Cultura Anglo-Americana

Helena Maria Gramiscelli Magalhes

Helena Maria Gramiscelli Magalhes

Cultura Anglo-Americana

Montes Claros/MG - 2012

Copyright : Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros UNIVERSIDADE ESTADUAL DE MONTES CLAROS - UNIMONTES

REITOR Joo dos Reis Canela VICE-REITORA Maria Ivete Soares de Almeida DIRETOR DE DOCUMENTAO E INFORMAES Huagner Cardoso da Silva CONSELHO EDITORIAL Maria Cleonice Souto de Freitas Rosivaldo Antnio Gonalves Slvio Fernando Guimares de Carvalho Wanderlino Arruda REVISO DE LNGUA PORTUGUESA ngela Heloiza Buxton Arlete Ribeiro Nepomuceno Aurinete Barbosa Tiago Carla Roselma Athayde Moraes Luci Kikuchi Veloso Maria Cristina Ruas de Abreu Maia Maria Lda Clementino Marques Ubiratan da Silva Meireles

REVISO TCNICA Admilson Eustquio Prates Cludia de Jesus Maia Josiane Santos Brant Karen Trres Corra Lafet de Almeida Kthia Silva Gomes Marcos Henrique de Oliveira DESIGN EDITORIAL E CONTROLE DE PRODUO DE CONTEDO Andria Santos Dias Camilla Maria Silva Rodrigues Clsio Robert Almeida Caldeira Fernando Guilherme Veloso Queiroz Francielly Sousa e Silva Hugo Daniel Duarte Silva Marcos Aurlio de Almeida e Maia Magda Lima de Oliveira Sanzio Mendona Henriques Tatiane Fernandes Pinheiro Ttylla Ap. Pimenta Faria Vincius Antnio Alencar Batista Wendell Brito Mineiro Zilmar Santos Cardoso

Catalogao: Biblioteca Central Professor Antnio Jorge - Unimontes Ficha Catalogrfica:

2012 Proibida a reproduo total ou parcial. Os infratores sero processados na forma da lei. EDITORA UNIMONTES Campus Universitrio Professor Darcy Ribeiro s/n - Vila Mauricia - Montes Claros (MG) Caixa Postal: 126 - CEP: 39.401-089 Correio eletrnico: editora@unimontes.br - Telefone: (38) 3229-8214

Ministro da Educao Fernando Haddad Presidente Geral da CAPES Jorge Almeida Guimares Diretor de Educao a Distncia da CAPES Joo Carlos Teatini de Souza Clmaco Governador do Estado de Minas Gerais Antnio Augusto Junho Anastasia Vice-Governador do Estado de Minas Gerais Alberto Pinto Coelho Jnior Secretrio de Estado de Cincia, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior Nrcio Rodrigues Reitor da Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros - Unimontes Joo dos Reis Canela Vice-Reitora da Unimontes Maria Ivete Soares de Almeida Pr-Reitora de Ensino Anete Marlia Pereira Diretor do Centro de Educao a Distncia Jnio Marques Dias Coordenadora da UAB/Unimontes Maria ngela Lopes Dumont Macedo Coordenadora Adjunta da UAB/Unimontes Betnia Maria Arajo Passos Diretor do Centro de Cincias Humanas - CCH Antnio Wagner Veloso Rocha Diretora do Centro de Cincias Biolgicas da Sade - CCBS Maria das Mercs Borem Correa Machado Diretor do Centro de Cincias Sociais Aplicadas - CCSA Paulo Cesar Mendes Barbosa Chefe do Departamento de Artes Maristela Cardoso Freitas

Chefe do Departamento de Cincias Biolgicas Guilherme Victor Nippes Pereira Chefe do Departamento de Cincias Sociais Maria da Luz Alves Ferreira Chefe do Departamento de Geocincias Guilherme Augusto Guimares Oliveira Chefe do Departamento de Histria Donizette Lima do Nascimento Chefe do Departamento de Comunicao e Letras Ana Cristina Santos Peixoto Chefe do Departamento de Educao Andra Lafet de Melo Franco Coordenadora do Curso a Distncia de Artes Visuais Maria Elvira Curty Romero Christoff Coordenador do Curso a Distncia de Cincias Biolgicas Afrnio Farias de Melo Junior Coordenadora do Curso a Distncia de Cincias Sociais Cludia Regina Santos de Almeida Coordenadora do Curso a Distncia de Geografia Janete Aparecida Gomes Zuba Coordenadora do Curso a Distncia de Histria Jonice dos Reis Procpio Coordenadora do Curso a Distncia de Letras/Espanhol Orlanda Miranda Santos Coordenadora do Curso a Distncia de Letras/Ingls Hejaine de Oliveira Fonseca Coordenadora do Curso a Distncia de Letras/Portugus Ana Cristina Santos Peixoto Coordenadora do Curso a Distncia de Pedagogia Maria Narduce da Silva

Autora
PhD in Linguistics and Portuguese Language (Pontifcia Universidade Catlica de Minas Gerais (PUC-MINAS). M.A. in English language (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais).Graduation in Letters (Portuguese, English and German, Pontifcia Universidade Catlica de Minas Gerais (PUC-MINAS). Teaching License in Portuguese and English. Author published two books: O Ensino e Aprendizagem de Lngua Estrangeira (UFMG Publisher, December 1987), in partenership with Dr Reinildes Dias, and Aprendendo com Humor (Mercado de Letras Publishers, December, 2010). Currently author is a lecturer and reviewer of academic texts (books, articles, dissertations, theses) and a content writer for UAB/Unimontes courses both in the Portuguese and in English languages. Author is also a specialist in evaluating Post Graduation courses for the Conselho Estadual de Educao de Minas Gerais.

Helena Maria Gramiscelli Magalhes

Sumrio
Apresentao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Unit 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
What is this all about?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 1.2 Anglo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 1.3 Anglo- saxon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 1.4 Anglo- america . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 1.5 Anglo-American . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 1.6 On language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 1.7 On culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Unit 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Where do these things come from? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 2.2 America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 2.3 The USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

Unit 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
Where does this all lead us to? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 3.2 Some small talk: american culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 3.3 Some cultural traits and the literary text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 3.4 Miscellaneous other American cultural traits.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 3.5 The performing arts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 3.6 Culture in second language teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 3.7 Culture and language teaching policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 Learning activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81

Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana

Apresentao
By way of presentation
Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own (Goethe). Hi, there? Dear students, I want you to read the following text and be prepared for some discussion on Anglo-American Culture, one of the disciplines you will study this semester. TEXT

Figure 1: Colors represented and USAs President Barack Obama.

Source: Available at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Flower. Access in Feb. 13th, 2011.

Three men, an Italian, a French man and a Portuguese went for a job interview in England. Before the interview, they are told that they must compose one sentence in English containing three main words: GREEN, PINK, and YELLOW The Italian was the first: I wake up in the morning. I see the YELLOW sun. I see the GREEN grass, andI think to myself, I hope it will be a PINK day. The French was the next: I wake up in the morning, I eat a YELLOW banana, a GREEN pepper and in the evening I watch the PINK panther on TV. The last one was the Portuguese: I wake up in the morning; I hear the phone GREEN... GREEN... GREEN..., I PINK up the phone and I say YELLOW?

UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo Glossary

trigger: produce immediate results. Onomatopoeias: the representation of sounds produced by nature, animals and things as culturally heard, like meow (of cats), honk, honk (of car horns), bang, bang (of shooting with a gun), crash (of cars, trains or planes hitting something or someone or something breaking); Ambiguity: a word having more than one meaning. phatic functionlanguage usually used (only?) to maintain communication, or fulfill spaces between dialogical moments of communication. Examples: Hello? Hi?, Hey? Good morning. How are you doing? Bye, see you soon, Good day etc. holistic: integral, total, complete.

To understand this joke you must have a good knowledge of the Anglo-American culture as well as communicative competence in English, since translating the text into Portuguese would be of no use for its interpretation. Why would it be so? In the text, humor is triggered by linguistic games involving onomatopoeias and phonological ambiguity specifically provoked through the use of some colors: Green, green, green - phonological ambiguity similarity in sound to the ringing of telephones and bells. Pink phonological ambiguity similarity in sound to the word pick, the latter being a verb which means take the telephone handle and answer it. Yellow-phonological ambiguity similarity in sound with a language phatic function (Hello?). Eventually, what makes the text funny is your knowledge of English, of the world and of the cultural aspects involved. Did you know that? And yet, some points must be considered and discussed such as: would the words GREEN GREN sound for the Anglo-American people in the same way as they sound for the Brazilian individuals, something like TRIM, TRIM? I mean, would the USA people hear/feel this same sound when a telephone rings? Would they mishear PINK for PICK? Would they hear the words YELLOW and HELLO as having identical sounds? What do you think, dear students? All these things considered would result in an amazing question: Could you guess the nationality of the jokes author? Find the answer for this question at the end of this unit. In this textbook, intended for a 90-hour course, I argue that culture underlies and constitutes an indispensable factor for the efficient learning and teaching of a foreign language (FL) English. Having this in mind, we are about to enter the magic world of amazing cultural manifestations which invariably (would) intrigue us and interfere in the process of learning the English language. My objective is to show you how this process takes place, how culture and language are tightly intertwined to make language learning pleasurable and effective. In sum, I demonstrate that language and culture are partners who will help you accomplish your goal of learning and teaching English properly. It follows that another purpose will be achieved as your minds open to receive different views of distinct countries and societies and their peoples intentions, views of the world, habits, Art, and peculiar ways of living and saying things. This knowledge can be acquired delightfully with no pain and lots of gain. It will be evidenced that culture builds language which in its turn builds culture. The assertion seems complex but it is not: language depends on culture that depends on language, that is, they are interdependent. If you disregard culture, the learning of English as a second language will be innocuous, insipid. We will also approach some concepts pertinent to the relation of culture to language revisiting different notions and postulates proposed by contemporary linguists and scholars. I want you to track this textbook and dive into the richness and beauty of the Anglo-American culture and language so that at the end of the course on this discipline you will have been convinced that merging culture and language is fundamental for both teaching learning English, and I hope you will take this conviction with you through your life long. It is always well to remember that the teaching of any content must always depart from the students previous knowledge, and that the central aim of teaching must be the holistic formation of that individual. The purpose of teaching with these objectives is to form a responsible, cooperative, and critical individual who will be able to change himself and transform society. Having all this in mind I define for the discipline Anglo-American culture the following objectives: General objective: to point out the role of culture in the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language. Specific objectives: Discuss the concepts of the expressions Anglo, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-America and Anglo American. Revisit some concepts of language. Discuss general notions of culture Detect, list and discuss some aspects of the Anglo-American culture in distinct texts. Analyze and evaluate cultural phenomena and manifestations in literary and non-literary texts; Discuss and evaluate the nature of interculturality for the teaching of an FL.

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana By the time, we have reached these objectives and you have learned the content proposed in this textbook, you will have realized that culture performs a central role in the study and learning of any language and how the latter operates and subsidies any sort of analysis, linguistic, discursive, syntactical, you wish to make. This Anglo- American Culture textbook is divided into three (03) Units which are also divided in subunits as follows: Unit 1: What is this all about? 1.1. Introducton 1.2 Anglo 1.3 Anglo- saxon 1.6 Anglo- america 1.5 Anglo-american 1.6 On language 1.6.1 Language is unique and arbitrary. 1.6.2 Language concepts and related notions. 1.7 On Culture 1.7.1 The Relation of Language to Culture 1.7.2 Language is determined by Culture 1.7.3 Language is part of Culture 1.7.4 Language and culture intertwined 1.8 References Unit 2: Where do these things come from? 2.1 Introduction 2.2 America 2.3 The USA 2.3.1 Demographics 2.3.2 US languages 2.3.3 The US symbols: The Flag, The Bald Eagle, The Great Seal and The Star-Spangled Banner 2.3.4 Anglo-Americans 2.3.5 The (North) Americans: Ethnicity, religious beliefs, rituals, and sacred places 2.3.5.1 The Afro-Americans: demography, religious beliefs, economic status, politics, social issues and education 2.3.5.2 Hispanic and Latino Americans 2.3.5.3 Immigration and the Whites 2.4 References Unit 3: Where does it all lead us to? 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Some small talk: American Culture 3.2.1 The Spanish Holy Office 3.2.2 Witch Hunts in America 3.3 Some cultural traits and the literary text 3.4 Miscellaneous other American cultural traits 3.5 The Performing Arts 3.5.1 Last but not least; Musical Theater, Musicals 3.6Culture in second language teaching 3.7 Culture and second language policy 3.8 References The content of this textbook is grounded on these units and subunits. The topics suggested for debates and discussions complement that content. To support your work I will provide you with some illustrative analyses of texts and will demand you to do tasks in which I include various types of texts as the literary, non-literary and some humoristic ones the latter with the intention of demonstrating how humor is highly dependent on culture and on linguistic phenomena.

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo Clue: phenomena - the plural form for phenomenon. The word is originated from Greek. Other examples of words that make their plural in the same way are: automaton/ automata; criterion/ criteria. To know more: Research about the plural of foreign words in the traditional grammar Essential English for foreign students, by C. E. Eckersley Essential English is a course in four books, of which this is the first, for the teaching of English to adult foreign students. It aims at giving the student a sound knowledge of the essentials of both spoken and written English and at taking him on the way to a mastery of idiomatic conversational and literary English. This textbook offers you interactive icons through which you can test your knowledge (tasks), give it a second thought (To learn more), check the meaning of some (most probably unknown) words and expressions that the material contains (glossary), and orient you to deal with the topics better and indicate sites in the Web and virtual libraries which aim at supporting learning (clues). All these interactive icons are suggested along the text and identified as follows:

GLOSSARY
Tasks: Activities and exercises done during the course. Clue: anything that serves to guide or orient in the solution of a question, problem, mystery etc. (correspondent to Dica in Portuguese).

CLUES

TO LEARN MORE TASKS

GLOSSARY

I hope, dear students, that you are a little more prepared to deal with the Anglo-American culture, specifically that of the USA, and its implications for the teaching and learning of English. Anglo-American culture is an intriguing and not hard subject to learn. It is fundamental that you take both the content and the activities of this textbook seriously and read the texts suggested for extra reading. They all constitute basic elements not only for the development of your knowledge, for supporting eventual debates, but mainly for grounding your learning of the cultural aspects involving the English language learning and teaching. From now on, dear students, investigate all notions and concepts contemplated in this textbook, question them, suggest alternatives for analysis, discuss the topics, try new things and ways, make a difference and emerge from the course with a broader knowledge of the AngloAmerican culture, of the English language and about your own one. This textbook is not intended, and no one would be that pretentious, to exhaust the issues involved in the Anglo-American Culture, or in any other. The author

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana

What is this all about? 1.1 Introduction

To understand where all the assumptions discussed in By Way of Presentation come from, I will approach some concepts and notions about language and culture. Still, some historical, geographical, political, social and religious aspects will be pointed out as they contribute for the formation of the American people and help determine the involvement of culture with language. To achieve such a goal I will revisit expressions such as Anglo, Anglo- Saxon, Anglo-America, and Anglo-American and will make considerations on the intimate relation of culture to language demonstrating how language influences culture and how culture helps build language and how both of them intertwine to denude society and explain the social web. Comparisons with Brazilian culture are inevitable and duly provided to enhance your understanding of the content of the discipline Anglo-American Culture. Let us take a look at the following cartoon.

UNIT 1

CLUE
The husbands use of the word honey, the clothes the men characters are wearing. Would Brazilians be dressed like those Americans at home? Moreover also the uncontrollable habit of buying anything from the EBay site is a trait of the (humor in) American culture. But would buying things on the Internet be a trait of the American culture only? Of course it would not. But the husband seems indifferent towards his wife behavior she bought a man! Buying people through the Internet is incongruous. So he used American humor and irony.

TASK
Find on the Internet either one article, or news, comment or paper which discusses the causes of the American economy problems. Seek for new words and expressions in this material clearly created in face of and from the situation the Americans have been through since 2008.

Figure 2: Humoristic charge-text

Source: It appears vertically on the left side of the charge. Access 1 May, 2010.

GLOSSARY
Can you point out what would be considered traits of the Anglo-American culture in this cartoon? If you cannot dont worry about it; maybe it is because we have not so far discussed these expressions. Anyway, check the answer in the Clue inserted in this page, as it will provide you with some basic knowledge about the American culture. Based upon your empiricist, epistemological and linguistic knowledge let us revisit some terms crucial for the understanding of what underlies the study of the issues in the discipline in question. After all, what is this all about? Let us learn more about some words and expressions involved in the content Anglo- American Culture.
empiricist: knowledge of the world, from your experience and through media. Epistemological: knowledge acquired from books, and Ebooks on the Internet, the scientific knowledge.

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo

1.2 Anglo
The Angles are probably originated from Angeln (in modern Germany). Bede, a Benedictine monk, wrote that their whole nation/tribe came to Britain, leaving their former land empty. The name England (Old English: Engla land or ngla land) originates from this tribe.

1.3 Anglo- saxon

Figure 3: People in their costumes during the Anglo-Saxon era which lasted about 700 AD to 1066.

Source: BBC - Primary History - AngloSaxons; Available at www.bbc.co.uk/ schools/primaryhistory/anglo_saxons/ - En cache

Historians use this term to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded the south and east of Great Britain in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman Conquest. The Anglo-Saxon is the period of English history between about 550 and 1066 AD. The expression is also used for the language called Old English, spoken and written by the Anglo-Sax-

ons and their descendants in much of what is now England and some of southeastern Scotland( between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century). But the focus here is the expression Anglo which, to a certain extent, comes to denote all English-speaking people and their descendants, no matter their prior ethnic background.

1.4 Anglo- america

Figure 4: North America Map, North America Countries: Mexico, Canada, and the USA.

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Source: Available at www.wikipedia.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/na.Access in 11th March, 2011.

Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana Anglo-America refers to a region in the Americas where English is a main language US and Canada - or one which has significant British historical, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural links. But North America is divided into AngloAmerica and Latin America, the latter referring to Mexico, country of North America in which Spanish is spoken. In Canada variably English and French are spoken as native languages. The noun phrase (expression) AngloAmerica concentrates two of the most rich and powerful countries of the world, Canada and the USA, was named by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemller and Matthias Ringmann after the Italian explorer Americo Vespucci. He explored South America between 1497 and 1502 and was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different territory previously unknown by Europeans. The expression sometimes is a reference to the two countries together. And, although Quebec, the French region of Canada, has a French-speaking majority, it is considered part of Anglo-America due to cultural, historical, economic, geographical and political aspects. The USA and Canada present different forms of culture manifestations that are representations of the multiplicity of scenarios which stand before us and are conveyed through language. Obviously there are similarities and differences between the cultures of Anglo-American countries because they share many social, historical and political facts that can be interpreted differently by human beings as unique creatures. Because it would be a very extensive task to proceed with the study of the cultural manifestations of both countries included in the term Anglo-America, in this textbook I will approach only the USA culture which is in itself a kaleidoscope of political, social, cultural, economic, artistic, philosophical, historical and traditional aspects, to name only a few. In this scenario language throughout times denudes the formation of an identity exclusively American and determined by the multiple and multifaceted cultural and linguistic manifestations. Therefore language and culture become inseparable. To prove this fact, dear students, consider that if you see an American movie or sitcom/ series attentively and concentrate on language you will find many cultural aspects in terms of behavior, addressing the interlocutor, ways of viewing the world, familial relations, Art, and realize that those aspects differ from the Brazilian ones. An example is that Americans think people change. In Brazil such assertive would not be consensual. This means that to compare cultures can sometimes be an unviable task. On account of that, some differences and similarities between the American and Brazilian cultures will be dealt with mainly during the analysis and discussion of various topics and sorts of texts.

TASK
See the film American Beauty and also one of the episodes of the sitcom/series Two and a Half Men (Warner Channel). You will find interesting cultural manifestations not commonly found in the Brazilian culture or, if manifested in it, it would be in a rather different way. Detect some of them, write them down and discuss them with your tutor and classmates.

TO LEARN MORE
War of 1812 - refers to a military conflict between the United States of America and the British Empire. The Americans declared war for several reasons: a desire for expansion into the Northwest Territory, trade restrictions because of Britains ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy, British support of American Indian tribes against American expansion, and the humiliation of American honor available at: www.facebook.com/ pages/...America. Read this site to obtain more information about the War of 1812.

1.5 Anglo-American
The noun phrase (expression) AngloAmerican is generally used to denote the cultural atmosphere shared by the United States and English Canada. But the Anglo-American culture is obviously different from the French culture also disseminated in the French Canada. Some political leaders (The ex-American President Ronald Reagan and the former Minister Winston Churchill for instance) long ago used the expression to discuss the relationship of the United States to the United Kingdom, especially if you have in mind that the American territory was colonized by the English, among other foreigners who reached America before the English had set foot on the American soil. The expression Anglo-American is also used to describe English American, North American persons of English origin, or background. It serves too to define the relations between the United Kingdom on one hand, and the Americas, in particular the United States, on the other. For example, AngloAmerican relations were tense before the War of 1812. (Available at www.facebook.com/ pages/...America. Access in 17th May, 2011).

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo

1.6 On language
The English word language derives from Latin lingua, language and tongue. There is a metaphoric relation between language and the tongue in many languages and it testifies to the historical prominence of spoken languages. But would we know for sure how many languages are there in the world? It is hard to say. Some people say that there are approximately 5 billion. And whichever is your language among these 5 billion you talk, listen to, and think it is in the special way it has been shaped by your culture (over)loaded with social historical aspects, experiences, behavior, identities, ethos, mores and attitudes. The chance of meeting someone who talks your language as you do is quite remote. (By an anonymous, available at www.developingteachers.com/quotes/q1.htm. Access in 11th January. 2011.) However, natural languages can also be based on visual rather than auditive stimuli, for example in sign languages (non-verbal language) and written language. Codes and other kinds of artificially constructed communication systems such as those used for computer programming can also be called languages. A language in this sense is a system of signs for encoding and decoding information. The word language has two meanings: as a general concept (including verbal and non-verbal expressions) and a language, (a specific linguistic system, or code, e.g. Italian). Languages other than English often have two separate words for these distinct concepts. French for example, following Saussures dichotomy uses the word langue for language as a concept and parole as the specific instance of language, speech. The former is social, homogenous system of rules and part of collectivity. The latter is individual, variable, heterogeneous, not systematic and concrete; it is through speech that language evolves. According to Saussure language is an abstract system and speech the concretization of this system which is in the mind of the speaker who makes it concrete by means of speech. In Brazilian Portuguese we use lingual for the linguistic system of rules and linguagem to refer to any form of expression or communication (verbal and non-verbal). As a general concept, the linguistic phenomenon can be defined in distinct ways. One definition sees language as the mental faculty that allows humans to express linguistic behavior, learn languages, produce and understand utterances. This concept evidences the universality of language to all humans and the biological basis of the human capacity for language as a unique development of the human brain. This view understands language as innate, as Chomsky postulated. Another definition describes language as a formal closed structural system of symbols ruled by grammatical rules that relate particular signs to particular meanings, that is, Structuralism. As you already know, the structuralist theory was firstly introduced by the linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. This view of language had adepts as Noam Chomsky who introduced the generative grammar and defined language as a particular set of sentences that can be generated from a particular set of rules. In the philosophy of language these views are commonly associated with famous philosophers such as Bertrand Russell, early Wittgenstein, Alfred Tarski and Gottlob Frege. Language is also seen as an instrument for communication that enables humans to cooperate and share experiences. This definition stresses the social functions of language and the fact that humans use it to express themselves and communicate. This view of language is also associated with the study of language in a functional, or pragmatic and sociolinguistic framework. In the Philosophy of language these views are often associated with Wittgensteins later works and with language philosophers such as G. E. Moore, Paul Grice, J. L. Austin and John Searle. It is well known that the first form of written language is called cuneiform, but spoken language has been seen as a predator of writing for almost two centuries. Language may refer both to the human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, and to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication. The scientific study of language in any of its senses is called Linguistics. The human language faculty is thought to be fundamentally different from and of much higher complexity than those of other species. It is highly complex in that it is based on a set of rules relating symbols to their meanings, thereby forming an infinite number of possible innovative utterances from a finite number of elements. Language origin would date back to the period when early hominids first started co-

CLUE
Chomskys works of 1957, 1955, and 1965 contain what you need to know about the Innatist theory he advocates in his Universal Grammar. Such assumption, that language is innate, is also applied by studies of language in Neurolinguistics and Cognitive Science.

