Beef consumption in India due to religious beliefs.
• Expansion Diffusion: Cultural traits spread from a hearth, while still being present there. Example: Islam's spread.
• Contagious Diffusion: Cultural spread through direct contact, affecting many people. Example: Mustache popularity via social media.
• Hierarchical Diffusion: Spread from a dominant source to other places. Example: Paris Hilton's influence on tracksuits.
• Stimulus Diffusion: Existing cultural traits adapted to new contexts. Example: McDonald's vegetarian menu in India.
• Relocation Diffusion: People moving and carrying their culture with them. Example: Chinatowns.
• Assimilation: Minority culture fully adopting traits of the dominant culture.
• Acculturation: Adopting some dominant culture, retaining distinctiveness.
• Cultural Landscapes: Visible traces of human activity on the land. Example: St. Peter's Basilica.
• Sequent Occupance: Layers of cultural influences over time in a specific region. Example: Mexico City.
• Local (Folk) Culture: Traditional culture of a small homogenous rural group. Example: Hutterites.
• Ethnocentrism: Judging other cultures based on your own.
• Cultural Relativism: Understanding cultures based on their own contexts.
• Cultural Appropriation: Adopting elements from another culture without understanding or respect. Example: Katy Perry's geisha-inspired performance.
• Placelessness: Loss of uniqueness in an environment due to standardization.
• Place: A location with distinctive physical and human characteristics.
• Cultural Authenticity: The concept of maintaining cultural traditions in the face of change. Example: Las Vegas.

Language

• Phonetic Language: Script based on sounds. Example: Latin.
• Logographic Language: Script represents words or concepts. Example: Mandarin.
• Colonization's Impact on Script Diffusion: The spread of languages like Latin and Arabic due to colonialism.
• Cultural Diffusion without Colonization: Other methods for languages to spread.
• Language Diversity: Greater script variety in East and Southeast Asia.
• Endangered Languages: Languages at risk of extinction due to various factors, prevalent among indigenous populations.
• Language: A system of sounds and symbols for communication.
• Mutual Intelligibility: The ability of speakers from different backgrounds to understand each other.
• Language Variations: Differences in vocabulary, pronunciation, and syntax between dialects.
• Isogloss: Boundary marking the geographic distribution of linguistic features.
• Dialect Chain/Continuum: Dialects connect gradually across a region.
• Cognates: Words in different languages with common origin. Example: English "mother" and German "Mutter."
• Loanwords: Words borrowed from one language to another. Example: "tofu."
• Code Switching: Using multiple languages in a single conversation.
• Language Divergence: Splitting of a language into distinct forms.
• Language Families: Languages sharing a common ancestor.
  • Indo-European: Includes English, Spanish, Russian, Hindi, etc.
  • Proto-Indo-European (PIE): The ancestral language.
• Major Language Families of Europe: Examples: Germanic (English), Romance (Spanish), Slavic (Russian).
• Language Families of Africa: Examples: Khoisan, Niger-Congo, Afro-Asiatic.
• Lingua Franca: Common language for communication between speakers with different native languages. Example: Swahili.
• Pidgin: Simplified language between groups speaking different languages, often lacking complex grammar.
• Creole: A developed language stemming from a pidgin, becoming more complex over generations. Example: Jamaican Patois.
• Monolingualism vs. Multilingualism: Monolingual versus multilingual countries.
• Political Boundaries and Language Correlation: Language boundaries in Europe often align with political ones, sometimes not in Africa due to colonization.
• Standard Language: Formal language codified for official use. Example: Mandarin in China.
• Official Language: A language designated for governmental use. Example: Sometimes English in the United States.
• Toponyms: Place names reflecting cultural or historical context.

This quiz explores fundamental concepts of culture, including cultural traits, cultural complexes, and cultural diffusion. Test your knowledge on how cultures influence each other and the factors that facilitate or hinder this exchange. Ideal for students of sociology or cultural studies.