TASK
Find out and explain why the first written language is called CUNEIFORM. Discuss it with classmates and tutor.

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana operating and adapting earlier systems of communication based on expressive signs to include a theory of other minds and shared intentionality. This development is thought to have coincided with an increase in brain volume. Language is processed in many different locations in the human brain, but especially in Brocas and Wernickes areas. Humans acquire language through social interaction in early childhood, and children generally speak fluently when they are around three years old. The use of language has become deeply entrenched in human culture and, apart from being used to communicate and share information it also has social and cultural uses, such as signifying group identity, social stratification and for social grooming and entertainment. The word language can also be used to describe the set of rules (grammar) that makes this possible, or the set of utterances that can be produced from those rules (syntax), that is, the linguistic code. However, language is more than speech and writing, it is the making and sharing of meaning with ourselves and others, according to Emmitt and Pollock (1997, p.19). Languages invariably rely on the process of semiosis to relate a sign with a particular meaning. Spoken and signed languages contain a phonological system that governs how sounds or visual symbols are used to form sequences known as words or morphemes, and a syntactic system that rules how words and morphemes are used to form phrases and utterances. Written languages use visual symbols that represent the sounds of the spoken languages, but they still require syntactic rules that govern the production of meaning from sequences of words. Languages evolve and diversify over time, and the history of their evolution can be reconstructed by comparing modern languages to determine which traits their ancestral languages must have had for the later stages to have occurred. The languages that are mostly spoken in the world today belong to the IndoEuropean family, which includes languages such as English, Spanish, Russian and a vast range of other groups of languages all over the world. To conclude, language has a relation to thinking and cognition. Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897-1941), an American linguist already quoted in this textbook and famous for discussing this issue stated elsewhere that language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about, to which Albrecht would add: Change your language and you change your thoughts (www.dgtladyKarlAlbrechtquotes). I wonderHow about you, my friends?

TASK
Answer: What are Wernickes and Brocas areas? Search about them, write the information and discuss them with your tutor. Glossary
morpheme: Term used in Morphology. A morpheme is composed by phoneme(s), the smallest linguistically distinctive units of sound in spoken language, that has semantic meaning. Example: unbelievable: has three morphemes: un-, a bound morpheme. (Available at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Morpheme.

TASK
At this point, dear students, I ask you to take a second reading of the Textbook on Morphology of the English Language (2010) written for your course by Martins, de Souza and Ferreira de Souza to review interesting details about morphemes and related issues and words.

1.6.1 Language is unique and arbitrary

Where does this uniqueness of human language come from? It is unique in that if compared to other forms of communication, such as those used by other animals (that can only express a finite number of utterances that are mostly genetically transmitted), it allows us to produce an infinite set of utterances. Moreover, the symbols and grammatical rules of any particular language are largely arbitrary. In sum, human language is unique in that unlike other systems of communication its complex structure has evolved to serve a wider range of functions. How do names attach themselves to particular objects and people? This question dates back to Plato and can still be posed in contemporary times intrigued with the question: does, and how, this connection mean anything? Today, books have discussed the subject, and Names to Give Your Baby or Readers Digest columns of apt names and professionals is a good example. The question of naming is a subset of the larger but equally relevant subject of language: is language arbitrary and conventional (it is simply an agreed label for a pre-existing entity) or is it motivated (it creates the entity which it names)? Do cultural attitudes influence naming practices across centuries and continents, exploring what they mean to someone? Do peoples bear the names they do out of nothing, or are they associated to something or attitudes? The discussion would include psychological analysis, social anthropology, etymology, baptismal trends, different cultures and periods social practices. To cut the long story short, why are languages arbitrary? They are arbitrary in that there is no necessary or natural relationship between the words of a given language and the concepts that they represent. For example, there is nothing in the word tree that connects it to the concept of a tree; which is why Portuguese and Brazilians can use a totally different sign for the same concept: rvore; and so on with other languages. Also, languages are arbitrary because the rules for the combination of signs in order to produce complete

To Expand lEarninG
refer to one of the latest book on this matter: The Way we think, Conceptual Blending and the Minds Hidden Complexities, by Gilles Faucconnier and Mark Turner, 2002.

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo thoughts are different from one language to the other, and no set of rules can claim to be the right one. For example, in English you say I like beer, whereas in Spanish you would say Me gusta la cerveza and the translation of the latter into English would be something like: Beer is agreeable to me, or [is agreeable to me the beer], which sounds strange in English. But make no mistake: neither of these formulations has a better claim to accuracy, correctness or truth than the other. In simple words, the arbitrariness of language is the fact that there is no direct connection between the sound or form of any word and the object which it represents in such a way that the system can only be acquired through social interaction.

1.6.2 Language concepts and related notions.

Animals and even plants communicate with each other, so some respectful scientists say. Therefore, humans are not unique in this capability; however, human language is unique in being a symbolic communication system that is learned instead of biological inheritance. The users give meaning to symbols/signs that are sounds or things. You must have studied in the discipline Introduction to Linguistics, dear student, that originally, the sign and its meaning are arbitrary. For instance, the English word cat does not physically resemble the animal it stands for. Meaning cannot be discovered by mere examination of their forms though symbols have a material form. Why? It is because signs and Chuyntnhmygi Ta yunhaungy Anhlgiemlmy Giirongy Giitmmy Giamyiyi Ninocgi Niscmy Nuniycmy Emstm thy gi Vgilunu Yumychmyvtmnmy. (Author: the Vietnamese NguynThanhHiu) Did you sing it? No? Why? Now, take a look at the following pictures.
Figures 5, 6, 7: Tropical Summer
Source:http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/? CTT=6&ver=14&app=win word.exe

symbols are abstractions. An example for that would be: Do the following words resemble the cat mentioned here: Feles/felis, gato, der kate and chat? Of course not because language is arbitrary: there is no direct relation between the word and the object/sign/symbol it refers to. By the way, these are words for cat in Latin, Portuguese/Spanish, German and French respectively. Undoubtedly language is the most important component of culture because much of the rest of it is normally transmitted orally. To understand the subtle nuances and meanings of another culture you must know its language well. So, take a look at the song below. Shall we sing it?

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana Dear students, how is it that a North Pole citizen would understand a summer like the one portrayed in the Figures above? If it is not pertaining to his culture, how could he express himself in his language before such landscapes with a Delta wing, people surfing and a raft in the northeast of Brazil, if he lives surrounded by ice? This enlightens the notion of the relation of culture to language. Early childhood, children are inherently capable of learning the necessary phonemes, morphemes, and syntax only as they mature. In other words, they have a genetic propensity to learn language aspects already discussed by Chomsky (1962), that is, the innatist theory. Specialists in this matter claim that human beings come into the world with an eagerness to learn, and that same eagerness for language acquisition is a major aspect of this learning. However it is not entirely clear, how humans learn a language. Many linguists would agree that they do it by firstly listening to the adult speakers and trying to communicate with them, that is, in their early stages of learning the language they imitate the phonemes, the intonation and stress. And later, also through imitation, they start learning grammar. Early studies demonstrate that American children learn fast in the early years of their life. At one year of age they can use three words consisting of single morphemes (such as eat, mom). At six, they are already able to use about 2,500 morphemes and build simple sentence constructions (for instance more milk) which have begun at two. In the early stages, children start by using a vocabulary and grammar largely of their own construction. This is only their attempt to systematize and organize their own simple speech. When children start to learn standard grammar, they tend to over-regularize it, I mean they learn a general rule and apply it in all situations. For instance, the past tense of 97% of the English verbs is made by adding the suffix -ed, as in talk- talked. Children will often use it to irregular verbs as well. It follows that, obviously, take becomes taked, bring becomes bringed, drink becomes drinked. This is a dangerous rule to follow as, unfortunately, for these children English has about 165 irregular verbs that must be memorized. To make things worse the 10 most frequently used verbs in English are irregular (be, have, do, go, say, can, will, see, take, and get). Language is far more than a mere means of communication same as our thought and cultural processes are highly influenced by our language. American linguists and anthropologists in the last forty years have seen language as being more important than it really is because they say it shapes (and reveals) our perception of reality. In this line of thought, Edward Sapir and his student Benjamin Whorf (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) claimed that language predetermines what we see in the world around us, that is, language filters reality. In sum, you see the real world only in the categories of your language. Sapir and Whorf used the words which symbolize colors to cross cultural comparisons to give evidence of their hypothesis. They postulate that when you perceive color with your eyes, you sense that visible light which is a portion of electromagnetic radiation. As a matter of fact, according to Physics, the spectrum of visible light is a continuum of light waves with frequencies that increase at a continuous rate from one end to the other. In other words, nature has no distinct colors like blue and red. It is our culture and our language that orient us to seeing the spectrum in terms of the arbitrary established categories we name colors. This spectrum may be divided up in different cultures in distinct ways. This statement can easily be proved in the comparison of some English language colors with other counterparts in many other languages. A simple example is the English word for the color RED: rojo, vermelho, rosso, rouge, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French correspondents to red, respectively. But what the linguists Sapir-Whorf emphasized in their hypothesis was that the shades of colors were seen differently from culture to culture. It is known that the Eskimos use many terms to symbolize snow, and that Tiv language of Nigeria has only one term to symbolize different colors. In sum people see colors differently. After all, the Eskimos name snow with so many words because they live with it daily, day and night. Following this line of thought, I wonder what words and expressions they would use to symbolize lingerie, bikini, green pastures, extreme heat, cotton, summer, spring etc. However, it seems that the linguists have taken their research too far, after all normal men share similar sense perceptions of color despite differences in color terminology from one language to another. Moreover, human eyes have essentially the same physiology. Therefore, all of us can see subtle shades of color and can comprehend other ways of dividing up the spectrum of visible light.

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo

TASK
Find out the English expression for azul marinho in Portuguese. You will see that the origin is the same in both languages. Discuss the subject with your tutor.

Figure 8: Japanese girl wearing a sweater.

Illustration credits by Dennis ONeil. Availableat:www.anthro. palomar.edu/language/ language_5.htm. Access in 6th July 2011.

Nevertheless, as economy and technology increase in complexity all over the world, the number of color terms increase in the same proportion, I mean, the spectrum of visible light is subdivided into many more categories. Still, as the environment changes, language and culture respond accordingly by creating new terminology to describe it. Sapir and Whorf concluded that these data indicated that colors are not objective, not naturally determined segments of reality, but predetermined by what your culture prepares you to see. Do you want some evidence of that? Make the following test: What color is the girls blouse in the following picture? (Check the answer in the next Clue.) Did you answer pink, light pink, light wine, dark pink, Italian grape, violet? If you did it is all right in your Brazilian culture but not in the American.

CLUE
If you answered mauve or lavender you did well. You showed some learning about an American trait. Both the terms for this color are correct In American English. They do not see/feel pink in the girls blouse as we do.

Now, lets very briefly revisit some basic concepts of culture because this basic content must have been discussed in disciplines such as Introduction to Linguistics and Semantics during your course.

1.7 On culture
What would be the correspondent in English to the following cartoon originally written in Portuguese? Are you ready to translate it into English? Yes? No? Why?

TASK
Re-read and review these aspects in the textbooks mentioned.

TASK
What would be the aspects in the Brazilian culture not shared by the American culture? And how is that language conveys such differences? Discuss them with your tutor.

Figure 9: On Brazilian soccer and fans. povo.com.br/charges/

Source: www.gazetado-

It is agreed that culture is the sum of all forms of art, love and of thought, which, in the course or centuries, have enabled man to be less enslaved. Nevertheless, some people would simply define culture as what everybody knows, and what everybody else knows,

within a given group. Others would advocate that culture is what lies at the core of an individuals behavior and his degree of assimilation within a particular environment or social group. Experts have also described culture as the result of the mixture between the system

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana of social institutions, traditions, and beliefs and that complex whole including knowledge, belief, art, law, social moral customs, religion, and ethics and values. The word values used here does not mean absolute facts, or true occurrences, but rather traits, beliefs, desires, ways of being that would be more openly and obviously recognized, accepted and practiced by the majority in a group. Lets see how some of these values apply to the American culture.

1.7.1 The Relation of Language to Culture

English, and generally used by the 1940s lower class people in London who made use of a dialect called cockney highly disseminated all over England today. The word bloody is typical of cockney speakers but its repetition, together with the student attitude is a sign of impoliteness in any English speaking countries and in America as well. And when addressed to authorities, as the teacher in the cartoon above, it becomes a more offensive verbal behavior. Cockney is competently dealt with by the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw in his play Pygmalion (1912), according to Shaw a romance in Five Acts, in which Henry Higgins, a Professor of phonetics, bets his friend Pickering that he can train a sloppy Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassadors garden party in London by teaching her to assume the figure of gentility and poseur, through the most important element, he believes, is impeccable speech.

Figure 10: Different Pond, different fish

Source: www .ialf .edu/differentponddifferentfish .html - En cache

In some cultures too much use of cursing is considered impolite. This is the case in many Anglo-American nations though you can hear in the America films an excessive use of fuck you. The word bloody, used by the student in the charge, is a term for cursing in British

Figure11: First American (serialized) publication, Everybodys Magazine, November 1914.

Source;www.bartleby.com/138, wikipedia.

Figure12: Mrs. Patrick Campbell to whom Shaw would have written the role of Eliza Doolittle.
Source: Pygmalion Wikipedia, free encyclopedia. pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion

Figure 13: Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (1964), film based on the Broadway musical,
Source: The Broadway Musical Home - My Fair Lady.www.broadwaymusicalhome.com/shows/myfairlady.htm

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo Packaged as a romantic comedy, the play is a sharp satire of the rigid British class system and a criticism on womens independence. The play artistic versions include films (1938), an adaptation by Shaw and others, and My Fair Lady (1964), a film version of the musical starring Audrey Hepburn as Eliza and Rex Harrison as Higgins. On TV, there were at least three or four productions of the play in 1963, 1983 and 1985. Based on the 1938 film, Shaws play became a Broadway musical (1956) of huge success because of its beautiful musical score and lyrics, by Allan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe respectively. A non-English language version of the musical was performed in Brazil (Minha Querida dama,1963) with a convincing Portuguese translation and the competent featuring of Bibi Ferreira as Eliza and Paulo Autran as Higgins, to name only some of the famous Brazilian actors and actresses of that time performing in the musical. Let us now go back to the cartoon and take a look at the teachers surprising long face, especially his eyes, to confirm our assumption that language intertwines culture. That is why language and culture cannot be separated, for language is vital to understanding our unique cultural perspectives. Language is a tool that is used to explore and experience our cultures and the perspectives that are embedded in our cultures. (Buffy Sainte-Marie, American Singer and Song Writer. Available at:www.anthro.palomar.edu/ language/language_5.htm, access in 6th July 2011.). We are starting to realize the relation of language to culture, that is, the role culture plays in learning or teaching a language. In any culture the use of language involves much more than controlling semantics, much more than what the spoken word or the written language can mean or contain. This becomes especially clear when we study an FL and learn the ways of a particular culture as the use of introductions, salutations, everyday sayings, protocols etc. Such uses in particular give more weight to culture then to the words themselves. The fact is that anybody studying an FL has to be both bicultural and bilingual to speak the language he wants to learn in a way that does not disparage to the culture and its origin because language is not limited to the use or meaning of words associated to a culture words represent in terms of beliefs and history. Culture and language (grammar/ syntax, semantics, morphology, phonology, punctuation, intonation and stress etc.) must intertwine so that words must be used accordingly and language achieve (one of) its goals, communication. (Available at: www.thepaperexperts.com). Language and culture are related in various ways and because both phenomena are unique to humans they have also been the focus of a great deal of anthropological, sociological and ethno-linguistic studies. Culture determines language, but to what extent this takes place is still under debate. Some researchers say language is culture. It follows that to some degree culture is determined by language.

1.7.2 Language is determined by Culture

As I have already mentioned, language is determined by culture though the extent to which this is true is polemical. The converse, to some degree, would be also true: culture is determined by language (Language and Culture, available at www.library.thinkquest.org/ C004367/la5.shtml.) Culture really determines language, or at least certain of its facets. It is known that uncivilized tribes which lived in Europe in the time of the Roman Empire did not have words for tribunes, gladiators, Caesar, praetors, or any other expression referring to Roman administration or government because these positions and type of soldier were not part of their culture. Similarly the ancient Romans did not have words for factory, radio, automobile, or train because these items did not make part of their cultural context. Interestingly, cultures sometimes restrict what people can efficiently think about in their own languages. Some languages, for instance, have only three words equivalent to black, red and white but a native speaker of this language would find it difficult to express the concept of the English word purple efficiently. Some languages are more expressive about certain topics as Yiddish, for example, which is a linguistic champion, as it has a reasonable number of words referring to the simple minded (PINKER, 1994, p.260.) And Yiddish, the language spoken by the Israeli people in Israel, is written from right to left, backwards! Did you know that, dear students? What could be a more cultural difference than that?

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana In fact the spectrum of colors we see as yellow, blue etc. is seen as an arbitrary division because cultures would divide the spectrum differently. Therefore, the divisions between colors would be a consequence of the language we learn and not correspondent to divisions in the natural world. Another example of this arbitrariness of the divisions of colors would be the Eskimo words for snow, as mentioned previously, which according to researchers might vary from fifty to two hundred or over. Considering that words determine thought, some researchers adopted this extreme cultural relativism and believed that the linguistic structures were entirely dependent on the cultural context in which they existed and that the human mind was an indefinitely malleable structure capable of absorbing any sort of culture without constraints. Such ideas have now been refuted as more careful and thorough systematic research demonstrated that the division of color spectrum has remarkable similarities between the various and different cultures. Therefore, studies reason that Eskimos use over twelve different words for snow, which is not many more than Anglo speakers do, only because the Eskimos live in a cold climate; in fact they live under snow! It follows that if the inhabitants of the Sahara desert used ten different words to refer to sand I would neither be surprised nor puzzled; nor if the Brazilians used more than one word to refer to soccer (futebol, esporte das massas, peleja), carnival (festejos de Momo, festa da carne, baguna transcendental) and poor people (pobres, miserveis, mendigos, camadas desprivilegiadas, descamisados etc.), but would not care least for sand or snow. Did you get the idea, dear readers?

1.7.3 Language is part of Culture

It was mentioned that some people say that language is culture and for many people, language is not just the medium of culture but also a part of it. An example of that are the immigrants to a new country who try to retain their old customs and speak their first language among fellow immigrants, even if all of them are comfortable with their new language. The reason for this behavior is that immigrants are eager to preserve their own heritage, which includes not only customs and traditions but also language. Again we remind you of the many Jewish in their communities, in which especially the older members commonly speak Yiddish as it is seen as a part of the Jewish culture. A good example of how linguistic differences are often seen as the mark of another culture is in Canada, where French-speaking natives of Quebec clash with the Englishspeaking majority and those differences commonly create divisions among the neighboring peoples or among different groups of the same nation. This sort of conflict is becoming an issue in America as speakers of standard American English, that is, whites and educated minorities observe the growing number of speakers of the Black English dialect. Debates emerge over whether it is proper to use Ebonics in schools, while its speakers continue to assert that the dialect is a fundamental part of the black culture. But it is always well to remember that we are talking about the properties of language in general. And then I ask you, dear students: Should the word Ivorics, as a counterpart for Ebonics, be invented and used gallantly to refer to the whites in schools as well? Let us take a look at Paul McCartneys lyrics/poem in a song.

GLOSSARY
Ebonics refers to ebony, a type of English spoken by some African-American in the USA. The word is also the name of a tree with a black color. Ivorics in contrast refers to ivory, a yellowish-white color.

Ebony and Ivory Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony Side by side on my piano keyboard, oh lord, why dont we? We all know that people are the same where ever we go There is good and bad in everyone, We learn to live; we learn to give each other What we need to survive together alive. Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony Side by side on my piano keyboard, oh lord why dont we? Ebony, ivory living in perfect harmony Ebony, ivory, ooh We all know that people are the same where ever we go There is good and bad in everyone, We learn to live; we learn to give each other

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo What we need to survive together alive. Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony Side by side on my piano keyboard, oh lord why dont we? Ebony, ivory living in perfect harmony Can you see how Paul deals with the rhyming of the relevant words in the poem, I mean, ebony-harmony-t we? Can you feel the power of language and real images in the second line as he says Side by side on my piano keyboard?

TASK
Paul refers to the union of the black and white notes, an integral part of the piano he is playing. They stand together in harmony to make music perfect. Why shouldnt humans do the same as these notes? Discuss the subject with your tutor.

TASK
Discuss this issue with your tutor and classmates. Compare the situation of Ebony and Ivory in Anglo-America to Brazil. You will find out that cultures may share similarities. Ebony and ivory if translated into Portuguese would carry the same burden as in American English?

Figure 14: Sir James Paul McCartney plays at the BBC Electric Proms performance, London, England. wiki/Paul_McCartney.
Source:pt.wikipedia.org/

Now, tell me, dear students, what is behind Paul McCartneys lyrics in terms of cultural manifestations? I remind you that Paul is a British citizen but has lived in America for many years now. Therefore, he is supposed to be acquainted with many aspects of the USA culture.

1.7.4 Language and Culture intertwined

It was said elsewhere that language is a verbal expression of culture. Some experts would even say that language is culture. That would explain why it is generally agreed that the relationship language to culture is closely and deeply rooted. Language is used to maintain and convey culture and ties and also to provide us with the categories we use for expressing our thoughts. Moreover, the values and customs in the country we grow up in shape the way in which we think to a certain extent. So to speak, cultures hide in languages. An insight into any FL would reveal traits of the countrys culture as languages are highly influenced and shaped by culture. Lets see, in the following figures, how much you know of the American culture and how you perceive language and culture intertwinement. Consider the characters in the next figure. Look at the first man in line. What does the cartoonist want to mean with the drawings around his head? Now look at the woman and the second man in line. What do their eyes reveal? Surprise, ignorance of the facts and embarrassment are involved. Why?

CLUE
Read more about this issue at www. lexiophiles.com/.../therelationship-betweenlanguage-and-culture. Think about this: Would it be plausible to assume that our thinking is influenced by the language we use? Could it be the other way around instead: Would our language be influenced by our thoughts?

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana

TASK
What do you think, dear students, about the question in the Clue on this page? Research on the Internet about Language and Thought, by Vygotsky in an eBook at www.ebooksbrasil.org/eLibris/ vigo.html, for instance, and discuss it with your tutor and classmates.

TO LEARN MORE
I remind you that Benjamin Lee Whorf (18971941), the American linguist, in his hypothesis claimed that there is a relation of language to thinking and cognition. He advocates that language shapes the way we think, and determines all what we can think about. Would be true? Couldnt it be the other way around and our thought shape the language we speak? What do you think, my friends?

Figure 15: People standing in a line of the Court Room.

Source: damscartoons.com.www.bhma.co.uk/wait-to-be-seated-greeter-sign-p-1328.ht

This sign, with the same linguistic structures, is also found at the entrance hall of The Four Seasons, a famous restaurant in New York City. Why would it be there? Research about languages spoken all over the world focuses on the status of languages and show how they have varied and changed over time, and that is due to social-historicalcultural factors. A look at intercultural communication examines how these factors can affect interactions between people from countries and backgrounds. Leveridge (2008) states that different uses of languages convey distinct ideas within different cultures and the whole intertwining of such relationships start very early, at ones birth, but it is only after he is exposed to his surroundings that he becomes an individual in and of their social-cultural group. Childrens lives, opinions and language are shaped by what they come in contact with. Physically and mentally everyone would be the same, whereas the interactions between persons or groups vary widely from place to place. Behavior patterns resulting from interaction among the individuals in the groups will be approved or disapproved of depending on their being acceptable or not, and this will vary from location to location thus forming the basis of different cultures. Ones

view of the world would be formed from such differences. Linda Hantrais (1989) advocates the idea that culture is the beliefs and practices governing the life of a society for which a particular language is the vehicle of expression. Therefore, culture not only influences everyones views of the world but also shapes the language one speaks. Following this line of thought, the knowledge of an FL can enhance the understanding of its culture and people. And yet, Emmitt and Pollock (1997) argue that even if people were brought up under similar behavioral backgrounds or cultural situations but spoke different languages, their world view might be very different. Conforming to Vygotsky ideas, Sapir-Whorf, elsewhere, argue that different thoughts are brought about by the use of different forms of language. In this sense, the individuals would be limited by the language used to express their ideas. And, as different languages will create different limitations, a people who share a culture but speak different languages, will naturally have different world views. And yet, Emmitt and Pollock (1997) claim that language is closely linked to culture and language reflects it and passes it on from one generation to the next. Therefore, learning a new language involves learning a

TASK
Why should those people wait to be seated? What do the linguistic structures mean? Is there any relation of culture to the linguistic structures? Is it common to find such signs in Brazil? Where and what for? Write some considerations about your answers and discuss them with your tutor and classmates.

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo new culture (ALLWRIGHT; BAILEY, 1991). Consequently, teachers of a language are also teachers of culture (BYRAM, 1989). As we all know by now, dear students, undoubtedly language is deeply rooted in culture. However in what concerns language teaching and language policy things seem to be quite different. To promote understanding instead of misconceptions or prejudices, aspects to be considered when instructing students, language teachers must show that cultural background of language usage, the selection of culturally appropriate teaching styles, and the exploration of culturally based linguistic differences are needed. Also, language policy must be put in action to create awareness and understandings of cultural differences, and to incorporate the cultural values taught. But most importantly it is strongly advisable that Brazilian English teachers help their students realize that there are no better or worse cultures or languages. They are only different. Students cultural identity must be kept at all costs. At this point, dear students, I think you can easily understand what Mr. Gandhis quote is all about at the opening of this first unit.

References
ALLWRIGHT, D; BAILEY, K. M. Focus on the Language Classroom.New York: Cambridge University Press. Anton, M. 1999. BYRAM.M. S. Cultural Studies in Foreign Language Education.Language Arts & Disciplines. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1989. CHOMSKY, Noam. Transformational Analysis. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1955. HANTRAIS, Linda. The undergraduates guide to studying languages. London: Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research. 1989 LEVERIDGE, Aubrey Neil. The Relationship Between Language & Culture and the Implications for language teaching. Written for TEFL,. September, 2008. PINKER, Steven.1994 - The Language Instinct: How the Mind CreatesLanguage. New York: HarperCollins. Bookmark. 1994. POLLOCK, John; EMMIT, Marie. Language and learning: an introduction for teaching. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1997. WHORF Benjamin Lee; SAPIR, Edward.Sapir and WhorfHypothesis.In Infopedia. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003-2011. www.anthro.palomar.edu/language/language_5.htm. www.bartleby.com/138, wikipedia. www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/anglo_saxons/ - Em cache www.developing teachers.com/quotes/q1.htm. www.facebook.com/pages/...America.

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana

Where do these things come from? 2.1 Introduction

For an effective learning about the ways culture builds language and language builds culture, in this unit I will present and discuss with you the term America, the geography of the US, some features of the Anglo-Americans and some ethnic groups which came to influence, form and mark the American language and culture. After all, they all contributed for the birth and death of the American dream. Have you ever heard this expression before? And how about the sentence the dream is over? Yes, the dream is over. It has been dying since 2003 with the collapse of the Twin Towers (WTC) in New York, NY, and the economic problems since 2008. Mistakes in administrating the country and its economy have been killing it. What will future bring?

UNIT 2

2.2 America
As I mentioned in the By Way of presentation, because it would be unviable in one textbook such as this to deal with all the AngloAmerican cultures, I will deal specifically with the USA culture, and some of its implications for the teaching and learning of English. America is usually used to refer to the United States, but only until the political formation of the United States after the Revolutionary War. The contemporary use of the term America to refer to the US is due to the countrys political and economic dominance in the western hemisphere. In the past America referred to South America only. Canadians and Latin Americans consider such use of this designation impolitic. One of the defining characteristics of the country as a nation is its legacy of slavery and the persistence of economic and social inequalities based on race. The Anglo majority is politically and economically dominant. Another characteristic is that Americans are a mobile people who often leave their regions of origin and U.S. culture has significant regional inflections. Most Americans are aware of these differences despite the fact that these regions have experienced economic transformations.

2.3 The USA

In this section I will briefly approach some of the geographical, historical, demographic and social aspects of the USA. The discussion is not intended to be exhaustive, most obviously. The United States is incrusted in North America and includes fifty states and one federal district, where the capital, Washington, D.C (District of Columbia) is located. Its fortyeight contiguous states are situated in the middle of North America. The country States borders Canada to the north and Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida to the south. The Western states border the Pacific Ocean, and the East the Atlantic Ocean. The USA is the worlds fourth largest country, with an area of 3,679,192 square miles (9,529,107 square kilometers).

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo A leader in technology and industry, the Northeast of the country has been overtaken in those areas by Californias Silicon Valley. The region is densely populated and its extensive corridors of urbanization have been called the national megalopolis. On its turn, the Midwest is both rural and industrial. It is where we find the corn belt and breadbasket of the nation. It is also known as the home of the family farm. In the Great Lakes area in the upper Midwest, the automobile and steel industries were tinctive for its Native American populations, historical ties to colonial Spain, and its regional cuisine highly influenced by Spanish cultures. (www.kidport.com/.../usageography/usageograph... -) The islands of Hawaii and Alaska are also American states. The island chain of Hawaii is situated in the east-central Pacific Ocean, about two thousand miles southwest of San Francisco, California. Situated between the Pacific and Arctic oceans, and bordered by Canada to the east is Alaska in North of America. The country possesses several commonwealths and territories, most of which were acquired through military conquest. These territories include Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean basin, and Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean. However, Americans generally do not consider themselves an imperial or colonial power. The countrys physical environment is extremely diverse. Alaska, for example is often spectacular with its glaciers that coexist with flowering tundra that bloom in the arctic summer. Niagara Falls, Yellowstone National Park, and the Grand Canyon are a few of the most famous landscapes. The forests of the Pacific Northwest and northern California are known for their huge ancient thick trees such as Sitka spruce and sequoia (redwoods). The old Appalachian Mountains, on their turn, are an eroded mountain range that is now heavily forested. The Appalachians range span two cultural regions: Located to the west of the Atlantic coastal plain, they extend from the Middle Atlantic state of New York to the southeastern state of Georgia. The interior lowlands area also crosses regions and national borders. It includes the Midwestern Corn Belt and the Great Plains wheat-growing region which stretches into Canada. The Mississippi River, which cuts north to south through the east-central part of the country, constitutes a major navigable inland waterway. It is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, the river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for 3,730 km to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. Other important navigable inland waterways are: the Great Lakes in the upper Midwest, the largest freshwater lake group in the world; and the Saint Lawrence River.

Figure 16: Appalachian National Scenic Trail (U.S. National Park Service)
Source: www.nps.gov/ appa/ - En cache7 Feb 2011.

central to community and economy. As those industries declined, the upper Midwest has ironically been referred to as the rust belt. Always associated with slavery and shaped by its secession from the Union before the Civil War and with subsequent battles over civil rights for African-Americans, the South carries different features if compared to other regions. Today the region includes the sunshine states, retirement havens, and new economic frontiers. Known as the last national frontier and associated with national dreams and myths of unlimited opportunity and individualism the West has the nations most open landscapes. History tells that California, along with the southwestern states, was bought by the United States from Mexico in 1848 after the Mexican-American War. The Southwest is dis-

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana

Figure 17,18: The Mississippi River just north of St. Louis (2005) and Community of boathouses on the Mississippi River in Winona, MN (2006).
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi - i_River

TO LEARN MORE
Based upon the stories about the people who lived by the Mississippi River, the musician Jerome Kern composed Show Boat a musical in two acts with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. The show, whose plot chronicles the lives of those living and working on the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River show boat, from 1880 to 1902, was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928. The show was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by the American writer Edna Ferber. The shows dominant themes include racial prejudice and tragic enduring love. By the way, musicals are a remarkable trait of the American culture though it was not originated in America but in England. They will be discussed in Unit 3. Dams and pipelines were built and changed the landscape in the West as they transformed Los Angeles and its desert surroundings into a giant oasis. The rich topsoil of the Midwest is an important agricultural area with its rivers and lakes that made it central to industrial development. However, settlers significantly transformed their environments, recreating the landscapes they had left behind in Europe. Irrigation and modern agricultural methods into continuous fields of soybeans and wheat have transformed the vast prairies of the Great Plains, which were characterized by numerous species of tall grasses. The physical environment has had significant effects on regional cultures. Nevertheless, the first real transformers of these landscapes were not the American settlers but the Native American groups that also altered the lands on which they depended. Fire was used in hunting, and this expanded the prairie; irrigation was used in settled communities that lived on agriculture. The idea that the environment shapes culture or character does have cultural currency. Historians over a century ago theorized that the American frontier experience had been instrumental and fundamental in forming the independent and democratic national character. Wilderness, independence, and democracy are common aspects of American symbolism.
read Culture of United States of America - history, people, clothing, traditions, women, beliefs, food, customs, family http:// www.everyculture. com/To-Z/UnitedStates-of-America. html#ixzz1UHeEvU6s.

2.3.1 Demographics
The United States has a population of over 280 million (2000 census), but it is relatively sparsely populated. The most populous state, California, with 33,871,648 inhabitants, contrasts with Wyoming, which has only 493,782 residents. These figures demonstrate that the United States is an urban nation. Over 75% of the inhabitants live in cities, among whom more than 50% are estimated to be suburban. Population growth is at below-replacement levels unless immigration is taken into account. One of the most significant facts about the population is that its average age is on the rise. The baby boomers born from the end of World War II until the early 1960s are beginning to get old but life expectancy is seventythree years for white men and seventy-nine

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo years for white women. African-American men have a life expectancy of sixty-seven years; in inner-city areas, the average life expectancy of African-American males is much lower. As to mortality, infant rates are higher among African-Americans than among whites (2000 census). Whites constitute a large majority at about 70% of the population. According to current census figures, in the year 2000 the largest minority was blacks, who number about 35 million, or 13 percent of the population. The Hispanics (Latinos) include primarily people from Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Cuba (no matter their color) and make 12 percent of the population, about 31 million. Latinos have become the largest minority group early in the 21st century. Including Pacific Islanders, the Asian population includes people from China, Philippines, Japan, India, Korea, and Vietnam. Making up about 4% of the population, it is estimated that there are 11 million Asians in the USA. The Native American population that includes natives of Alaska such as the Inuit and Aleuts is estimated in two million people, slightly over 1% of the population. One third of Native Americans lives on reservations, trust lands, territories, and mother lands under Native American jurisdiction.

TASK
Research on the Internet what is the meaning of the expression baby boomers? Did the Brazilian population suffered from such a phenomenon? Discuss with your tutor.

2.3.2 US Languages
The word English refers to the language as spoken in England. In the USA, the term British English is much more frequently used for this variety of English; however, Peter Trudgill in Language in the British Isles(1984) introduced the term English (EngEng), which is now generally recognized in academic writing in competition with Anglo-English and English in England. In this usage the term British English has a wider meaning, and is reserved to describe the features common to EnglishEnglish, Welsh-English, Hiberno-English, and Scottish-English. The Oxford Guide to World English (p. 45), claims that the phrase British English shares all the ambiguities and tensions in the word British, and as a result can be used and interpreted in two ways, more broadly or more narrowly, within a range of blurring and ambiguity. (English Language and Culture Institute. UAB. Available at: www.uab.edu/elci-Em cache. in 17 July, 2011. Strange as it may seem, there is no official national language in the USA in the federal level but 30 states made English legally their official language. English is considered to be de facto the national language. If English is the US unofficial first language, Spanish is its unofficial second language for The United States ranks fifth in the world in the number of Spanish speakers. Native Americans, immigrants and slaves languages have influenced the several dialects of America. These languages include Spanish, Dutch, German, Scandinavian, Asian, and African languages, and less widely spoken languages such as Basque, Yiddish, and Greek. Therefore, spoken English reflects the nations immigration and history. Within the social hierarchy of American English dialects, Standard English is the acceptable correct usage based on the model of cultural, economic, and political leaders and the language Americans are expected to speak. There is no clear definition of what Standard English really is, and it is often defined by what it is not. For example, it is often contrasted with the type of English spoken by black Americans usually seen as non-standard. Standard English grammar and pronunciation are generally taught by English teachers in public schools. Like whiteness, this implies a neutral, normative and non-ethnic position. However, most Americans do not speak Standard English; instead, they speak a range of class, ethnic, and regional variants. Linguistic diversity has increased a lot. And particularly because Spanish has become more widely spoken, language has become an important aspect of the debate over the meaning or nature of American culture. It is true that linguistic and cultural diversity is accepted in states such as New York and Illinois, where Spanish bilingual education is mandated in public schools. In California, however, State laws prohibit even bilingual personnel from using Spanish with Spanish-speaking patients in hospitals or with students in schools as tensions between Anglos and Mexican immigrants run high. Bilingual education has been abolished in the public school systems of California. Nevertheless, bilingual education is not a new fact. In the 19th century, Germans outnumbered all other immigrant groups except for all the people from the British Isles combined. Except for Spanish speakers in the Southwest, at no other time has an FL been

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana so widely spoken. German bilingual public schools and newspapers were found throughout the Midwest, Oregon, Colorado and elsewhere from the mid-nineteenth century until World War I, when anti-German sentiment resulted in the elimination of German instruction in public schools. Did you know that, dear students, that German was once largely spoken in the USA, and that there are many famous German-Americans in the USA? Take a look at the pictures below and see actress Marlene Dietrich, x-President Dwight Eisenhower, actress Meryl Streep, the scientist Albert Einstein, the writer John Steinbeck, and actress Sandra Bullock.

Yiddish, Swedish, and Norwegian are other languages used in the press and in public schools. Therefore, proponents of the teaching of English only, who claim that bilingual education should not be provided to Spanish-speaking immigrants because earlier immigrants did not have this advantage, as they often were schooled in their native languages. Education was fundamental in stimulating the teaching of English as a standard language and public schools played a major role in that. By 1870, every state in the country had committed itself to compulsory education. The percentage of foreign-born persons who

were unable to speak English peaked 31% in 1910, but by 1920 had decreased to 15 percent, and by 1930 had fallen less than 9%. There is indeed a national dialect known as American English. There are four major regional dialects in the United States: northeastern, south, inland north, and Midwestern. The Midwestern accent (considered the standard accent in the United States, and somehow but not extensively analogous in some respects to the Received Pronunciation elsewhere in the English-speaking world) extends from what were once the Middle Colonies across the Midwest to the Pacific states.

Figure: 19: Pictures of some famous German Americans.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/German_American Access in August 2011.

TASK
research and find two examples of the following government symbols: statuses, memorials, songs, oaths. Discuss them with your tutor.

2.3.3 The USA Symbols: The Flag, the Bald Eagle, the Great Seal and The Star-Spangled Banner.
The symbols of the US government include: government buildings (as the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC), statues and memorials, songs, oaths, and symbols. The national symbols are the American Flag, the Bald Eagle, the Great Sea, Figures of Justice, the Liberty Bell, the National Flower Rose, Uncle Sam and the National Anthem.

TASK
research and find information about Figures of Justice, Liberty Bell, National Flower and Uncle Sam.

Figure 20, 21,and 22: The American flag, the Bald eagle and the Great Seal US government symbols.
Source: U.S. Symbols - Bens Guide to U.S. Government for KidsAvailable at U.S. .bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/symbols/ - .

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo Made up of stripes symbolizing the first thirteen colonies and of fifty stars representing the fifty states, the American flag is perhaps the most potent and contested national symbol. On national holidays, such as Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Independence Day, it is displayed in public places and businesses buildings. Individuals who display the flag in their homes or yards, and they are many, make an explicit statement about their patriotic connection to the nation. The flags also employed frequently as a symbol of protest. In the nineteenth century, northern abolitionists hoisted the flag upside down to protest the return of an escaped slave to his southern owner; and upside-down flags continue to be used as a sign of protest. The use of the stars and stripes design in clothing, whether for fashion, humor, or protest, is controversial as it is considered by some people as treason or disrespect to the national symbol and by others as an individual right in a State that upholds individual rights. Differently from what you may think the term bald in the expression Bald Eagle comes from the word piebald, an old word, meaning marked with white and not from the fact that this bird lacks feathers. The eagle was made national bird in 1782 because the Founding Fathers wanted to choose an animal that was unique to the United States. The members of Congress engaged themselves in a dispute for finding the national emblem that lasted six years. The bald eagle was chosen because of its strength, courage, freedom, and immortality. US animal symbol is a powerful, brown bird of prey with a white head and tail. Like the flag that can be seen everywhere in US, as a symbol, the image of the bald eagle can be seen in many places in U.S, such as on the Great Seal, Federal agency seals, the Presidents flag, and on the one-dollar bill. The following lyrics are part of US national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. You must have heard them, dear students, thousands of time during the Olympiads as the Americans always win several Gold medals in various sport modalities.

GLOSSARY
anthem is a countrys national song. To hum - is to emit sounds corresponding to the music notes. (In Portuguese would be cantarolar sem abrir a boca)

Oh, say can you see, by the dawns early light What so proudly we hailed by the twilights last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, Oer the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there Oh, say does that Star - Spangled Banner yet wave Oer the land of the free, and the home of the brave. Americans always listen to or sing their national anthem with their right hand over their hearts to show affection and respect for their native country and to demonstrate patriotism. So, what has happened to President Obama in the following picture?
Figure: 23: President Obama, Hillary Clinton and two American citizens listening to the American Anthem.
Source: Obama: We Place Our Hands Over Our Hearts? | Floyd Reports. Available at floydreports.com/ obama-we-place-our-hands-over-our-heart...-Em cache 13 Jan 2011 Access in 25/08/11.

TASK
Research about the interesting history of the American national anthem. Find out why is it called The Star-Spangled Banner? Discuss it with your tutor. To make the lyrics work, how about finding the anthem melody, put them together and sing or hum a little bit?

TO LEARN MORE
about history, geography and other important social studies information about US, check out the Social Studies Video Index at American Iconswww.kidport. com/.../americanicons/ AmericanIconIndex.ht... - Em cache -

Another way of demonstrating patriotism, nationalism and community solidarity is through sports. In the Olympic Games/Olympiads, patriotic symbols abound, and victors are heralded for their American qualities of determination, individualism and competitiveness. In the same way, American football games connect fans to one another or to their

communities through a home team. The game expresses the important value of competition but unlike soccer, American football games can never end in a tie. It is interesting to notice that, again, unlike soccer, football also reflects cultural ideals about sex and gender as the attire of players and cheerleaders overexposes male and female sex characteristics.

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana

2.3.4 Anglo-Americans
An English-speaking European, an English Canadian and an American are usually referred to as Anglo-American, sometimes shortened to Anglo. Its origin dates back to the discussion of the history of English-speaking people of the US and the Spanish-speaking people living in the western U.S. during the MexicanAmerican War. The usage of the word Anglo generally ignores the distinctions between German Americans (the largest ancestry group in the United States, as you know), Irish Americans, English Americans, Italian Americans, Swedish Americans, and other European descent English-speaking peoples who are the majority in the United States and Canada. As to European English-speaking, the term Anglo American is sometimes but rarely viewed as an insult as the term Hispanic is to the natives of the Americas. To a certain extent, Anglo has come to denote all English-speaking people and their descendants, no matter their prior ethnic, except for the children descendant from Chinese Spanish speakers that would always be referred to as Hispanic. Finally, Anglo-American also refers to those coming from countries that traditionally spoke English as the main language, as well as all those whose families have become Englishspeaking people in Canada and the US. Anglo-American is often used in legal, economic and political documents and other writings in reference to those countries that have similar legal regimes generally based on the English common law.

CLUE
I remember you that the word football refers only to the American game. In Brazil people play soccer which originated in England and this sport is played with 11 players and can end in a tie. Brazil has been a soccer champion for 5 times (1958-Sweden; 1962-Chile; 1970-Mexico; 1994US; 2002-Japan).

TO LEARN MORE
Culture of United States of America - history, people, clothing, traditions, women, beliefs, food, customs, family http://www.everyculture.com/To-Z/UnitedStates-of-America. html#ixzz1UI25w0EC

2.3.5The (North) Americans: Ethnicity, religion, rituals and sacred places

Figure 24:American Broadway star Brian Stokes Mitchell shakes hands with President Barack Obama in a photo taken by The White House official photographer shortly after Mr. Mitchells show was over.
Source: Available at Brian Stokes Mitchell Official site and atn.wikipedia.org/wiki. Access in 5th June, 2011

Figure25: Illustration of a blonde American young man. Figure26: The movie star Demi More illustrating an American brunette.
Source:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Americans_(photography)

Considered a diverse country racially and ethnically, in The United States co-exists ix races: White, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and people who they call Some other race used in the census and other surveys, though not an offi-

cial term. The expressions Hispanic or Latino identify Hispanic and Latino Americans as a racially diverse ethnicity that composes the largest minority group in the nation. White Americans include non-Hispanic/ Latino and Hispanic/Latino and are the racial majority (80% share of the U.S. population),

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo according to estimates from the official government Programs and Surveys. Hispanic and Latino Americans compose 15% of the population; Black Americans are the largest racial minority, nearly 13% of the population; the White, not-Hispanic or Latino population comprises 66% of the nations total. The majority of the White Americans reach their highest share of the population in the Midwestern United States 85% according to official Programs or 83% conforming 2002 Surveys and lives in every region. On their turn, Non-Hispanic Whites make up 79% of the Midwests population, the highest ratio of any region. Nevertheless, 35% of White Americans (including all White Americans or non-Hispanic/Latino only) live in the South. On their turn, Blacks and African Americans are most prevalent in the South as the region is home to 55% of the community. As to the remaining plural groups the majority of them reside in the West: 42% of Hispanic and Latino Americans, 46% of Asian Americans, 48% of American Indians and Alaska Natives, 68% of Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, 37% of the Two or more races population (Multiracial Americans), and 46% of people of Some other race.

TASK
refer to www. en.wikipdia.org/Race and ethnicity in the United States, main article: Demographics in the United States for further getting information about The USA demographics and historical trends and influences. Take notes of these aspects for discussions with your tutor and classmates.

According to the 2000 Census and subsequent US Census Bureau surveys, Americans selfdescribed as belonging to the following racial groups: White: those having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. Black or African American: those having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. American Indian or Alaska Native, also called Native Americans: those having origins in any of the original peoples of North, Central and South America, and who maintain tribal affiliation or community attachment. Asian, also called Asian American: those having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent; frequently specified as Chinese American, Korean American, Indian American, Filipino American, Vietnamese American, Japanese American etc. Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: Those having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands called Pacific Islander Americans.

Figure 27: Hawaiians.

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Source: www.gohawaii.about.com/.../hawaiianpeople/People_of_Hawaii. Access in 13thJuly, 2011

Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana Some other race: that they consider themselves to be, the category captures responses such as Mestizo, Creole, and Mulatto, but among the entries reported in the 2000 Census were nationalities instead of races, such as South African, Moroccan, Belizean, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, as well as mixed-race terms like We-sorts, mixed, interracial, and others. Multiracial - two or more races, widely known as those who check off and/or write in more than one race. There is no actual option labeled Two or more races or Multiracial on Census and other forms; only the foregoing six races appear, and people who report more than one of them are categorized as people of Two or more races in subsequent processing. Any number, up to all six, of the racial categories can be reported by any respondent As to religion, many creeds have been brought to the United States, due to later imports of the countrys multicultural immigrant heritage, and coexist with those founded within the country; such beliefs have led the United States to become one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world. The majority of the American people are Christian. Catholicism is the largest single denomination, but Protestants of all denominations (Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and others) outnumber Catholics. Judaism is the largest non-Christian faith, followed by Islam, which has a significant African-American following. Unlike some countries, the United States never includes a question about religion in its national Census, and has not done so for over fifty years. The State and the Religion are not supposed to interfere in one anothers affairs. The First Amendment to the American Constitution prevents the Federal government from making any law respecting an establishment of religion, and guarantees the free exercise of religion. Because of that religious statistics in U.S. are obtained from organizational reporting and surveys. Is this a similarity between the Brazilian and American cultures, dear students? The State in Brazil does not interfere in religious affairs and the religion does not mix with the States affairs? Like other English speakers, Anglo-Americans are mostly, and by tradition, Protestant whereas Roman Catholics are minority. Other religions are also professed but by a few people. The United States has both a very wide diversity of religions, beliefs and practices. The 2002 surveys revealed that 83 percent of Americans claim to belong to a religious denomination, 40 percent claim they attend services nearly every week or more, and 58 percent claim to pray at least weekly. A majority of Americans report that religion plays a very important role in their lives, in a proportion unusual among developed nations. Baptism, the largest Protestant sect, is originated in Europe but grew exponentially in US, especially in the South among both whites and blacks. A few religious sects arose independently in the United States, including Mormons and Shakers aside from the many Christian movements from England and Europe reestablished early in the nations history. Although religion and the state are formally separated, religious expression is an important aspect of public and political life. Nearly every President has professed some variety of Christian faith. One of the most significant religious trends in recent years has been the rise of evangelical and fundamentalist sects of Christianity, organized political-religious force, whose followers significantly influence political life and agendas.

GLOSSARY
We-sorts - name, regarded as derogatory by some, for a group of Native Americans in Maryland who are from the Piscataway tribe who have always claimed to be Native American people. They were powerful at the time of European encounter. Interestingly, individuals with the surnames Proctor, Newman, Savoy, Queen, Butler, Thompson, Swann, Gray and Harley, claim that Native heritage.

TO LEARN MORE
Read the Statistical Abstract of the United States, on the Internet at www.census.gov/ compendia/statab/ cats/population.thml.

New religions have grown such as Buddhism, with meditation, yoga, astrology, and Native American spirituality which blend elements of Eastern religions and practices. In sum, the majority of Americans (76%) identify themselves as Christians, mostly within Protestant (51%) and Catholic (25%) denominations. Non-Christian religions as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism, collectively make up about 3.9% to 5.5% of the adult population. Another 15% says that they have neither religious belief nor religious affiliation. Some 5.2%, when asked, declared that they did not know, or refused to reply. A reli-

Figure 28: Protestant cult

Source: en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/EpiscopalChurch_ (United_States) - Em cache

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo gious Identification Survey revealed that beliefs vary considerably across the country: 59% of Americans living in Western states (the Unchurched Belt) report a belief in God; however in the South (the Bible Belt) the faith is as high as 86%. The USA has also a tradition of non-ordained and nontraditional religious practitioners who include evangelical lay preachers, religious leaders associated with New Age religions, and leaders of religious movements designated as cults who profess their faith as the practitioners of world religions such as priests, ministers, and rabbis do. Women are increasingly entering traditionally male religious positions. There are now women ministers in many Protestant denominations and women rabbis. The country does not have religious rituals or designated holy places that have meaning to the population as a whole. However, Salt Lake City is a holy city for Mormons, and the Black Hills of South Dakota and other places are sacred Native American sites. And yet, there are many shared secular rituals and places that have an almost religious importance such as baseball and football games. Championship games in these sports, the World Series and the Super Bowl, respectively, constitute major annual events and celebrations. Disneyland, Hollywood, and Grace-land (Elvis Presleys estate) are considered important places. In what concerns death and after death matters, Americans have an uncomfortable relationship with their own mortality. Although Christian, most residents value youth, vigor, and worldly goods so greatly that death is one of the most difficult subjects to talk about and a sad and solemn occasion. At funerals, it is customary to wear black and to speak in hushed tones. Graveyards are solemn and quiet places. Some people believe in an afterlife or in reincarnation or other form of continuity of energy or spirit. Unlike Brazilians, in Americans funerals people use to receive people at home after the burial to have some talk over some food and drinks. Brazilians neither wear black (any longer) nor hush their tone of voice (any more) during funerals, nor receive people home after the funeral. These are different ways of mourning relatives and friends. As you well know, dear students, people from all over the world have immigrated to Anglo-America with the aim of having better conditions of life, find better jobs, and escape from famine, poverty, wars and conflicts to name only a few factors that embody the search for higher standards of life and wellbeing. East Europeans, East Asians, Indians, Africans (Anglo-African Americans), Latin Americans in general, and Middle Easterners all immigrate and live in Anglo-America today completing the kaleidoscope of different ethnic groups despite the strictness of the immigration laws in the USA. Lets now approach in some details the two groups that together with the whites, historians say, formed the American people.

TASK
Find explanations for the expressions Unchurched Belt and Bible belt. Answer the question: Are there any other sorts of Belts in the USA? If so, discuss these aspects with your tutor and classmates. In what religion is concerned, is Brazil also divided in Belts? Why? Comment your answers with your colleagues and tutor.

2.3.5.1 The Afro-Americans: demography, religious beliefs, economic status, politics, social issues and education.
Black Americans have exerted a huge influence over the American culture such as life, religion, society, politics, education, customs, art (music, dance, theatre, and cinema) and literature etc. Also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, and formerly as American Negroes, African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. These expressions in the USA generally refer to the population of Americans of African ancestry, or Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Most of them are direct descendants of captive Africans who survived the slavery era within the boundaries of the present United States, although some areor are descended fromimmigrants from African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations. African-American history dates back to the 17th century and ranges from servitude in British America and progresses into the election of Barack Obama as the 44th and current President of the United States. Between those facts African Americans had to face ordeals and difficulties such as slavery, reconstruction, development of the African-American community, participation in the great military conflicts of the United States, racial segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement. African Americans make up the single largest racial minority in the United States and form the second largest racial group after whites in the United States. Africans, including slaves and free people, numbered about 760,000, some 19.3% of the

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana overall population in 1790, according to the first U.S Census. At the start of the Civil War, in the 1860s, the African American population had increased to 4.4 million, but the percentage rate dropped to 14% of the total population of the country. The vast majority of these Africans were slaves, and only 488,000 counted as freemen. In 1900, the black population doubled and reached 8.8 million. Ten years later about 90% of African Americans lived in the South, but many of them began migrating north looking for better jobs and living conditions, good opportunities and to escape from racial violence and Jim Crow laws. This movement was called The Great Migration which spanned from the 1890s to the 1970s. More than 6 million black people moved north between 1916 and the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, however, that tendency reversed and more African Americans moved south to the Sun Belt. The African American population reached about 30 million in 1990, which represented 12% of the overall U.S. population. About 39.9 million African Americans live in the United States, according to 2005 U.S. Census which represents 13.8% of the total population. Nevertheless, The World Factbook gives a 2006 figure of 12.9% Controversy, which has surrounded the accurate population count of African Americans for decades. Some demography authorities believed it was undercounted intentionally to minimize the figures of the black population to reduce their political power base.

TO LEARN MORE
Who was Jim Crow? Research about this man, write down some considerations about him and discuss with your tutor.

Figure 29: Pictures of Afro-Americans. Frederick Douglas; Barack Obama; Rosa Parks; Condoleezza Rice; M. Luther King Jr. ; Beyonc; Malcolm X; Oprah Winfrey; Booker T. Washington; Michael Jordan; Harriet Tubman; Muhammad Ali
Source: From wikipedia the free encyclopedia. Access in August 2011.

CLUE
The Sun Belt, or Spanish Belt, is the region comprising the southern tier of the United States and includes the states of Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, roughly half of California (up to Greater Sacramento), and parts of Arkansas, North Carolina, and southern Nevada. Its main feature is its warmtemperate climate with extended summers and brief, relatively mild winters. The extreme southern part of the Sun Belt (South Florida) has a true tropical climate.

Figure 30: In red the region comprising The Sun Belt.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Belt, Access: 12th July, 2011.

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo The 2000 Census indicated that 54.8% of African Americans lived in the South. In that same year, 17.6% of African Americans lived in the Northeast and 18.7% in the Midwest, while only 8.9% lived in the western states. In fact, the west does have a sizable black population in certain areas, though. California, for example, the nations most populous state, has the fifth largest African American population, only behind Florida, Texas, New York, and Georgia. The same Census stated that approximately 2.05% of African Americans are identified as Hispanic or Latino in origin, many of whom may be of Brazilian, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban, Haitian, or other Latin American descent. The Irish and Germans are the only self-reported ancestral groups larger than the African Americans. Among the many African Americans that trace their ancestry to colonial American origins, some simply self-identify as American. In 2000 almost 58% of African Americans lived in metropolitan areas. Over 2 million black residents lived in New York City which had the largest black urban population in the United States. Overall the city has a 28% black population. Chicago holds the second largest black population, almost 1.6 million African Americans, some 18 percent of the total metropolitan population. Cities with a population of 100,000 or more, like Detroit (Michigan) had the highest percentage of black residents of the U.S. in 2010, with 82%. Other large cities with African American majorities are New Orleans (Louisiana, 60%), Baltimore (Maryland, 63%), Atlanta(Georgia, 54%), Memphis(Tennessee, 61%), and Washington, D.C (50.7%). As to their economic status, African Americans have benefited economically from the advances made during the Civil Rights era, particularly the educated, but not without the lingering effects of historical marginalization. The racial disparity in poverty rates has narrowed and the black middle class has grown substantially in such a way that in 2000, 47% of African Americans owned their homes. In 1998 the poverty rate among African-Americans was 26.5%; in 2004 it decreased to 24.7%. The buying power of African-Americans is over $892 billion currently and will be likely over $1.1 trillion by 2012. This makes African Americans the second largest consumer group in America. In 2002 African American owned businesses accounted for 1.2 million of the USs 23 million businesses. African American workers had the second-highest median earnings of American minority groups in 2004, after Asian Americans. African Americans had the highest level of male-female income parity of all ethnic groups in the United States. In 2001, over half of African American married couples earned $50,000 or more. American families headed by single women are collectively poorer. Gender continued to dictate income level, with the median earnings of African American men more than those black and non-black American women overall and in all educational levels by 2006. Concomitantly, among American men, income disparities were significant; the median income of African American men was nearly 76 cents for every dollar of their European American counterparts and $1.17 for every dollar earned by Hispanic men. With a rise in educational level, however, the gap narrowed somewhat. In 2006, among American women, African-American women with post-secondary education have made significant advances and the median income of African American women was more than those of their Asian, European and Hispanic American counterparts with at least some college education. In 1999, the median income of African American families was $33,255 compared to $53,356 of European Americans. In times of economic hardship for the nation, AfricanAmericans suffer disproportionately from job loss and underemployment. The phrase last hired and first fired is reflected in the Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment figures. Nationwide, the October 2008 unemployment rate for African-Americans was 11.1%, while the nationwide rate was 6.5%. Between black and white families the income gap is so significant that in 2005 employed blacks earned only 65% of the wages of whites, down from 82% in 1975. In 2006, the New York Times reported that in Queens, New York, the median income among AfricanAmerican families exceeded that of white families, fact which the newspaper attributed to the growth in the number of two-parent black families. The rate of births to unwed African-American mothers in 1999 was estimated in 70%. In 2005, the poverty rate among single-parent black families was 39.5%, while it was 9.9% among married-couple black families. Among white families, the comparable rates were 26.4% and 6% respectively. According to Forbes magazine, the wealthiest American, with $800 million dollars Oprah Winfrey is the richest African American of the 20th century. In contrast the 20th centurys richest American, Bill Gates,

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana who is of European descent, briefly hit $100 billion in 1999. In Forbes 2007 list, Gates fortune decreased to $59 billion while Winfreys increased to $2.5 billion, which made her the world richest black person. Winfrey is also the first African-American to make Business Weeks annual list of Americas 50 greatest philanthropists. Winfrey remains the only AfricanAmerican wealthy enough to rank among the countrys 400 richest people. Some black entrepreneurs use their wealth to create new avenues for both AfricanAmericans and new opportunities for American business in general. Example of that is Tyler Perry who created new filming studios in Atlanta, Georgia, which makes it possible to film movies and television shows outside of California. In regard to politics, as a group, AfricanAmericans are more involved in the American political process than other minority groups in the USA. They indicated the highest level of voter registration and participation in elections among these groups in 2004. Collectively, African-Americans attain higher levels of education than immigrants to the United States and also have the highest level of Congressional representation of any minority group in the U.S. The large majority of African-Americans support the Democratic Party but historically, they were supporters of the Republican Party because it was Republican President Abraham Lincoln who helped in granting freedom to American slaves. The Republicans and Democrats at the time, represented the sectional interests of the North and South, respectively, rather than any specific ideology. The African-American support for Democrats trace back to the 1930s during the Great Depression, when Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal program provided economic relief to African-Americans as Roosevelts New Deal coalition turned the Democratic Party into an organization of the working class and their liberal allies, regardless of region. The AfricanAmerican vote became even more solidly Democratic when Democratic presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson pushed for civil rights legislation during the 1960s. Marriage rates for all Americans began to decline while divorce rates and births have climbed after over 50 years and these changes have been greatest among African-Americans. After over 70 years of racial parity black marriage rates began to fall if compared to the whites. Single-parent households have become common, and according to US census figures released in January 2010, only 38% of black children live with both their parents. Despite all that African-Americans favor traditional American values about family and marriage. Out of fifty-two percent only 30% of the Black Democrats support same-sex marriage. Though Democrats overwhelmingly voted (64%) against the California ballot proposition banning gay marriage in 2008, blacks approved (70% in favor) it, more than any other racial group. As to social issues, Afro-Americans tend to hold a more conservative position about abortion, extramarital sex, and raising children out of wedlock. Nevertheless, on financial issues, African- Americans are very much in line with Democrats, as generally supportive of a more progressive tax structure which would reduce injustice and as well as more government spending on social services and public services in general. Concerning education, the USA takes race and other classification into account. By 2000, African-Americans had advanced greatly in this issue. They still lagged overall in education attainment compared to white or Asian Americans, with 14%in the four first years of schooling and 5%in advanced degrees, though it was higher than other minorities. Blacks attended college at about half the rate of whites, but at a greater rate than that of the Americans of Hispanic origin. In the population of blacks attending college, we find more women than men. Schools for black students from kindergarten through twelfth grade were common throughout the U.S., which characterized segregation but a movement towards de-segregation is currently occurring across the country. Black colleges and universities remain today what they were originally when segregated colleges did not admit African- Americans. In 1947, about one third of African Americans were denied literacy to read and write their own names. By 1969, as it had been traditionally defined illiteracy was largely eradicated among younger African-Americans. By 1998, US Census surveys showed that 89% of the African-Americans aged 25 to 29 had completed high school, which is less than whites or Asians, but more than Hispanics. Historically, on many college entrance standardized tests and grades, African-Americans have lagged behind whites, but some studies suggest that the achievement gap has been closing. Many policy propositions suggest that this gap can and will be eliminated through policies such as desegregation, affirmative action, and multiculturalism.

TO LEARN MORE
Again it is important to refer to The Statistical Abstract of the United States, on the Internet at www.census.gov/ compendia/statab/ cats/population.thml.

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo Afro-Americans were and are highly influential in the United States as they have contributed language, literature, art, foods, agricultural skills, clothing styles, and music, social and technological innovation to American culture from their earliest presence in North America. The cultivation and use of many agricultural products in the U.S., such as yams, peanuts, rice, okra, sorghum, grits, watermelon, indigo dyes, and cotton can be traced to African and African-American influences. A notable example includes George Crum, who invented the potato chip, a cultural symbol of the US, in 1853. Soul, blues, Hip hop, R&B, funk, rock and roll, and other contemporary American musical forms originated in black communities and evolved from other black forms of music, including blues, doo-wop, barbershop, ragtime, bluegrass, jazz, and gospel music makes of Black music one of the most dominant in mainstream popular music. Representatives of famous icon singers include Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole, Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Lionel Ritchie, Steve Wonder, Sammy Davies Junior (also an actor and dancer), among others. Today, they are countless. African American musical genres are the most important ethnic tradition in America, as they have developed independently of African traditions more than any other immigrant groups, including Europeans and have, historically, been more influential, interculturally, geographically, and economically, than any other American traditions. Like Brazilian Africa-descendants, African- American musical forms have also influenced and been incorporated into virtually every other popular musical genre in the world, including country and techno. Representatives of great and world famous icon musicians include Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. As to literature, a brief account would show that many African-American authors have become famous for their production of poetry, stories, and essays influenced by their life experiences. African-American literature is a major genre in American literature. Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelou are some examples of those writers. Recently, August Wilson, one of the most important playwrights (plays: Fences and King Hedley the Third) and Ishmael Reed is a respectful poet and influential essay writer. Presently, the election of Barak Obama is considered the most striking fact: an AfroAmerican descendant became president elect of the US, that is, ebony is living in the White House and ruling the whites, Hispanic, Europeans and, Easterners. All these events mark the American society, culture and highly influence the American English language with new words, habits, ways of thinking, dressing, of viewing the world and receiving new technologies and facing progress in Science, Engineering, Architecture, Decorating, Fashion, Arts, and Literature. A new and different society emerges from every event, a new world is born and the ever evolving language and culture follow this pace. Therefore, to corroborate the idea that culture and language intertwine some words are created, used and become no longer in common use according to the evolution of culture and history. On this line of thought, the terms mulatto and colored were widely used until the second quarter of the 20th century, when they were considered outmoded and gave way to the word negro commonly capitalized in the 1940s, but by the midst 1960s, it had acquired negative connotations. However the term mulatto is still in use in many countries of Latin America and is not viewed as offensive. Today, the Americans consider the term inappropriate and pejorative. Similarly, the term Negro is no longer in use among the younger black generation, but is still used by a substantial group of older black Americans, particularly in the southern states. Negro, which translates as black, in Latin America is the term generally used to refer and describe black people and, like the word mulatto, it is not considered offensive in these countries. In Brazil, unlike other Latin American countries, we use the words preto, moreno and escuro to refer to Black people; the last

Figure31: The King & Carter Jazzing Orchestra photographed in Houston, Texas, January 1921
Source: en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/File:Jazzing_orchestra_1921.png - En cache

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana two terms are undoubtedly discriminating euphemisms for black people, an attempt to disguise prejudice. What I included here about African-American influence in America is far from being exhaustive. Much more can be added or said about this issue, obviously.

2.3.5.2 Hispanic and Latino Americans

The second largest group to form the Americans, Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino. But make no mistake, Hispanic Americans are not to be confused with the inhabitants of Hispanic America or those of Latin Americas. The Hispanic Latinos constitute a total population of 50,477,594 million people, about 16.3% of the U.S. population according to the Census of 2010, living in all areas of the United States with significant populations. They form the second largest ethnic group, but the largest of all the minority groups, after non-Hispanic White Americans (a group composed of dozens of sub-groups, as is Hispanic and Latino Americans). Originated from all continents the Latin American population in the USA has many ancestries and are racially diverse, thus forming an ethnic category, rather than a race. The choice of name (Latino and Hispanic) depends on the side of the US territory they live: Latino-Americans and Hispanic residing in the eastern United States tend to prefer the term Hispanic, whereas those in the west usually prefer Latino. They speak predominantly American English and Spanish. For the U.S. government and others, Hispanic or Latino identity is voluntary, as it is shown in the United States Census, and in some market research. They are Roman Catholics and a large minority is Protestant. Related ethnic groups include Latin Americans, Spaniards, Belizean Americans, Brazilian Americans, Latin Europeans and others. Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, Colombian Americans, Dominican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Spanish Americans, and Salvadoran Figure 32: The Latino Americans: Csar Chvez, Raquel Welch, David Farragut, Sonia Americans are some of the Hispanic and Sotomayo, Franklin Chang-Diaz, Romana Acosta Bauelosn Alex Rodriguez, Hilda Latino American national origin groups. Solis, Isabel Allende, John Leguizamo, Juan Bandini and Gloria Estefan. History tells that the Hispanic pres- Source: wikipedia/org/wiki/Hispanic-and- Latino-Americans. ence in the USA dates back to half a century earlier than the creation of St. Augustine, Florida. If San Juan, Puerto Rico, is considered to be the oldest Spanish settlement, and the oldest city in the U.S., Hispanic or Latino have been in the territory of the present-day United States continuously since the 1565 founding of St. Augustine

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo by the Spanish, who are the longest among European American ethnic groups and second-longest of all U.S. ethnic groups, after Native Americans. Hispanics have also lived continuously in the Southwest since near the end of the 16th century with settlements in New Mexico that began in 1598, and were transferred to the area of El Paso, Texas, in 1680. Spanish settlement of New Mexico resumed in 1692, and other new ones were established in Arizona and California in the 18th century (Available at www.linguee.com.br/ ingles-portugues/.../we+sort.html -. Access 5th July, 2011). The question on Latino/Hispanic origin concerns ethnicity not race as mentioned previously for no separate racial category exists for Hispanic and Latino Americans, and they do not make up a race of their own. When responding to the race question on the Census form they choose from among the same racial categories as all Americans, and are included in the items and numbers reported for those races. Thus each racial category includes Non-Hispanic or Latino and Hispanic or Latino Americans. The White race category, for instance, includes Non-Hispanic Whites and Hispanic Whites; The Black or African American category contains Non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanic Blacks, and the same is said of all the other categories. Self-identifying as Hispanic or Latino and not Hispanic or not Latino is neither explicitly allowed nor explicitly prohibited. (www.linguee.com.br/inglesportugues/.../we+sort.html -. Access 5th July, 2011).

TO LEARN MORE
read the siteen.wikipedia.org/.../Category: Ethnic_groups_in_ the_United States, for getting more knowledge about Race and Ethnicity in The USA.

TASK
See the musical movie West Side Story to understand the story of the struggle of Hispanic immigrants in their trial to live together with the Anglo-Americans in the 1950s. Discuss the discrimination in the film and its implications for the teaching of English as a second language with your classmates and tutor.

2.3.5.3 Immigration and the Whites

Historical facts mark the formation of the white population in America. It would be unviable to narrate all these facts so I will make a brief report about some of them. The colonial period, the mid-nineteenth century, the turn of the twentieth, and post-1965 are the four epochs of the American immigration. Each epoch brought distinct races, ethnicities and national groups to the United States and among them the white people. The story of the American white population dates back to 1492 when Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached several Caribbean islands, making first contact with the indigenous people. On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de Len landed on what he called La Floridathe first documented European arrival on what would become the U.S. mainland. From that time on, other Spanish settlements in the region would be followed by others as the French fur traders who established outposts of New France around the Great Lakes. In the early years of the United States, immigration was fewer than 8,000 people a year, including French refugees from the slave revolt in Haiti and perhaps, less than one million immigrants, as few as 400,000, crossed the Atlantic during the 17th and 18th centuries. During the 17th century, nearly 175,000 Englishmen came to Colonial America and still in the 17th and 18th centuries, over half of all European immigrants arrived in Colonial America as indentured servants. The first successful English settlements were those of the puritans in the Virginia Colony in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims Plymouth Colony in 1620. By 1634, New England had been settled by some 10,000 Puritans. Between the late 1610s and the American Revolution, about 50,000 convicts were shipped to Britains American colonies. According to the American History they escaped from religious prosecutions on part of Henry VIII, King of England, who wanted to exterminate the protestant religion and keep Catholicism as the official religion in his country.

Figure 33: Irish immigrants arriving in the United States in 1902.

Source: www.workpermit. com Immigration

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana The Dutch arrived in the beginning of 1614 and settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. They ceded their American territory to England in 1674 and the province of New Netherland received a new name: New York. Many new immigrants, especially in the South, were indentured servants population that achieved some two-thirds of all Virginia immigrants between 1630 and 1680 and who would be replaced by African slaves that, in their turn, would become primary source of bonded labor by the turn of the 18th century. After 1846, Irish immigration to America was predominantly Catholic. The vast majority of those that had arrived previously had been Protestants or Presbyterians and had quickly assimilated, not least because English was their first language, and most (but certainly not all) had skills and perhaps some small savings on which to start to build a new life. Very soon they had become independent and prosperous. Though materialistically poor, the Irish were rich in cultural resources; developing institutions that helped them face hardship without despair. Cultural events such as St. Patricks Day were regarded by most Americans as evidence of the separateness of these immigrants, but helped hold the Irish culture together. The Irish were highly influential in the American culture. Historians tell that The 1790 Act limited naturalization to free white persons; but it was expanded to include blacks in the 1860s and Asians in the 1950s. The 19th century was marked mainly by immigration from northern Europe. In the early 20th century, America received Immigrants mainly from Southern and Eastern Europe. From 1965 on, they mostly came from Latin America and Asia. After 1820 immigration gradually increased. Over 30 million Europeans migrated to the US from 1836 to 1914. They crossed the Atlantic on ships but the death rate on these transatlantic voyages was high and out of seven one traveler died. In 1875, the USA passed its first immigration law. European immigration was as 1,285,349 persons who entered the country in 1907. By 1910, 13.5 million of them were living in the USA. Because of this huge number of immigrants in 1921, the Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, followed by the Immigration Act of 1924 which restricted the entrance of the Southern and Eastern Europeans, especially Jews, Italians, and Slavs who entered the country in large scales in the early 1890s. The consequence was that most of the European refugees fleeing the Nazis and World War II were prohibited of coming to the United States.

GLOSSARY
indentured slavespeople who agree to work with someone else to learn the job. Task: Find out on the Internet further information about the historical facts that influenced the formation of the white population in America, from 1729 to 1991.

TO LEARN MORE
See the film Gangs of New York (2002)and know more about the Irish presence in New York, NY, in the early 1920s.

Figure 34: Polish immigrants on a farm (1909). Figure 35: Italian immigrants. Little Italy in New York. (1900)
Source: www. en.wikipedia.org/.../ Category: Ethnic_groups_ in_the_United States, for getting more knowledge about Race and Ethnicity in The USA.

The 1930 immigration was caused by the Great Depression which hit the U.S. and lasted over ten years. There were 279,678 immigrants recorded in the final prosperous year of 1929, however four years later, only 23,068 came to the U.SA. More people emigrated from the country than immigrated to it in the early 1930s. Moreover, the U.S. government sponsored a Mexican Repatriation program to encourage people to voluntarily move to Mexico, but thousands were deported against their will. About 400,000 Mexicans were repatriated. In the post-war era, precisely in 1954, the Justice Department launched Operation Wetback, under which 1,075,168 Mexicans were

deported (Available at www.historyworld. net/.../PlainTextHistories.asp. Access in January, 2010). The gender imbalance among legal immigrants was sharp as most of the legal ones was male until the 1930s. However, in the 1990s, women accounted for just over half of all legal immigrants, thus shifting away from the male-dominated immigration of the past. Contemporary immigration shows that immigrants are younger than the native population of the United States- between the ages 15 and 34 and they are also more likely to be married and less to be divorced than native-born Americans of the same age.

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo White immigrants also tend to move to and live in areas populated by people with similar backgrounds. This fact has proved to be true throughout the history of immigration to the United States. Three-quarters of immigrants surveyed by Public Census (2002) said they intended to make the USA their permanent home and emphasized that if they had to immigrate again, 80% of them would still come to that country. In the same study, 80% of immigrants said the government has become tougher on enforcing immigration laws since 9/11, and 30% report that they personally have experienced some sort of discrimination. According to many recent surveys, the attacks of September 11, 2001 have influenced the birth of Public attitudes about immigration in the U.S.A. Fifty per cent of the Americans believe that immigration is a good thing overall for their country, but the other half say tighter control on immigration would do a great deal to enhance national security. From 1991 to 2000, the USA admitted more legal immigrants (10 to 11 million) than in any previous decades. In the most recent decade, the ten million legal immigrants that settled in the USA represent an annual growth of only about 0.3% as the country population grew from 249 million to 281 million. Specifically, aproximately 15% of the Americans were foreign-born in 1910, against about only 10% of foreign-born in 1999. By 1970, immigrants accounted for 4.7% of the USA population and rising to 6.2% in 1980, with an estimated 12.5% to this present year. In 2010, a quarter of the residents of the United States under 18 were immigrants or immigrants children. In 2006, the United States accepted more legal immigrants as permanent residents than all other countries in the world combined. Since the removal of ethnic quotas in immigration in 1965, the number of first-generation immigrants living in USA has quadrupled from 9.6 million in 1970 to about 38 million in 2007. (Available at Category: Ethnic_groups_in_the_ United States. Access, July, 2010) In 2008, 8% of all babies born in the U.S. belonged to illegal immigrant parents, according to a recent analysis of the USA Census Bureau data (Pew Hispanic Center). About 1,046,539 persons were naturalized as USA citizens in 2008. Mexico, India, the Philippines, and China were the leading emigrating countries to the United States, but the last ones are of oriental origin, the so called yellow race, not white. The cheap airline travel post-1960 facilitated travel to the United States, but migration remains difficult, expensive, and dangerous for those who cross the United StatesMexico border illegally. Family reunification is the direct cause for two-thirds of legal immigration to the US every year. The number of foreign nationals who became legal permanent residents of the USA in 2009 as a result of family reunification (66%) outpaced those who became residents on the basis of employment skills (13%) and humanitarian reasons (17%). Recent debates on immigration demanded increasing enforcement of existing laws with regard to illegal immigration to the United States, the building of a barrier along some or the entire 2,000-mile (3,200 km) USAMexico border, or creating a new guest worker program. Along 2006, the country and Congress were immersed in a debate about these proposals. In April 2010, few of these proposals had become law, though a partial border fence was approved and subsequently cancelled. One major issue for the USA immigration these days is undoubtedly the question of terrorism which has become an obsession for the population in general and for the American governmental authorities in particular since the successful terrorist attacks and collapsing of the Twin Towers that composed the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan, NY., (under the command of terrorist Osama Bin Laden), which opened the eyes of the Americans for the fact that they were vulnerable, somewhat unprotected or unprepared to face and fight terrorism. (/.../Category: Ethnic_ groups_in_the_United States). But reconstruction is the word these days. A complex with four buildings is being built inGround Zero: two tall major ones and two smaller ones. The tallest ones are almost finished. Despite all constraints imposed by the immigration laws, one of the major sources of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States has been immigration. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants, settlement patterns, impact on upward social mobility, crime, and voting behavior. However, Americans cannot deny the invaluable contribution of immigrants for the development and progress of their country.

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana

References
ALLWRIGHT, D.; BAILEY KM (1991).Focus on the language classroom: an introduction to classroom research for language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. BROOKS, N (1986) Culture in the classroom. In JM Valdes (ed) Culture bound: bridging the cultural gap in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 123128. BYRAM M (1989) Cultural studies in foreign language education. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. EMMITT M; POLLOCK J. Language and learning: an introduction for teaching (2nded). Melbourne: Oxford University Press. (1997) HANTRAIS, Linda. The undergraduates guide to studying languages. London: Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research, 1989. LEVERIDGE, A.N. Language and Culture, Paper for TEFL.net | September 2008. edition.tefl.net/articles/teacher.../language-culture/ enwww.historyworld.net/.../PlainTextHistories.asp enwww.kidport.com/.../americanicons/AmericanIconIndex.ht... - Em cache en.wikipedia.org/.../Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-America-. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_the_United_States -www.wikepedia.). wikipedia.org/.../Category: Ethnic_groups_in_the_United States, wikipedia.uab.edu/elci-Em cache. And also at: ww.lonweb.org/link-english.htm - En cache. wikipedia/org/wiki/Hispanic-and- Latino-Americans. www.everyculture.com/To-Z/United-States-of-America.html#ixzz1UHeEvU6s. www.kidport.com/.../usageography/usageograph... www.linguee.com.br/ingles-portugues/.../we+sort.html -. www.nps.gov/appa/ - Em cache www.workpermit.com Immigration

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Where does this all lead us to? 3.1 Introduction

Having discussed various fundamental issues and aspects, words and expressions such as culture and language, and mainly the relation of culture to language, I will now approach them as indispensable elements in the process of teaching and learning a second language, English. To achieve such a purpose I will work with the analysis of texts while going back, from time to time, to the issues dealt with previously in Units 1 and 2. Let us concentrate our attention on the following quotation:
Americans who travel abroad for the first time are often shocked to discover that, despite all the progress that has been made in the last 30 years, many foreign people still speak in foreign languages (BARRY, 1974).

UNIT 3

Dave Barry, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author famous for his weekly newspaper humorist column for The Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005 means something with this hilarious and ironic quote. He criticizes the decanted ignorance of the Americans about other peoples languages, or say, the arrogance some Americans sometimes exhibit in relation to what happens in the rest of the world. The quote is about events in old times (1947). And because the world and things changed, today, after so many ordeals, tragic wars and events the Americans had to rethink and face a world which has been changing considerably. The quote, however, shows some traits of the American culture worth some discussion. It is true that the ironic quote reveals the opinion that Americans hold certain ignorance about some facts shared by most people. But would it be really ignorance or should we remember that at that time (1947) the dream was not over, that Americas supremacy over other countries was so absolute that they would not consider the possibility of the world speak languages other than English? This, then, rise to a cultural trait conveyed by language Americas hegemony/arrogance before other nations. It follows that culture and language intermingled to reveal the authors intended meaning and produce the desired effect on readers: laughter, especially from the foreign people but not from the Americans.

3.2 Some small talk: american culture

No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive.(Gandhi) What did Mr. Gandhi want to mean by this quote?

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3.2.1 The Spanish Holy Office

My choice for approaching some aspects of the Spanish Inquisition was not at random and twofold: I was moved by the great influence this long historical event exerted on the European and eventually in the American cultures, history, society and languages. Secondly, the Holy Office would give birth to Witch Hunts in the USA and influence its culture and language. Obviously, as I mentioned elsewhere in this textbook, facts other than this religious one that are equally influential in the USAs culture and language. In brief words, The Holy Inquisition, or The Holy Office, that is, the fight against heretics so to speak, by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church, started in the 12th century with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heretics. Thus the Holly Office performed an outstanding role to guarantee, through torture and strong repression, Catholic beliefs and creeds all over the world for centuries. Inquisition practices were used also on offences against canon law other than heresy. The fight to combat heresy against the Catholic Church spread (almost) all over the New World (Americas) colonized by the Spanish. With the exception of Brazil and the northeast coast of South America, all of that continent as well as Central America, Mexico (North America), and some of the Caribbean Islands were part of the Spanish colonial empire from 1492 to the 1820s. The establishment of the Inquisition in Spain dates back to 1478. But it was only in 1569 that it was set up with two tribunals by King Philip. The Inquisition also reached North America and carried on with its function until the Mexican War of Independence (18101821). In the following pictures take a good look at some of the cruel forms of punishment the European Inquisition submitted the heretics to and how the inquisitors used to dress themselves.

GLOSSARY
heretics: Anti-Christians.

CLUE
In South America Simn Bolvar and Jos de San Martin abolished the Inquisition; in Spain itself the institution survived until 1834 (The Inquisition in the New World, by Clara Steinberg-Spitz. (ww. sefarad.org/publication/lm/037/6.html. Access in May 2011).

Figure 36 The burnings of alleged heretics in Spain.

Source: Available at www. newadvent.org Catholic Encyclopedia. .Access in: May 2nd, 2011

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Figure: 37: Inquisitors in their costumes on trial.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition

Figure 38: Joan of Arcs Death at the Stake, by Hermann Stilke (18031860).
Source: www.pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc - En cache

Figure 39: Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)

Source: Available at www.newadvent.org Catholic Encyclopedia. Access in: May 2nd, 2011

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GLOSSARY
Enunciate: term usually used to refer, but not exclusively, to a sentence in discourse. Gallows humor: black humor.

Figures 38 and 39 portray the execution of Saint Joan of Arc, and a painting of the Sir Thomas More The great English philosopher and predecessor of Humanism in the XVI century. But differently from Saint Joans burning to death, the execution of Thomas More in medieval times has become theme of films that gave origin to some hilarious (black humor) stories worthy of discussion due to the cultural aspects involved. One of them is: As Sir Thomas More climbed a rickety scaffold where he would be executed, he said to his executioner:
I pray you, Mr. Lieutenant, see me safe up; and for my coming down, let me shift for myself. (Available at www.facebook.comGallowshumor-e Notes.com. www.wnotes.com. Access in June, 2011).

TASK
Did you laugh on hearing the joke? Yes, no, why? Write down about the reasons of your laughter no matter you answer to discuss them with your tutor and classmates.

TO LEARN MORE
watch the video: Sir Thomas Mores execution on the YouTube and write down his last words from the moment he walks amongst people to reach the scaffold. Compare them to the ones in the joke. Make a written comment and discuss the part let me shift for myself once again with your tutor.

CLUE
Thomas More was decapitated in England, country where the hardships the Anglican Church imposed to the Catholics in late medieval times were retaliations to the persecution of Protestants by The Holy Catholic Church in earlier medieval times, when Catholic authorities and adepts in the name of The Holy Office executed or submitted many people to death or abominable tortures. The Anglican Church would promote a persecution to Catholics, event that would result in many English families The Puritans - immigrating to the New World - North America, specifically The USA.

If translated into Portuguese the joke would keep the authors intended meaning. But would such meaning match with the listeners? Did you notice that this text is gallows humor and permeated by Sir Mores ironic enunciates? Yes, it is indeed. But what would be required to understand this joke? Firstly, your knowledge of the world (always, and in all circumstances), then your linguistic knowledge of English and of the British historical-social and cultural aspects such as who is Sir Thomas More, what were the circumstances of his being sentenced to death penalty by The Holy Inquisition, Sir Mores (British) control and elegancy but disdainful posture before death itself, his intense faith for the Catholic Church and extreme respect for Henry VIII, who had condemned him despite being his close friend. But most of all you need to capture the nuances and subtleties of the British humor which is, obviously, different from the Europeans, Americans, Brazilians and from any other country. Although there is equivalence in meaning between English and the Portuguese language in the previous humor text, it is not consensual that in different cultures and languages such equivalence always prevails. The same may be said of texts other than the humoristic ones. Some have equivalence, others dont and in general due to social, cultural, pragmatic, historical and, obviously, linguistic reasons. The point is that we cannot generalize things. And for you, dear students, the important is to open your minds to accept that you will not attain the level of linguistic proficiency needed for success in learning a foreign language without experiencing the cultural aspects involving it. Still, watching a video on YouTube I found out that the story of the execution of Sir Thomas More differs a little from the joke I told here. History tells that when he slid down in front of the stairs of the scaffold where he would be decapitated, his exact enunciates were. Thank you, my Lord Hereford, when I come down again let me shift for myself once again. Time, History, culture and society have changed Mores speech thus turning it into gallows humor, a sort of joke similar to the Brazilian black humor. Just out of curiosity, my friends, Thomas More was named a Catholic saint in 1935. The heretic of the Medieval Times becomes a saint in the 20th century. Is it possible to understand religions or men?

3.2.2 Witch-hunts in America

It was said that the Inquisition cruel prosecution would not reach US with the same intensity as it did in Europe. However, another form of repression and torture would appear in America, in the USA, witch-hunt, a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft. Moments also legally sanctioned and involving official trials in Europe appear about 1480 to 1750, resulting in an estimated 40,000 to 100,000 the number of trials and executions respectively. Witch hunts touched the soil of America as a representative of The Holy Inquisition. The term witch comes from the Old English word wicca derived from the Germanic root wic, meaning to bend or to turn. The famous case of the Salem witch trials (theme of several Hollywoodian films) among the Massachusetts Puritans in the USA is a traditional example. It began in 1692 and has entered American consciousness as being quite a bit more than just the killing of witches. The American trials of witches have become a symbol of what can go wrong when crowds of ignorant people go insane, especially when stimulated by ambitious powerful (false) leaders.

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Political and religious authorities used the witch trials to impose their own ideas of order and righteousness upon the local population. In America, as in Europe, violence was used to enforce uniformity and conformity in face of dissent and social disorder. Penalties were immediately applied especially if you were an older, deviant, troublesome or somehow a disorderly woman. Take a look at the following picture and see how the (alleged) heretics were taken to the scaffold to be burned to death.

Figure 40: Witches of Salem, Official arrest, trial and an execution

Source: Available at: countrystudies.us/united-states/history Access in 11th March, 2011.

Figure 41 American Puritans fanaticism. Witch hunts and prosecution

Source: Available at: www. rjgeib.com/thoughts/puritan/puritan.html Access in13th May, 2010.

At the time of the known Salem witch hunt, nineteen people were executed. However, such sort of events have not been relegated to past. They continued into the XX century when in 1928, 1976, 1977 and 1981 suspects were executed for sorcery, insanity, witchery, witchcraft or for being a witch. Does the reason for the executions make any sense or difference? Of course not! And, obviously, all of this would highly influence and add to the American culture and language.

Now, let us see the ordeals American literary writers were submitted to in face of these events. In the 1630s the large immigration to Boston was the cause for the high articulation of Puritan cultural ideals, and due to this fact the early establishment of a college and a printing press in Cambridge, the New England colonies have often been regarded as the center of early American literature. Obviously, literature of and about this period is fart. The Crucible, a

TASK
Do you anything about the presence of the Holy Inquisition in Brazil? Yes, no? Research about the Inquisition in Brazil and answer: Where there witch hunts, or executions of any sort? Write your comments down for further discussion with your tutor.

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TO LEARN MORE
Read the whole article in English Language and Culture Institute. UAB.(Available at: www.uab.edu/ elci- ENGLISH/ESL MORE LINKS. Access in August, 2011.) Take notes and discuss them with your tutor and classmates.

TASK
Find out the meaning of the word Crucible and discuss it with your tutor in terms of its use as an allegory in the title of Millers play.

1953 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller, is a good example of that. The play takes place in Salem in 1692. It is an allegory, a revival, to McCarthyism, when the US government accused people of communist practices and Miller himself was questioned by the House of Representatives Committee on un-American activities in 1956 and convicted of contempt of Congress because he refused to identify persons present at meetings he had attended. The text is a tragedy-dramatization of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1692 and 1693. The drama-tragedy play was first performed on Broadway, New York City, at the Martin Beck Theater on January 22, 1953. Mill-

er himself realized that this production was too stylized and cold and because of that the dramatist believed the reviews for it would be largely hostile and they were, nevertheless The New York Times wrote: a powerful play driving performance. Despite the bad reviews the production was awarded the Tony in 1953 as Best Play. A year later a new production was a huge success. Today it is studied in high schools and universities because of its status as a revolutionary work of theatre, for its allegorical relationship to testimony given before the Committee On Un-American Activities during the 1950s, and because it retreated the oppression and torture of the colonial time. It is a central work in the canon of American drama.

GLOSSARY
allegory - is a figurative mode of representation conveying meaning other than the verbal. As a literary device, an allegory in its most general sense is an extended metaphor and as artistic device a visual symbolic representation.

3.3 Some cultural traits and the literary text

Following the same line of themes, undoubtedly the most representative work of the presence of the Holy Inquisition heritage in the American culture and language, in my opinion, is the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne written in 1850 and considered his masterpiece. It is a romantic work of fiction in a historical setting in 17th-century in Puritan Boston during the years 1642 to 1649. It tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an adulterous affair and struggles to create a new life through repentance and dignity. In his book Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, guilt but conveys also social, religious and historical aspects influential in the American culture. In the next figures, take a look at Nathaniel Hawthornes face and at the cover of the book of his masterpiece- novel. The Scarlet Letter has also been transformed into an opera by Walter Damrosch, libretto by George Parsons Lathrop. According to critics the opera is Wagnerian in style. Excerpts from the opera were first premiered at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY, on January 4 and 5, 1895 but I have read no news about their success on those presentations. It is well known that cultures embody values. One example of such values in the American culture would be: Anglo Americans generally tend to consider their personal/individual goals over group goals because they are generally goal- future-oriented, especially when it comes to monetary security. To save and be Figure 42: Nathaniel Hawthornes picture prepared for the future is a common American Source: www.worldcat.org/.../scarlet-letter...drawings.../ trait, as well as is their tendency to strive for material comfort. But would those traits be common to other cultures as well? Yes, but maybe not so inconspicuously. Another American tendency towards being goal-oriented is detected in communication. Unlike Brazilians, conversation between Americans is usually oriented toward exchanging information in a very fast, economic and efficient way. An example is that a direct question frequently leads to a direct response, often without too many words or a great deal of polite small talk. They simply do not want to waste time on tomfooleries. This may explain why American citizens are

CLUE
The House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities (HRCAA) is part of the American history as an organization created for repressing and judging people.

TASK
Find out why and what for the HRCAA was created. Discuss it with your tutor. Did we have organizations such as this one in Brazil? Yes, no, which ones? Discuss it with your tutor.

TO LEARN MORE
Watch excerpts in videos about The Crucible at www.youtube.com/ watch?v=3pfuldf_Pck.

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana often viewed as pushy and rude by other cultures. Anglo Americans are very direct in addressing their interlocutors, using these persons name many times but tending to interrupt each other more often, what would be seen as impoliteness in many other cultures. The raising of children constitutes an Anglo American trait which differs from many other cultures. Americans are strict as to discipline which may include physical punishment that is considered acceptable maybe because their concept of family is that of a perfect one. However, they are constantly saying to their children, closer relatives and friends I love you, behavior sometimes thought of as excessive and pointless in the Brazilians opinion. Other typically Anglo American beliefs that you, dear students, will probably recognize are: Man has power over nature, and nature itself has its laws and everything that happens can be scientifically explained and Americans have to be the first to climb the ladder of success and are success-oriented. A convincing literary example of this trait is found in Death of a Salesman, a 1949 famous play by the American playwright Arthur Miller awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play on stage in 1949. The original production ran for 742 performances and was premiered at the Morosco Theatre in February 1949 (Available at www. en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Death_of_a_Salesman). In the play, Miller focuses on failure in a success-oriented society, and Willy Loman, the central character, is the failed aged salesman who lives with Linda, his adoring but over protective wife, who acts as a buffer between her husband and their two adult sons, Biff and Happy, whose relationship with their father is permanently under tension. Lomans crime is to believe in the propaganda of a society which has room only for winners. The play theme demonstrates how a victim of The American Dream can be destroyed by false promises which not only impact on ones business life but also set up conflicts within personal relationships. The significance of this theme, a trait of the American culture and still very relevant to many societies today, is heightened by Millers skillful use of key techniques, including setting, characterization and symbolism. The play plots the tragic collapse of a man who cannot face up to his moral responsibilities in a society whose false values attach a dangerous importance to success as measured in such transient terms as income and material possessions. Living according to these values means that failure is likewise defined in economic terms. At the outset of the play Loman is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Lets now examine some samples/excerpts to confirm what I said about Millers approach of American cultural traits conveyed by language. But first, let me provide details about Lomans sons to contextualize the analysis. Willys sons Biff and Happy - illustrate other significant areas of this central theme of success/failure: Biff opts out of the competitive world which his father wants for him. It is Biff who finally analyses the root cause of their domestic friction when he says: We never told the truth for ten minutes. And it is Biff who finally blames his father for his own failure because: Weve been walking in a dream for fifteen years and I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air. Biff comes to understand that he has been blinded by false values, unable to honestly address who he is or where he belongs in life. The result of this understanding is that he finally faces his father with brutal self-knowledge:

TASK
Read the E-book at www.online-literature. com Nathaniel Hawthorne - and see the film with Demi More and find the meaning of the expression scarlet letter A on Hesters chest. Discuss the theme with your tutor.

TASK
Look up in the dictionary and check the way Americans use the word inconspicuously. Discuss it with your classmates.

Figure43: 1st edition cover of Death of a Salesman, 1949 (Viking Press).Film version of the play.
Source: www. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_a_Salesman

Figure 44: Made for TV production of Death of a Salesman,1985

Source: www.imdb.com/ title/tt0089006

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo Pop! Im a dime a dozen and so are you. His final verdict on his father and his failure is that: He had the wrong dreams. He never knew who he was. It is part of Willys tragedy, however, that at this moment when he is asked to confront the truth, and he cannot. This failure to face up to reality is seen in Willys response to Biffs honest statement about what his professional position really was: Who ever said I was a salesman with Oliver? I was a shipping clerk. To which Willy replies: But you were practically. Willys younger son, Happy, acts as a foil to Biff and gives evidence of his own failure to grow into a man of integrity. He is more successful, in Willys viewpoint, than his brother but has been corrupted by competitive business life. He tells Biff: Im constantly lowering my ideals. His words speak for the playwright. It is well to remember that American women were a force in early 20th century mainly in 1913 when the woman suffrage gave them the right to vote and to run for office much earlier than any other female population of any other country. The expression force also applies for the economic and political reform movements which aimed at extending those rights to women regardless of qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or marital status. Now, dear students, what would be the women writers position as to literary texts revealing American cultural aspects? It was only in the 1960s that, women writers began to challenge the notion that womens place was in the home. That decade would give rise to feminist writers who criticized the paternalism of marriage, submission and lack of dignity and identity. Among them I mention the novelist Marge Piercy, the famous nonfiction writer Betty Friedan, the poets Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath, poet, novelist and short- story writer. Let us read one of Anne Sextons poems in which she deals with womens issues and lyrically imbricates them in a flow of beauty and consistency as she plays with the word ghosts unveiling and revealing womenscondition at that time. GHOSTS Some ghosts are women, neither abstract nor pale, their breasts as limp as killed fish. Not witches, but ghosts who come, moving their useless arms like forsaken servants. Not all ghosts are women, I have seen others; fat, white-bellied men, wearing their genitals like old rags. Not devils, but ghosts. This one thumps barefoot, lurching above my bed. But that isnt all. Some ghosts are children. Not angels, but ghosts; curling like pink tea cups on any pillow, or kicking, showing their innocent bottoms, wailing for Lucifer. (Available at: www.americanpoems.com/poets/annesexton/4721) What really amazes us in Sextons poem is the rich comparison-game in the use of contrasting words which allows the poet-meaning to reach readers accordingly. Sexton intelligently talks of the womens bondage and degrading condition as she refers to breasts as killed fish, symbol for physical decadence; men wearing their genitals like old rags and I ask you to pay attention

TASK
Did you notice that Willys surname is LOMAN, and that one of his sons was named HAPPY? Would you say that Arthur Miller selected these names on purpose? Would there be any relation between Loman and low man?If so, why would have he done that? Discuss it with your tutor.

TO LEARN MORE
Read the E-book Death of a Salesman on the Internet or see the movie and dive into these traits of the American culture. A good suggestion is the play Final Scene on the YouTube.

TASK
Check the use of words and expressions in contrast in the poem and discuss them with your tutor comparing them to the issues womens writers dealt with at that time.

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana to the poets brilliant use of the verb wear in this enunciate -, and finally deals with the children, men and women to be, with the mission of perpetuating that submissive and abominable condition. Poem is a jewel in all aspects but specifically important for being an actual portrayal of how women (and things) should no longer be.

3.4 Miscellaneous other American cultural traits.

Another important American belief/trait is that one must strive to be the best; hard work is rewarded, as well as adhering to a time schedule and being always punctual. Americans are more likely to be competitive instead of cooperative, and consider aggressiveness and ability as responsible, not fate or destiny, for leading a person to great achievements. As to economy, the major challenges facing it are to maintain profits by keeping production costs low and to increase consumer markets. Private property is culturally valued in America and this is best expressed in the high rate of home ownership. Historically, the USA was an agricultural nation, and it culturally has a romantic image of the small, independent farm family battling the elements on the prairie. One particular trait in the USA culture refers to Americans exacerbated deep patriotism and love for their country and respect for their national symbols such as the flag and the national anthem. They usually listen to, or sing, the national anthem with their hands on their hearts for showing love and respect. It also amazes me the way Americans respect each other in what concerns collectiveness, that is, the idea of being together, private property and civil rights. In general, Americans do not build fences around their houses to separate properties and all neighbors are respected and generally, but not always, treated as equals. If they know you they will treat you well. Americans talk loud and are very effusive in expressing themselves. They frequently use the expression Oh, my God, oh, my God!, for happy, surprising or sad, lamentable and astonishing situations. Good examples of this trait are the TV sitcoms/series such as My Wife and Kids, Mike and Molly, The Good Wife and Friends to name only a few. In such series you will also easily detect other traits inherent in the American culture and manifested through language. Anglo-Americans would neither complain for waiting a long time in lines nor try to take someone elses best positioned place with an untruthful excuse. They are polite but in restaurants and bars attendants are always in a hurry and dying to see you leave after you have finished your meal so that the table would be empty and someone else could enter the room and become a new customer. That is America rush for making money and improving economy. After all, what is new about that? The USA is a capitalist country. Lotteries are popular in the country and Americans like to gamble. Mobility in most cases seems limited: working-class people tend to stay in their classes. Furthermore, the top 1% of the population has made significant gains in wealth in the last few years. Similar gains have not been made by the poorest sectors. In general, it appears that the gap between rich and poor is growing. For the Americans, and for Brazilians as well, social occasions usually include drinking alcoholic beverages. Hot dogs and beer are a must at sporting events, and popcorn and candy highly consumed at movie theaters. As mentioned elsewhere in this textbook, very few occasions are considered ceremonial for the Americans. At weddings, funerals and other rites to serve food and drinks applies by all means. It follows that whether religious or secular, weddings include a large tiered cake and shortly after the wedding, the newlyweds feed each other a piece of the cake. At JewishAmerican funerals, the families and friends eat fish, usually smoked or pickled, and eggs may be served as symbols of lifes continuation. Some Americans, particularly in the South, eat hopping john, a dish made with black-eyed peas, to bring good luck in the New Year. At funerals Americans always wear black clothes but do not wear white ones at New Years Eve. Many Americans overeat and have a tendency to grow fat because of that. Obesity is a national problem. Waking up is accompanied by coffee and in the morning breakfast, which usually includes lots o coffee or tea, scrambled eggs, ham or bacon or sausage, cheese, orange juice and toasts or rolls, it is the most important meal of the day whereas lunch is

TO LEARN MORE
research on the Internet for the musical State Fair and get to know more about the romanticism of the Americans in relation.

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo usually a light meal. Dinner is served after 5pm and a lot of food is eaten. Americans, as you know, love pasta, tuna or turkey sandwich and a hot dog dressed or topped with ketchup and mustard and a hamburger, sandwich named after the city of Hamburger, Germany from where it is allegedly originated, which is prepared with a bread called bun, and with different sorts of meats such as steak, chicken, beef, fish and turkey.

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Regarded less as celebrations of patriotism than as family holidays, national holidays are celebrated everywhere in the country. In this section I Source: en.wikipedia.org/ will approach only two of them. wiki/Hamburger Undoubtedly, the Fourth of July Independence Day (1776) is the most important holiday for the Americans during which fireworks displays mark the Declaration of Independence from Britain. July is summer in the USA, so this is also a time for an all day long camping and picnics, or trips with friends and family. Figure 46: Obesity, The second most significant family holiday is national problem in Thanksgiving Day. Families prepare few large and the USA. elaborate meals. But the annual feast is also part of Source: www.americanothe national history as it celebrates the hardships besity.org of the early colonists who were starving in their new environment and received help from the American Indians that came and shared indigeTO LEARN MORE nous foods such as maize and turkey. As to the arts, the level of public support is much lower than in other wealthy nations as Watch Super Size Me, a documentary by Morunknown individual artists, writers, and performers are scarcely granted patronage. The National gan Spurlock available Endowment for the Arts (NEA), a famous organization which supports arts and humanities, has a on YouTube: http:// very small budget to provide funds from public broadcasting to individual artists. The NEA somewww.youtube.com/ times is under attack from Congress as conservative members question the value and the moralwatch?v= ity of the art produced with NEA grants. qyV3EC4LHn0; Private donations are a common form of supporting the arts in the USA. They are tax-deductible and a popular hedge among the wealthy against estate and income taxes. Another esTASK sential means of subsidizing the arts is to give generous gifts to prestigious museums, galleries, symphonic orchestras, and operas that often name halls and galleries after their donors. Research about other holidays in America. In relation to their social division, most Americans believe that they do not have a class soFor example: find about ciety. This happens because there is a strong cultural belief in the equality of opportunities for Labors Day, Dads Day, all and economic mobility. But social stratification is visible in the multifaceted daily life. The segMothers Day and also regation of blacks and whites in cities mirrors their separation in the labor force. Whereas giant about the Brazilian homes in gated suburbs all across the country generally belong to rich whites, they contrast with date Dia dos namorados. Discuss the topic the crumbling housing stock of blacks in the inner cities. However, blacks condition in America is with your tutor. far better than that of Brazilians. Many of them are successful wealthy and influential people over society and government. Speech, manners, and dress also signal class position. Strong regional or Spanish accents, for example, are associated with working-class status.

Figure 45: Common hamburger, meal hamburger and a steak hamburger.

Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana The labor force has historically always been divided on the basis of gender, race and ethnicity. Because of that, skilled jobs in manufacturing and management jobs typically have been more accessible to white than to black men or women of any race. Within the industries, there is a technological divide. Blacks and other minorities fill low-skill jobs such as food service and are found less often in managerial positions or the growing hi-tech industries. The Americans live in a federal republic composed of a national government and fifty state governments. The political system is controlled by two parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. One of the features of American democracy is that on the average, strangely as it may seem, less than half the eligible voters participate in federal elections. Republicans and Democrats, referred to as conservatives and liberals respectively, differ on certain social issues. Republicans are generally conservative on moral issues and social spending. They support cuts in federally-sponsored social programs such as welfare and believe in strengthening institutions such as marriage and the traditional family but are usually opposed to abortion and gay rights. Democrats tend to support federal funding for social programs that favor minorities, the environment, and womens rights. However, critics argue that these two parties set a very narrow range for political debate. Third parties do exist and have emerged on diverse bases importance.

Figures 47, 48: The Kicking Donkey party logo is still a well-known symbol for the Democratic Party, despite no longer being the official logo of the party.
Source:en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Democratic_Party_(United States).

Figures 49, 50: Republican Party Symbol. Both Parties symbols on fight.
Source: www.gop.com/ En cache

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo At the federal level, government power and responsibilities are set out in the Constitution adopted in 1789. The national government is divided into three branches intended to provide checks and balances against abuses of power. The branches are the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. The executive branch includes the President and federal agencies that regulate everything from agriculture to the military. On its turn, legislative branch includes members elected to the upper and lower houses of Congress: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The judicial branch includes the Supreme Court and the USA Court of Appeals. At the state level, government follows along the same lines, with elected governors, senators, and assemblymen and state courts. The nation also has the county, the smallest unit of government that has an elected board, but not all states have a system of county governments. As to elections, officials are elected directly, on the basis of popular vote. Nevertheless, and surprisingly for many peoples, the President is elected by the Electoral College. Each state has as many electors as it has senators and representatives. The latter are awarded according to population. Within each state, electors vote as a bloc, which means that all electoral votes in a state go to the candidate with the plurality of the popular vote within that state. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the election. This system is controversial and intriguing because it is possible for a President to win a national election without winning a national majority of the popular vote, as it happened in 2000 when George Bush Junior was elected President. Cultures are what they are. But is it not strange that in the most democratic nation in the world (at least in the Americans opinion) the president is not elected by the people, that the peoples will does not prevail? Politics is highly professionalized in America. With the exception of local-level offices, most people who run for political offices are lifelong politicians but running for a high-level political office is extremely expensive. Many politicians in the House and the Senate are wealthy. However the expense of winning elections requires not only personal wealth, but corporate donations. The United States remains the most violent industrialized nation in the world despite the decrease in crime rates. The capital city, Washington, D.C. has the highest per capita crime rate in the country. In the nation as a whole the poor and teenagers are the most common victims of violent and nonviolent crime. Although cities are considered very dangerous places, crime rate is not consistently higher in urban areas than in rural areas. The elderly are the most fearful of crime but not its most common victims. For violent crime tough penalties are often perceived as a solution, and it is on this basis that the death penalty is defended. But if this proves to be a solution why would Florida and Arizona, which adopt the death penalty, have the highest rates of violent crime in the country? In all categories the vast majority of crimes are committed by white males. Popular imagination, prejudice and popular culture say that violent criminal tendencies are often associated with African-American and Hispanic males. This perception legitimates a controversial practice called racial profiling. Because of that African-American and Hispanic men are randomly stopped, questioned, or searched and arrested by police. Historically, immigrant urban groups have been subject of intense policing pursuing and believed to be tendentious for vice and crime. Nevertheless, the vast majority of crimes are committed by white males. Strange as it may seem, there are more people in prison and more people per capita in prison than in any other industrialized nation. The prison population is well over one million, numbers that have increased since 1980 as a result of mandatory sentences for drug-related crimes. Surprisingly as it seems, African-Americans make up only about 12% of the population, however, they outnumber white inmates in prison. Both Hispanic and African-American men are far more likely to be imprisoned than white men. Rates of imprisonment for women are on the rise, but they are far less likely to be imprisoned than men of any race or ethnicity. The USA is the only Western industrialized nation that allows capital punishment and rates of execution for AfricanAmerican men are higher than those of any other ethnic group. As to the Status of Women and Men, in legal terms, women have the same rights as men. They can own property, choose to marry or divorce, vote and demand equal wages for equal work. They also have access to birth control and abortion. Differently from the situation in other countries, the status of women in relation to men is very high. However, women do not receive the same social and economic benefits as men do. They are greatly underrepresented in elected political offices and are more likely to live in poverty. Female occupations, both in the home and in the workplace, are valued less than mens. Women are more likely to have a distorted or

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana low self-image and suffer from a sense of disempowerment. Any similarity to Brazilian (and other countrys) women? What do you think, dear student? As I have already explained, in America, the notion of family is the typical/ideal nuclear one consisting of two parents and their children; this is the cultural ideal but not always the reality. As in many other cultures, upon marriage, adult couples form their own household separate from their biological families. Immigrant groups have been reported to rely on extended family networks for support. Similarly, among African-American families, where adult males are often absent, extended kin ties are crucial for women raising children. A significant number of Americans of all ethnic backgrounds live in Figure 51: An ad of the nontraditional families such as film American Wedding. the unmarried couples or single Source:www.rottentomaparents, gay couples and their toes.com/m/american_wechildren, or gay families without dding children. Civil unions are legal only between heterosexual adults, exception for the state of Vermont. Gay marriages, however, are increasingly common whether or not they are recognized by the state. TASK Certain religions and churches See the film American recognize and perform gay marWedding, and also riages. Marriage, as a civil instituknown as American tion, is commonly performed in Pie. You will find manyt a church. As in many other counraits of the American tries, statistically, marriage appears to be on the decline. Half of all adults are unmarried, includ- culture. ing those who have never married and those who are divorced. Among whites rates of marriage are higher than among blacks. Remarriage and divorce have high rates and have also increased the importance of stepfamilies. In relation to higher education, the majority of the Americans complete high school, and almost half receive at least some college education. Almost one-quarter of the population has completed four or more years of college. Rates of graduation from high school and college attendance are significantly higher for the whites than for African-Americans and Hispanics. The quality of colleges and universities is excellent, and availability due, but the university education is not funded by the state as it is in many Western industrialized nations, like Brazil for instance in the federal universities. Higher education is expensive and ranges from a few thousand dollars annually at public institutions to more than ten thousand dollars a year at private institutions. The cost of tuition in elite private colleges exceeds US$20.000 a year, about R$34.000. Some of the most famous universities in the world as Yale, Stanford and Cambridge are in the USA.

Figure 52 and 53: University of Stanford and Harvard University/Cambridge, Massachusetts

Source:en.wikipedia.org/wikiSource:pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universidade_Harvard /Stanford University -California

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo Paying for college among middle class parents is a source of anxiety and worry from the moment their children are born. It is customary to make savings to guarantee university studies. Middle and low-income families often pay for college with student loans and the size of such debts is on the increase. Americans personal behavior often appears crass, loud, and effusive to people from other cultures, but they value emotional and bodily restraint. The stereotypical American often maintains a permanent smile and unrelenting enthusiasm which may mask strong emotions they consider unacceptable to express. The bodily refrain is expressed through the relatively large physical distance people, especially men, maintain with each other. Yawning, breast-feeding, and passing gas in public are considered rude. Americans also consider it impolite to talk about money and age.

3.5 The performing arts

Let us now approach the performing arts which include many original genres of modern dancing that have been influenced by classical forms as well as American traditions, such as jazz, funk, punk. Important American innovators dancers include Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, and Alvin Ailey. Theaters in every town that hosted plays, vaudeville, and musicals in the past are now showing movies or have simply closed. In general terms, performance arts are available (mostly only) in metropolitan areas. America has produced several popular musical genres which blended regional, European, and African influences of which the best known are the African-American blues and jazz. Important jazz composers and musicians include Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, and Thelonius Monk. Although considered classic today, blues and jazz standards were the popular music of the time they were invented. Interestingly, while (social) segregation was common among whites and blacks, Americans seemed to ignore the allegedly differences between these ethnicities as music fitted into black and white categories. Examples of that were the popular swing jazz tunes standardized by band leaders such as Glenn Miller, whose white band made swing music hugely popular with young white people. Rock n roll, a major cultural export in the 1950s and 1960s, had its roots in these earlier popular forms. Famous and major influences in rock and roll include Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Bruce Springsteen. Primarily white, rock n roll received the influence of soul and Motown, with singers such as Aretha Franklin, the groups the Supremes and the Temptations who produced popular black music. Country music, another popular genre, has its roots in the early American folk music of the Southeast and is now termed country or bluegrass. The genre, emerging from traditional gospel songs and hymns reworked these genres to produce songs about the routine of poor whites in the Southeast rural area. In the USA, popular music has always embodied a conflict between its commercial and entertainment value and its intellectual or political value. Folk, country and blues, rap, rock n roll, and hip-hop have all carried powerful social and political messages. It is common that old forms become standard and commercialized, but their political edge tends to give way to more generic content, such as love songs. I could not close this section without mentioning the classics, classic music in America. I am specifically referring to Mr. George Gershwin, a Jewish descendant composer famous for compositions in both classical and pop music. Known all over the world, Gershwin composed the Rhapsody in Blue for piano and orchestra, the piece An American in Paris and the Cuban Overture. George composed innumerous pop song sand scores for musicals performed on Broadway theaters always in partnership with his elder brother Ira (lyricist). Together they composed the musicals Crazy for You (1930), Porgy and Bess (1935), the latter considered by most critics as an opera. A revival of Porgy is scheduled and previews open in November, 2011 in New York; Lady be Good (1924), Tell me More (1925), Oh Kay!(1926). All musical scores deal with racial-social-romantic (Porgy and Bess), urban (Lady Be God) and country (Crazy for You) issues pertinent to the American culture all of them with a touch of linguistic ambiguities and humor. Take a look at Gershwin in the next photo.

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana Along with George Gershwins death only at the age of 38, dies the classical American music, so to speak.
Figure 54: George Gershwin (1898-1937) born Jacob Gershowitz, from Jewish origin, famousAmerican composer of the 1920sa and 1930s..
Source:wwwGeorgeegershwin.com

3.5.1 Last but not least: Musical Theatre, Musicals

Musicals, or Musical theatre, are a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue and dance, in which the emotional content of the piece humor, pathos, love, anger as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms such as opera, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared to the dialogue, movement and other elements. In a brief account, the origin of musicals dates back to the 19th century culminating with the works of Gilbert and Sullivan in Britain and those of Harrigan and Hart in America. In the midst 1920s musical works became simply, musicals.
Figure 55: The first musical on stage Source: The Black Crook (1866), considered by some historians to be the first musical.
Available at: Musical theatre - Wikipedia, the free en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Musical_theatre.

Early in the 20th century, musicals and other smart shows like Of Thee I Sing (Gershwin) were artistic steps forward other revues and entertainment and led to remarkable remarkable shows as Show Boat (1927) and Oklahoma!(1943). Some of the most famous and iconic musicals through the decades that followed include West Side Story (1957), Hair (1967 off Broadway), A Chorus Line (1975), Rent (1994 in a workshop and 1996 on Broadway), Crazy for you (1992), Beauty and the Beast (1994), Tarzan (2006), Ragtime (1996 in Toronto, Canada and in 1998 on Broadway), The Producers (2001),The Little Mermaid (2007), Spider Man: Turn of the dark (2010) and Priscilla Queen of Desert (Sydney in 2006, New Zealand in 2008, Broadway in 2011, to name only a few successful shows and some of them bringing American themes. Such shows involve financial investments which are beyond imagination and where artistic and technical competence abounds. The musical Spider Man: Turn of the dark is directly taken from the comics with the same name and tells the saga of one of the American superheroes in his struggle for defending the needy and fighting bandits without revealing his identity. Ragtime is based upon a novel with the same name by El Doctorow (1975).The novel became a film and also a musical, the latter with a book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and music by Stephen Flaherty. The musical score includes marches, cakewalks, gospel and ragtime and is mostly sung-through. Ragtimes musical score is the most beautiful ever composed for a Broadway show, in my opinion. Ragtime tells the story of three ethnical groups in America, represented by the Afro-American Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Harlem musician; Mother, the matriarch of a WASP (abbreviated form

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo for (White, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant.) family in New Rochelle, NY, often used with a pejorative senseand Tateh, a Jewish immigrant. Famous American historical figures such as Harry Houdini, Evelyn Nesbit, Booker T. Washington, J. P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Stanford White, Harry Kendall Thaw, and Emma Goldman are also depicted in the show.

Figure 56, 57, 58, 59: Spider Man: Turn of the dark (2010 and still on) first photo is taken from the content writer Playbill booklet distributed inside the theatres before the musical show starts. Spider Mans second photo was taken from Spider-Man spins strong box office web,
available at: www.today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43559858/ns/today-entertainment, Anything goes (revival of 2011) and Ragtime (1998) photos were taken from the content writer in the CD covers.

The next three musicals are famous all over the world as they were also seen in films and cartoons. The last picture depicts the musical How to succeed in business without really trying now on stage that tells the story of a young man in search for success in business. The title speaks for itself.

Figures: 60, 61, 62 and 63: Photos of the shows: The Addams family (opened in 2009), The Lion King (opened in 1999). Mamma Mia (London production in 1999; Broadway in 2001), How to succeed (revival opened in 2010).
Source: Pictures are photos taken from the content writer Playbill books freely distributed inside the theatre as you are oriented to find your seat before the beginning of every performance.

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana If you thought, dear students, that you recognized the actor who plays Harry Potter in the movies, in one of these pictures, yes, you are right. He is presently in a show on Broadway whose theme is typical of the American culture. And he sings and dances too... American musicals about foreign cultural themes are also produced as Billy Elliot (Broadway 2009) which is taken from the English film (2000) with the same name. The musical score is by Elton John and lyrics by Lee Hall; Man of la Mancha (1965, from the novel by Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote de La Mancha), Nine (1992, from Federico Fellinis semi-autobiographical film 8.),The Phantom of the Opera from a book by Gaston Leroux, a French author and musical score by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart. Les Misrables (1980 in Paris; 1985 in London and Broadway in 1987)is depicted from a novel written by the French writer Victor Hugo; Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown (2010), a three months running show (from October 4th to January 4th) is based upon Almodovars film with the same name. All of them became huge success all over the world as beautifully staged and performed. See their photos taken from the Playbill covers below.

Figures 65, 66, 67, 68: Billy Elliot (2009), Man of la Mancha (2001), The Phantom of the Opera (1986), Priscilla Queen of desert (2010)
Source: Photos taken from the Playbill booklet distributed freely inside the theatre before the show.

Famous throughout the world, American musicals are performed all over the USA and in many other countries including Brazil where the productions are duly translated into Portuguese and performed in theatres in So Paulo with competence that equals the ones on Broadway or London. Examples of musicals staged in Brazil include: O Beijo da Mulher Aranha, Vitor e Vitria, Os Miserveis, O Fantasma da pera, A Novia Rebelde, Minha Querida Dama and recently Mamma Mia among others. Musicals are undeniable relevant mechanisms for portraying cultural traits. Their scores include the most beautiful and famous songs ever composed.

TO LEARN MORE
Goto YouTube and find American musicals. Listen to some of their excerpts and get to know why they are such a significant trait in American culture. A good suggestion would be Bonnie and Clyde a brand new show whose previews open in November 4th).

3.6 Culture in second language teaching

Take a close look into the following text, dear, students. I want you to answer some questions about it. To do so, watch how language leads you to capture the nuances of the American culture. Because language is so closely entwined in culture, language teachers entering a different culture must respect their cultural, moral and ethical values. To teach an FL is also to teach a foreign culture, and teachers should be sensitive to the fact that our students, our colleges, our administrators, and, if we live abroad, our neighbors, do not share all of our cultural paradigms. On account of that, it is advisable that teachers instruct their students on the cultural background of language usage as meaning is bound in cultural context. Instructors must not only

TASK
Research on the Internet about the word revival used some times in this section. Discuss it with classmates and tutor.

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo explain the meaning to the students because with such a strategy students would be learning empty or meaningless symbols or incorrect meanings. It is known that very frequently, meanings are lost because of cultural boundaries which do not allow such ideas to persist. Misunderstandings often emerge because of such distinct cultural ideologies, roots, and cultural boundaries which limit expression. The result is that students may run the risk of using the FL language inappropriately or within the wrong cultural context, thus not achieving the purpose of learning a language properly. It was said in this textbook that the American culture is that of individualism, personal accom plishment, patriotic feelings and pride, and focused on the family and its ties, and that success and failure in the American cultural framework influences not just a specific individual but the whole family or group. Therefore, besides respecting the culture in which Americans are inserted when teaching instructors should use culturally acceptable methods that must be examined before proceeding, as they may be inappropriate teaching, intentional or not. Following this line of thought what could be taught in terms of grammar and culture in the following cartoon and how (method) would you teach these aspects? What does the cartoonist convey, in a humorous way, with the images and linguistic structures?The idea that even in face of death teachers must do their job: teach and be respected for their knowledge. Take a look at the characters clothing. When do you think this scene took place? Did you know about this specific use of the verb hang? Now, take a look at the next cartoon, dear students, and see how that the cartoonist approaches the theme. What the linguistic structures convey in terms of American culture in this picture is that no matter ungrammatical the language people have to follow the principle of private property. Therefore, no van- Figure 70: A cartoon on the trait about the use of the dalism is allowed, pattern language. not even to correct Source: www.inglesonline.com.br Sites de Ingls Bsico. the mistakes in public signs. The woman in the picture is taken to prison because she vandalized the sign with her correction. Americans are educated to live by the book. Of course, there is irony permeating the cartoon as peoples from other cultures could think there is some sort of exaggeration about the old ladys arrest. Would this situation happen in Brazil? Would someone try to correct the mis-

Figure 69: Americans choices.

Source:www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/ directory/a/american.asp

TASK
The cartoonist makes use of irony in that he criticizes the American status quo. Find cultural traits in the intertwinement of language to culture. Name also words you did not know and that you learned through studying the text.

TASK
What cultural American trait s detectable from this text? Discuss it with your tutor. Figure 71: Carton on the use of the pattern language
Source: www.inglesonline. com.br Sites de Ingls Bsico.

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana take and be arrested because he vandalized a public or private property? How would Brazilians react to this cartoon? In using language, differences should not only be compared, but also contrasted because this will enable the student to judge appropriately the uses and the causes of language idiosyncrasies. Instructors should contrast the different language usages, especially grammatical and idiom use in their cultural contexts for the students to fully understand why certain things in English are said. Brazilian students learning English are generally first taught to greet someone with simple dialogs as follows: Hello. How are you? /How do you do? I am fine. Thank you, and you? This is believed to be what one must say on the first and every occasion you meet an English speaking person but if the interlocutor greets you with the following greetings you should answer accordingly: How is everything? You could say: Good! OK! How are you doing? You could say: Great! Hello? Hi?

TASK
Would you agree that the previous cartoon is a good tool for teaching language (grammar, semantics, and phonology) and culture? How would you do that? Discuss with your classmates and tutor. Furthermore, what is wrong in the sign? Can you explain it?

CLUE
Information about the Communicative Approach for teaching English as a foreign language can be found in the textbook of the discipline Applied Linguistics (2011), by Rosa Maria Neves da Silva for your course, dear students.

However, for over eight decades in the 20th century, Brazilian students were likely to answer I am fine, thank you and you? This sort of format in teaching is everything but a communicative approach. Brazilians greet themselves in different ways too, so the question is: In how many ways North-Americans greet themselves? What is culturally appropriate? Notice in the cartoon, dear students, how culture and Figure 72: Cartoon on language intermingle as the cartoonist underlies the word IN the use of ambiguous language. to show the importance of the literary use of language in the Source: www.inglesonline. website that should be strictly followed. The humorist uses com.br Sites de Ingls ambiguity in bed IN breakfast (a cama no/dentro do caf da Bsico - Em cache. Access manh) to counterpoint the usual meaning of the expression in 9 abr. 2007 breakfast in bed that means (the comfort of ) having breakfast GLOSSARY in bed. It is language that makes this meaning-game posChunk- Several words sible. But what did make it possible? Intonation and stress and that are customarily chunk division. used together in a fixed Western ideologies and methodologies focus their teachexpression, such as in ing on free speech as a tool for utilizing and memorizing vomy opinion, to make a cabulary and grammar sequences. But people from different long story short, How are you? or Know cultures learn things in different ways. In the 1960s in Brazil for instance, memorization (behaviorism approach, audio-lingual method, drills technique)was what I mean?. They the most common way to study a language vocabulary and grammar. In Brazil it is well known a are pieces of language meaningful enough sentence focus of many humoristic texts - that made it clear the bad use of such method in our to make themselves schools: The book is on the table, the only enunciate students were able to utter after years of understood. All you have to do is to read it English language schooling. Nevertheless, the usage of cultural explanations for teaching languages has proved invalu- properly. able for many students to understand the target language. It has even enabled them to differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate English phrases and idioms to be used in a given TASK context. Similarities and contrasts between the native and target languages have proved effi- Answer: Would the cient as teaching tools when the teacher understands such cultural similarities and differences, authors intended meaning in this cartoon and compares and applies that knowledge in his teaching practices. The Anglo-American values, beliefs and traits discussed in this Unit are not concentrated in reach Brazilians as they did to Americans? Yes, specific regions of the country but disseminated all over the nation. Moreover, they are far from NO, why? I discussed being exhaustive but enough to serve my purpose: to show you some Anglo-American, namely language role in the text for you. Now of the USA, cultural traits usually manifested through their language, English.
discuss the role culture plays in such a context with your tutor.

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo

TO LEARN MORE
Refer to the textbook Phonology by Luci Kikuchi et all written for UAB/Unimontes/ Capes, 2011, and find information about intonation and stress in chunks and perceive how their misreading can change meaning..

3.7 Culture and language teaching policy

This is a cat, my teacher announced. Of course it is, I thought. What else could it be but a cat? At least in the American culture. This is a cat, and not an elephant. Why did she say the obvious? What did she expect me to see in the picture?

TO LEARN MORE
1. Refer to the textbook on Applied Linguistics (2011), produced by Rosa Maria Neves da Silva for your course. 2. Watch the video A Lesson on Behaviorism, and others, available at www.youtube.com/ watch?v= fVSwTaB7pHQ.

Figure 73: A cat

Source:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat. Access in July, 2011.

Now, take a look at the next picture. Well, well, isnt it interesting? Teacher presented something different: these are cats too but not exactly cats; they are people too. I was amazed. What had happened? Teacher contextualized the scene in the picture and taught me that Cats is a musical by the English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber in which actors dress and make up as cats. It is a representation on stage. Princess Diana saw this show twice in London. She loved it, said the teacher. My teacher then went on with her teaching, communicatively, convincingly, amazingly and explaining and making me

Figures 74, 75: Photos of the talented characters in the musical Cats.
Source:pt.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Catsthemusical-Musical (1981), by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.

contextualize words as: disguise, make up, theatrical performance, look like, take a look, musical score, cast, lyrics, book by, dress up, staging, backstage, audience, aisle, row usherette, Playbill and so on. Everything contextualized, at and inside the theatre. Did you understand what I mean, dear students? Because of what has been discussed in this textbook so far, second language teaching policies must be sensitive to the local language not to make it inferior to the target language. Although the teaching-learning of the English language has become a phenomenon in the world, care must be taken to avoid forwarding the ideology that you should learn English because it is a superior language, of a superior culture, regardless of the undeniable truth that to succeed in a globalized economy one must be able to communicate in English. (HERRON, C., Cole, S. P., CORRIE, C., & DUBREIL, S.a)1999).This fact demonstrates that our world has entered the age of globalization in which most observers see a tendency toward homogeneity of values and norms but others see an opportunity to rescue local identities.

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana The implications for language policy makers are that policies must be engendered which not only include but celebrate the local language. Policies must not degrade other languages by placing them on a level of lower importance and language teaching must encompass and include cultural values from the societies from which the languages are derived. In other words, policies regarding language teaching have to incorporate the cultural values, usage, and complexities as a means to create better linguistic comprehension as well as cultural understanding. Teaching must also consider the cultural ideologies of every student and teacher, as well as the culture in which the target language is being taught, because this will increase cultural awareness and appropriateness of behavior. So it is fundamental that languages teachers be aware of all that in order to enhance understanding and acceptance of differences between people, cultures and ideologies, but above all to preserve the student cultural identity. To achieve such a goal, language teachers need to be informed about various teaching interaction-based methodologies, manipulate them and develop their own teaching methods compatible with the educational context to foster interaction. In fact, students cannot actually master the language until they have also mastered the cultural contexts in which the language occurs. From this assertion derives the importance of incorporating culture into second language teaching and of using strategies for infusing cultural issues in classroom instruction. It is obvious that culture is in many cases taught implicitly in the linguistic structures. Awareness of the cultural traits embedded in the language must be arisen. Teachers can make those features an explicit topic of discussion together with the structures studied. When teaching pronouns, for example, the teacher can help students understand when in Portuguese it is appropriate to use an informal form of address (Voc, C (You)) rather than a formal form of address (Senhor, Senhora)a distinction that English does not have as they use you for all instances. An English second language teacher can help students understand socially appropriate communication, such as making requests that show respectto a certain person. What would you say of a persons addressing Queen Elizabeth II, like this: Hey, Queen Elizabeth, how is your husband Philippe? If you said unacceptable, you are right! This is excessive informality intolerable in terms of royal cultural protocol, and I believe, unlikely to happen, although linguistically correct. The conclusion is that students will master a language only when they learn both its linguistic and cultural norms. To achieve such a goal, you can use specific materials to help you teach language along with culture. Here are a few suggestions: Miscellaneous: Materials such as news broadcasts, Web sites; and photographs, magazines, newspapers, restaurant menus, videos, travel brochures, and other printed materials that can help engage students in authentic cultural experiences, the ones selected from authentic sources of the native speech community. Film and television: Imagery and audio are segments which connect students with language and cultural issues simultaneously. These means of communication offer students an opportunity to witness traits and behavior not always obvious in texts. Film is often one of the more current and comprehensive ways to grasp the cultural look, feel, pace, timing or turn-taking in conversation. Students achieve significant gains in overall cultural knowledge after watching videos from the target culture in the classroom (HERRON, COLE, CORRIE, & DUBREIL, a. 1999). ProverbsTeaching is to focus on the differences or similarities of the target and the students native languages. Show them how differences may reflect historical and cultural background. Such procedure also provides a way to deal with stereotypes, discuss misperceptions of the foreign culture, as well as to unveil values often represented in the proverbs of students native culture. Role Play and strategic scenarios Techniques with which students can act out a miscommunication based on cultural differences. For example, after learning about ways of addressing different groups of people in the target culture, such as people of the same age and older people, students could perform a situation in which an inappropriate greeting is used. Other students observe the performance and try to identify the reason for the miscommunication. They then role play the same situation using a culturally appropriate form of addressing. Charges, strips and jokes Text genres with which I have presented and discussed the topics of this discipline. Humorous texts have proved effective as teaching materials. You can always compare and contrast humor texts in both the target and native language thus unveiling traits of both languages. Literary textsThey are loaded with cultural information historical, social, political, economic etc. - and generally evoke memorable reactions in readers. The careful, objective and planned selection of texts to be studied by a group of students can be very helpful in that it al-

TO LEARN MORE
I suggest the reading of the chapter Eles no aprendem portugus quanto mais ingls, in the Oficina de lingustica aplicada (1996), by Luiz Paulo da Moita Lopes.

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo lows insights into the American culture. Students are likely to learn literature better when they read a poem rather than if they read a literary text sheet; for example, if they read a poem by Emily Dickinson they may retain cultural information more if they read something about the American culture at the time Dickinson lived. The students who read the original literary work usually show capacity to discuss the historical and social events of the era.In this textbook I discussed some aspects of Death of a salesman and showed how culture and language are intertwined. Expert sources - Exchange students, immigrant students, or students who speak the target language at home are resources for helping learning. Invited to the classroom these students can share authentic insights into the home and cultural life of native speakers of the language. Dear students, make no mistake: the issue of teaching culture is nothing new to second language teachers. However, in most cases, teaching culture has been limited to teaching specific holidays, special dates, clothing, folk songs, and food. These topics are indeed useful, but only within a broader context which would stimulate linguistic or social insight and enrich students knowledge, especially if the objective of language instruction is enabling them to communicate effectively in another language (HERRON, C., CORRIE, C., Cole, S. P., & DUBREIL, S. b.1999). It follows that cultural day-to-day traits should include conversational conventions such as the communicative functions of greeting, saying good-bye, addressing, thanking, making requests and asking questions, that is, to use language effectively and not just being able to (re) produce grammatical sentences and memorized vocabulary. As I have shown in this textbook, language and culture intermingle to such an extent that one becomes the other. It is unviable, I insist, to teach language apart from its culture. The implications for language teaching are therefore vast and sometimes far reaching. As language teachers to be, you must be culturally aware, considerate of the students` culture, and instruct them about cultural differences thus promoting understanding. Your teaching must reflect both the target language culture as well as the students` thus avoiding any sort of cultural misconceptions or discrimination. And yet, to make all these things clearer, I go back to the first text/joke inserted in the By Way of Presentation for this textbook in which I posed a specific question. I remind you that humor in the mentioned text/joke is triggered by linguistic games involving onomatopoeias and phonological ambiguity specifically provoked by the interesting use of semantic phenomena along with some colors. The question was: Could you guess the nationality of the jokes author? My answer is as simple as that: Yes, I can. The author is Brazilian. Why? First of all and most importantly because the joke brings the stereotype that the Portuguese people are stupid. It is a Brazilian cultural trait. Americans do not hold this view of the Portuguese. For some Americans the Polish would be the stupid ones, stereotype that can be detected, for example, in Tennessee Williamss play (1947) A Streetcar Named Desire. In the play there are three main characters: Stella and Blanche (sisters), and Stellas Polish husband Stanley. Blanche has just come to stay in Stella and Stanleys small flat in New Orleans. Blanche asks Stella if it will be decent for all three of them to share such a small flat. Stella replies, Stanley is Polish, you know. Why is it significant that Stanley is Polish? Because there is a stereotype that Polish people are stupid in America. There are many, many jokes in America about Dumb Polacks. Americans also have a stereotype that the Irish are stupid, but the Polish, stereotypically, are even more stupid than the Irish, which is why Blanche says Poles are not as highbrow as the Irish. As a Brazilian I do not hold these views. Secondly, I ask: Who would hear GREEN, GREEN (trim, trim?) when the telephone rang but a Brazilian? The word GREEN is simply a color and has nothing to do with the telephone onomatopoeic ringing. As to the sound of colors and other words used in the text, Americans (or English speaking people) would not mishear PICK for PINK or HELLO for YELLOW. No way! Americans can tell these sounds from the others perfectly and would not mix them up as intended by the jokes author. Some foreigners might hear these misguiding onomatopoeic sounds as used in the text but surely not the Americans. In this same line of thought, Americans, differently from Brazilians, hear cats meow, pigs oink, dogs bark, bells and telephones ring, mosquitoes buzz, people hum (when they do not know the words to the song) and chalk screech across a blackboard. Thus the words used in the joke may have just been a frustrated attempt to echo the sounds as they would be heard in English. However, in fact the author (unless making a joke inside another joke, meta-humor) made semantic and phonological mistakes.

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana Finally, I return to the quote inserted in the beginning of the By Way of Introduction in this textbook: Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own. You are now able to understand that Goethe, its author, is right: if you do not know any foreign language you will not be able to understand your own language and culture. You will be destined to live in a smaller world. You will be unable to comprehend other peoples behavior and actions, neither any historical, social nor cultural aspects a language conveys nor the traits inherent in the speakers of that language. In this sense, one of the main objectives of knowing an FL would be to expand your knowledge about your own language and culture, by means of contrasting and comparing it to the FL, English. By knowing English you will know the Anglo-American people better, their habits, needs, actions and reactions, in sum, their way of life, their world, culture. This is what Goethe wanted to mean with his quotation. In brief, you will realize that there is no teaching of an FL other than the one which integrates language and culture, and that studying English by means of integration will result both in a fruitful learning of that FL and its culture, and an effective learning about your own native language. It is now clear, I believe, that the knowledge of other languages brings you awareness of your own language and of English as well, and naturally, consciousness of the differences between them in all language levels: phonological, grammatical/syntactical and semantic. Hope you are chasing after that sort of learning.

TASK

References
HERRON, C., Cole, S. P., CORRIE, C.; DUBREIL, S. Using Instructional Video to Teach Culture to Beginning Foreign: The effectiveness of a video-based curriculum in teaching culture. Modern Language Journal, p. 518, a.1999. HERRON, C., Cole, S. P., CORRIE, C.;DUBREIL, S. CAL: Digests: Culture in Second LanguageAvailable at https://calico.org/html/article_502.pdf File:PDF The effectiveness of video-based curriculum in teaching culture. The Modern Language Journal, 83(4), 518- 533, b. 1999. KIKUCHI, Luci et al. Phonology Textbook.UAB/Unimontes/Capes, 2011. SILVA, Rosa Maria Neves da. Applied Linguistics. Textbook FOR UAB/Unimontes/Capes.2011. www.americanobesity.org. www.americanpoems.com/poets/annesexton/4721 www.cal.org/resources/Digest/0309peterson.html www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/directory/a/american.asp www.countrystudies.us/united-states/history www.facebook.comGallowshumor-e Notes.com.www.wnotes.com www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_a_Salesman) www.Georgeegershwin.com www.gop.com/ - En cache www.imdb.com/title/tt0089006 www.inglesonline.com.br Sites de Ingls Bsico. - En cache. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition www.MCHUMOR.com www.newadvent.org Catholic Encyclopedia

See Bowling for Columbine (2002) and Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), documentaries by the American film director Michael Moore and have a new perspective of certain facts. Discuss the themes with your tutor.

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo www.pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc - En cache www.pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universidade_Harvard/Stanford University -California www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/puritan/puritan.html www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/puritan/puritan.html www.rottentomatoes.com/m/american_wedding/ www.sefarad.org/publication/lm/037/6.html. www.today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43559858/ns/today-entertainment www.uab.edu/elci- ENGLISH/ESL MORE LINKS. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catsthemusical- Musical. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_a_Salesman www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_(United States) www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_theatre. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter_(opera) www.wikipedia.org/wiki/WASP www.worldcat.org/.../scarlet-letter...drawings.../ www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pfuldf_Pck. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVSwTaB7pHQ.

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana

Summary
Unit 1
Unit 1 intended to demonstrate that the understanding of an FL demands a good knowledge of the culture and communicative competence. The meaning and origin of useful words and expressions along this textbook were explained: Anglo/Angles (from Angeln, in modern Germany); Anglo-Saxon used to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded the south and east of Great Britain (in the early 5th century AD), and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman Conquest. The Anglo-Saxon period of English history was between about 550 and 1066 AD; Anglo-America named after the Italian explorer Americo Vespucci who discovered America, alludes to a region in the Americas where English is a main language and refers to Canada and the USA; North America is divided into Anglo-America and Latin America - Mexico, in which Spanish is spoken; Anglo-American denotes the cultural atmosphere shared by the United States and English Canada and is used for discussing the relationship of the United States to the United Kingdom. The expression refers also to English American, North American persons of English origin, or background. Language as a general concept includes verbal and non-verbal expressions and a specific linguistic system, or code. Language is a formal closed structural system of symbols ruled by grammatical rules that relate particular signs to particular meanings. Language is an abstract system and speech the concretization of this system which is in the mind of the speaker who makes it concrete by means of speech. Language is a mental faculty that allows humans to express linguistic behavior, to learn languages, produce and understand utterances, concept that evidences the universality of language to all humans and the biological basis of the human capacity for language as a unique development of the human brain. Language is more than speech and writing, it is the making and sharing of meaning with ourselves and others. Language predetermines what we see in the world around us, that is, language filters reality. Language uniqueness means that humans are able to produce an infinite set of utterances. Language arbitrariness means that there is no direct connection between the sound or form of any word and the object which it represents. Culture is the sum of all forms of art, love and of thought, which have enabled man to be less enslaved. It is what everybody knows, and what everybody else knows, within a given group. It is what lies at the core of an individuals behavior and his degree of assimilation within a particular environment or social group. It is the result of the mixture between the system of social institutions, traditions, and beliefs and that complex whole including knowledge, belief, art, law, social moral customs, religion, and ethics and values. Some beliefs on culture include: the linguistic structures are entirely dependent on the cultural context in which they existed and that the human mind was an indefinitely malleable structure capable of absorbing any sort of culture without constraints. Language is culture and not just the medium of culture but also a part of it. Language is a verbal expression of culture. We understood that the relationship of language to culture is closely and deeply rooted and that language is used to maintain and convey culture and ties and also provides us with the categories we use for expressing our thoughts. The values and customs in the country we grow up in shape the way in which we think to a certain extent.

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Unit 2
Today the term America is used to refer to the US due to the countrys political and economic dominance in the western hemisphere. America was used to refer to South America only. Canadians and Latin Americans consider this use of the term impolitic. The USA includes fifty states and one federal district, where Washington, D.C is located. The country is the fourth largest with 9,529,107 square kilometers and forty-eight contiguous states. The islands of Hawaii, in the Pacific Ocean, about two thousand miles southwest of San Francisco, California, and Alaska between the Pacific and Arctic oceans are also American states. The country owns several commonwealths and territories such as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean basin, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean - conquered through military actions. As to economy the Northeast is leader in technology and industry, especially in the areas of Californias Silicon Valley. The region is known as the national megalopolis. The Midwest is both rural and industrial where are the corn belt and breadbasket of the nation. The region is called the home of the family farm. The South carries different features if compared to other regions. It is associated with slavery and shaped by its secession from the Union before the Civil War and with subsequent battles over civil rights for AfricanAmericans. The region includes the sunshine states, retirement havens, and new economic frontiers. The West known as the last national frontier has the nations most open landscapes. It is associated with national dreams and myths of unlimited opportunity and individualism. California, along with the southwestern states, was bought by the United States from Mexico in 1848. The Southwest is distinctive for its Native American populations, historical ties to colonial Spain, and its regional cuisine is highly influenced by Spanish cultures. US physical environment is extremely diverse. Alaska is spectacular with its glaciers that coexist with flowering tundra that bloom in the arctic summer. Niagara Falls, Yellowstone National Park, and the Grand Canyon are the most famous landscapes. The Mississippi River constitutes a major navigable inland waterway and is the largest river system in North America. It rises in western Minnesota and meanders southwards for 3,730 km to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. Many books and theatre musicals were written and composed based upon the stories t about the people who lived by the Mississippi River. The United States has a population over 280 million but it is relatively sparsely populated. The most populous state is California with 33,871,648 inhabitants and Wyoming the less populated with only 493,782 residents and such figures evidence that the US is an urban nation. Over 75% of the inhabitants live in cities. Population growth is at below-replacement levels unless immigration is taken into account. There is no official national language in the USA in the federal level but 30 states made English legally their official language. English is the de facto the unofficial national language and Spanish the second because US ranks fifth in the world in the number of Spanish speakers. Native Americans, immigrants, and slaves languages have influenced the several dialects of America. Standard English is the language Americans are expected to speak but there is no clear definition of what Standard English might really be. English spoken by black Americans is usually seen as non-standard, however, most Americans do not speak Standard English but a range of class, ethnic, and regional variants. Linguistic diversity has increased a lot. But there is a national dialect known as American English. There are four major regional dialects in the USA: northeastern, south, inland north, and Midwestern, the latter accent being considered the standard accent in the USA and a bit but not extensively analogous to the Received Pronunciation elsewhere in the English-speaking world. US government symbols include: government buildings (Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC), statues and memorials, songs, oaths, and symbols. The national symbols are the American Flag, the Bald Eagle, the Great Sea, Figures of Justice, the Liberty Bell, the National Flower Rose, Uncle Sam and the National Anthem. Anglo-American refers to those coming from countries where English is spoken as the main language, and all those whose families have become English-speaking people in Canada and the US. Anglo-American is often used in legal, economic and political documents and other writings in reference to those countries that have similar legal regimes generally based on the English common law. USA is a diverse country as to religion, race and ethnicity. Most Americans are Chris-

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana tian and by tradition Protestant. Catholics are minority. Judaism is the largest non-Christian faith, followed by Islam. The State and the Religion are not supposed to interfere in one anothers affairs. The wish for better conditions of life, find better jobs, and escape from famine, poverty, wars and conflicts are factors that move Latinos, Europeans, Asiatic and Africans to search for higher standards of life and well-being in America. Six races co-exist in the country: White, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and of Some other race. America is formed by Indians, Black Americans, Hispanic and White people. Black people, and African Americans are citizens and residents of the US originated from any of the black populations of Africa, of AfroAmericans ancestry, or Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry. The Hispanic and Latino Americans originate from the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain. They constitute the second largest ethnic group of Americas population living in all areas of the US. They are racially diverse, and form an ethnic category, not a race. For the U.S. government and others, Hispanic or Latino identity is voluntary. The whites story dates back to 1492 when Christopher Columbus reached several Caribbean islands. White Americans include Europeans (French, English, Dutch, Irish, Italian, German, Polish, Spanish and Latinos. Other ethnicities immigrating to America include Asian and African peoples. The American government has become tougher on enforcing immigration laws since 9/11 when the attacks forced the birth of Public attitudes about immigration in the U.S. Half of Americans believe that immigration is a good thing for the U.S., but the other half say tighter control on immigration would do a great deal to enhance U.S. national security. Though US history gives evidence of the importance of immigration forth population growth and cultural change, the economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, and jobs for non-immigrants, settlement patterns, impact on upward social mobility, crime, and voting behavior. However, Americans cannot deny the invaluable contribution of immigrants for the process of development and progress of the country.

Unit 3
Some traits in the American culture include: Americans are individualist, goal and future-oriented; They value material comfort, objectiveness in communication and competitiveness. Americans interrupt people too often during communication; they use a persons name frequently to engender a sense of congeniality and connection. They think they have power over nature. The production of Musicals is a relevant trait and they succeed in producing high quality shows. They value personal accomplishment, success, patriotic feelings and pride, and focus on the family and its ties. Those cultural traits are to be considered by instructors who should use acceptable methods but exam them before their use, as they may be inappropriate. To teach an FL is to teach its culture. Therefore teachers must be aware to the fact that students, administrators and neighbors do not share all of our cultural paradigms. Some suggestions for this teaching include: Expert sources; Literary texts Charges, strips and jokes; Role Play/ strategic scenarios; Proverbs; Film and television; and miscellaneous materials which may be resources teachers may use to evidence the relation of language to culture. Such intertwinement serves to help students communicate properly in a foreign language.

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References
Basic
ALLWRIGHT, D; BAILEY, K. M. Focus on the Language Classroom. New York: Cambridge University Press. Anton, M. 1999. BYRAM. M. S. Cultural Studies in Foreign Language Education. Language Arts & Disciplines. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1989. CHOMSKY, Noam. Transformational Analysis. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1955. EMMITT M; POLLOCK J. Language and learning: an introduction for teaching (2nded). Melbourne: Oxford University Press. 1997. HANTRAIS, Linda. The undergraduates guide to studying languages. London: Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research. 1989 HERRON, C., Cole, S. P., CORRIE, C., & DUBREIL, S. CAL: Digests: Culture in Second Language (b. 1999). 533. Available at https://calico.org/html/article_502.pdf File:PDF The effectiveness of video-based curriculum in teaching culture. The Modern Language Journal, 83(4), 518... ______ . C.; DUBREIL, S. (1999). The effectiveness of video-based curriculum in teaching culture. The Modern Language Journal, 83(4), 518-533.1999. ______ . C.; DUBREIL, S. Using Instructional Video to Teach Culture to Beginning Foreign: The effectiveness of a video-based curriculum in teaching culture. Modern Language Journal, p. 518, a.1999. ______ . S. CAL: Digests: Culture in Second Language Available at https://calico.org/html/article_502.pdf File:PDF The effectiveness of video-based curriculum in teaching culture. The Modern Language Journal, 83(4), 518- 533, b. 1999. KIKUSHI, Luci et al. Phonology Textbook. UAB/Unimontes/Capes, 2011. LEVERIDGE, Aubrey Neil. The Relationship between Language & Culture and the Implications for language teaching. Written for TEFL,.September, 2008. LONGMAN, (2000) Dictionary of English language and culture: gets to the heart of the language. 2. ed. England: Longman, MCARTHUR, Tom. The Oxford Guide to World English. MURRAY, DM. The great Walls of China. Todays Education, vol. 71, p. 5558, 1982. PINKER, Steven.1994 - The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language. New York: HarperCollins. Bookmark. 1994. PINO, C. R. Teaching Spanish to native speakers: A new perspective in the 1990s. ERIC/CLL News Bulletin, 21(1), 4-5, 1997.. POLLOCK, John; EMMIT, Marie. Language and learning: an introduction for teaching. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1997. SCOTT, V. M.; HUNTINGTON, J.A. Reading culture: Using literature to develop C2 competence. Foreign Language Annals, 35(6), 622-631. 2000. SILVA, Rosa Maria neves da. Applied Linguistics for Language teaching .Caderno Didtico escrito para a disciplina com o mesmo nome para o curso de ingls/UAB/Unimontes, 2011.

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo STEPHENS, J. L. Teaching culture and improving language skills through a cinematic lens: A course on Spanish film in the undergraduate Spanish curriculum. ADFL Bulletin, 33(1), 22-25, 2001. WHORF Benjamin Lee; SAPIR, Edward. Sapir and Whorf Hypothesis. In Infopedia. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003-2011. www.anthro.palomar.edu/language/language_5.htm. Buffy Sainte-Marie. www.anthro.palomar.edu/language/language_5.htm-Language and Culture. www.cal.org/resources/Digest/0309peterson.html www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/directory/a/american.asp www.countrystudies.us/united-states/history www.edition.tefl.net/articles/teacher-technique/language-culture/ www.facebook.com/pages/...America. www.ff.immigration.gov.tw/front/residence.php www.inglesonline.com.br Sites de Ingls Bsico - Em cache. www.isrl.illinois.edu/~amag/.../pinker94theLanguage.html - Em cache www.jcu.edu.au/tldinfo/writingskills/essay/language_literacy.rtf www.lexiophiles.com/.../the-relationship-between-language-and-culture. www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/puritan/puritan.html. www.thepaperexperts.com) www.thinkexist.comTopics C. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_theatre. www.wikipedia.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/na.. www:<URL: http://www.infopedia.pt/$hipotese-de-sapir-e-whorf>

Complementary
BARRY, Dave. .Available at www.quotesbyBarryinweekly newspaper column.1947 BROOKS, N. Culture in the classroom. In JM Valdes (ed) Culture bound: bridging, 1986. BYRAM. M S. Cultural Studies in Foreign Language Education. Language Arts & Disciplines. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.1989. CHOMSKY, Noam. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1965. ______ . Syntactic Structures. The Hague: Mouton, 1957. CICCARELLI, A.Teaching culture through language: Suggestions for the Italian language class. Italica, 73(4), 563-576, 1996. FAUCCONNIER, Gilles; TURNER, Mark Conceptual Blending and the Minds Hidden Complexities. Basic books, Perseus Books Group. New York, NY, USA. 2002. KRAMSCH, C. Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.

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MARTINS, Antnio Carlos Soares; SOUZA, Marilia de; SOUZA, Danielle Ferreira (2010) Caderno de. Morfologia da Lngua Inglesa, Caderno Didtico, UAB/Unimontes.

Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana MCARTHUR, Tom. The Oxford Guide to World English. MORAN, Patrick R. Teaching Culture. Heinle, Heinle, 2001. NATIONAL STANDARDS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROJECT Standards for foreign language learning in the 21st century. Yonkers, NY, 1996. PRODROMOU, L. English as cultural action. EFT Journal, vol. 42, no 2, pp 7383, 1988. SPENCE, JT. Achievement American style: the rewards and cost of individualism. American Psychologist, vol 40, no 12, pp 12851295, 1985. STROMQUIST, Np; MONKMAN, K. Defining globalization and assessing its implications on knowledge and education. In NP Stromquist & K Monkman (eds) Globalization and education: integration and contestation across cultures. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 32, 2000. TRUDGILL, Peter. Language in the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, 1984. VYGOTSKY, Lev Semenovitch Vygotsky. Pensamento e linguagem. SP, Martins Fontes, 1987, www.LEXIOPHILES.COM/.../the-relationship-between-language-and-culture, !987. WHORF Benjamin Lee; SAPIR, Edward. Sapir and Whorf Hypothesis. In Infopedia.Porto: Porto Editora, 2003and, 2011. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpheme. wikipedia.org/.../Category: Ethnic_groups_in_the_United States wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpheme www.americanobesity.org. www.americanpoems.com/poets/annesexton/4721 www.cal.org/resources/Digest/0309peterson.html www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/directory/a/american.asp www.countrystudies.us/united-states/history www.developingteachers.com/quotes/q1.htm. www.ebooksbrasil.org/eLibris/vigo.html, Language and Thought, by Vygotsky. www.edition.tefl.net/articles/teacher-technique/language-culture/ www.facebook.com/pages/...America. www.facebook.comGallowshumor-e Notes.com.www.wnotes.com www.ff.immigration.gov.tw/front/residence.php www.Georgeegershwin.com www.gop.com/ - En cache www.imdb.com/title/tt0089006 www.inglesonline.com.br Sites de Ingls Bsico. - En cache. www.isrl.illinois.edu/~amag/.../pinker94theLanguage.html - En cache www.MCHUMOR.com www.newadvent.org Catholic Encyclopedia www.pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc - En cache

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo www.pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universidade_Harvard/Stanford University -California www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/puritan/puritan.html . www.rottentomatoes.com/m/american_wedding/ www.sefarad.org/publication/lm/037/6.html. www.thepaperexperts.com) www.thinkexist.com/.../language...culture...language/ www.today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43559858/ns/today-entertainment www.uab.edu/elci- ENGLISH/ESL MORE LINKS. www.wikipedia.org/.../Category: Ethnic_groups_in_the_United States, www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catsthemusical- Musical. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_a_Salesman www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_(United States) www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_theatre. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter_(opera) www.wikipedia.org/wiki/WASP www.worldcat.org/.../scarlet-letter...drawings.../ www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pfuldf_Pck. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVSwTaB7pHQ.

Supplementary
ECKERSLEY C.E. Essential English for Foreign Students, London: Longmans, Green & Co, Revised Edition,1032. First published 1938 PORTER, E. Foreign involvement in Chinas colleges and universities: a historical perspective. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, vol. 11, no 4, pp.. 369385, 1987. PRODROMOU, L. English as cultural action. EFT Journal, vol. 42, no 2, pp. 7383, 1988. SPENCE, JT. Achievement American style: the rewards and cost of individualism. American Psychologist, vol. 40, no 12, pp. 12851295, 1985. VALDES, JM. Culture bound: bridging the cultural gap in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1986. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episcopa_l Church_(United_States) - Em cache en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jazzing_orchestra_1921.png - Em cache en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Americans en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States Article Religion in the United States.

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Belt en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Americans_(photography) floydreports.com/obama-we-place-our-hands-over-our-heart...-Em cache http://www.everyculture.com/To-Z/United-States-of-America.html#ixzz1UI25w0EC U.S. bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/symbols/ - . wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi - i_River wikipedia.org/wiki. Brian Stokes Mitchell Official site wikipedia.uab.edu/elci-Em cache. And also at: ww.lonweb.org/link-english.htm - En cache. wikipedia/org/wiki/Hispanic-and- Latino-Americans. www.anthro.palomar.edu/language/language_5.htm. Buffy Sainte-Marie. www.anthro.palomar.edu/language/language_5.htm-Language and Culture. www.bhma.co.uk/wait-to-be-seated-greeter-sign-p-1328.ht.. www.broadwaymusicalhome.com/shows/myfairlady.htm The Broadway Musical Home - My Fair Lady. www.cal.org/resources/Digest/0309peterson.html www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/directory/a/american.asp www.countrystudies.us/united-states/history www.damscartoons.com. www.bhma.co.uk/wait-to-be-seated-greeter-sign-p-1328.ht www.developingteachers.com/quotes/q1.htm. www.edition.tefl.net/articles/teacher-technique/language-culture/ www.everyculture.com/To-Z/United-States-of-America.html#ixzz1UHeEvU6s. www.facebook.com/pages/...America. www.ff.immigration.gov.tw/front/residence.php www.gazetadopovo.com.br/charges/ www.gazetadopovo.com.br/charges/ www.gohawaii.about.com/.../hawaiianpeople/People_of_Hawaii. www.ialf.edu/differentponddifferentfish.html - En cache www.inglesonline.com.br Sites de Ingls Bsico - Em cache. www .isrl .illinois .edu/~amag/ . . ./pinker94theLanguage .html - Em cache www .jcu .edu .au/tldinfo/writingskills/essay/language_literacy .rtf www .jcu .edu .au/tldinfo/writingskills/essay/language_literacy .rtf www .kidport .com/ . . ./usageography/usageograph . . . www .lexiophiles .com/ . . ./the-relationship-between-language-and-culture . www .linguee .com .br/ingles-portugues/ . . ./we+sort .html - . www .nps .gov/appa/ - Em cache

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo www .office .microsoft .com/en-us/images/?CTT=6&ver=14&app=winword .exe www .pt .wikipedia .org/wiki/Paul_McCartney www .pt .wikipedia .org/wiki/Pygmalion www .rjgeib .com/thoughts/puritan/puritan .html . www .thepaperexperts .com) www .thepaperexperts .com . www .thinkexist .com/ . . ./language . . .culture . . .language/ Johann Wolfgang von . Quotes, www .thinkexist .comTopics C . www .uab .edu/elci- ENGLISH/ESL MORE LINKS . English Language and Culture Institute . UAB . www .wikipedia .org/wiki/Flower . www .wikipedia .org/wiki/Musical_theatre . www .wikipedia .worldatlas .com/webimage/countrys/na . . www .wikipedia .worldatlas .com/webimage/countrys/na .Access in 11th March, 2011 . www:<URL: http://www .infopedia .pt/$hipotese-de-sapir-e-whorf> www .workpermit .com Immigration

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana

Learning activities

Source: Clipart figures online, Sept, 02, 2011, Instructions Read the statement below then answer the question. 1. Good health has given rise to an American proverb involving apples. Tick () the alternative that describes this proverb. a) ( b) ( c) ( d) ( ) An apple a day keeps the doctor away. ) Red apples are always ripe and juicy. ) A ripe apple keeps the doctor healthy. ) An apple juice keeps you awake. Instructions - Read the following text, and then answer the questions. In the Warner Channel sitcom Married with Children (1980-1990) the Bundies Maggie, Al, Kelly and her brother Bud -form a non-standard American family as they are all corrupt, the adults do not like to work, cook, clean the house, wash dishes and do laundry and the children hate to study. Moreover the bunch has the habit of committing different sort of felonies. After one of these crimes the Bundies are arrested and immediately taken before the judge. In court Kelly disturbs and disrespects the court whenshe speaks in a very loud voice, walking aimlessly around the room in clear contempt to court. Chaos descends and the judge gets annoyed and the following short dialog takes place: Judge: Order, order in court! Kelly: I want a cheeseburger and a soda, your Honor. Questions about the previous text. 2. Tick () the alternative that better contains the reason for the humor present in the text? a) ( b) ( c) ( d) ( ) Kellys misunderstanding the meaning of order. ) Habits and costumes as succinctly described. ) Felonies and crimes committed by the Bundies. ) The judges demanding chaotic words. 3. Tick () the alternative that brings American cultural traits DEVIATED in the previous text. a) ( b) ( c) ( d)( ) Honesty and respect for the law. ) Calmness, relaxation and patriotism. ) Common sense and notoriety. ) Fanaticism, goal-orientation disrespect.

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UAB/Unimontes - 7 Perodo Questions independent from the previous text. 4. Tick () the alternative that IS NOT an Anglo-American (USA) cultural trait. Americans are a) ( b) ( c) ( d) ( ) Patient in listening and tendentious to live for today. ) Individualist and addicted to material comfort. ) Success and future-oriented, and competitive. ) Objective in conversation and able to control nature. 5. Tick the alternative that includes the nations that form Anglo-America. a) ( b) ( c) ( d) ( ) The United States and Canada. ) Mexico, Canada and the Unites States. ) England, the US and Canada. ) Canada, Mexico and French Guyana. 6. All the statements below are concepts of language, EXCEPT: a) ( b) ( c) ( d) ( ) Language is a concrete system and speech the concretization of this system. ) Language is a verbal expression of culture. ) Language is a formal closed structural system of symbols ruled by grammatical rules. ) Language is culture itself. 7. All the statements below about culture are true, EXCEPT: a) ( ) Culture is built through history and independent from language. b) ( ) Culture is the sum of all forms of art, love and of thought, which have enabled man to be less enslaved. d) ( ) Culture is what everybody knows, and what everybody else knows within a given group. e) ( ) Culture is the result of the mixture between the system of social institutions, traditions, beliefs and knowledge,

Figure 7: Different Pond, different fish

Source: www.ialf.edu/differentponddifferentfish.html - En cache

8. In Figure 7, the charge already discussed in this textbook, is explained in Figure 7 as Different Pond, different fish. Tick () the alternative that better carries the meaning of this saying. a) ( b) ( c) ( d) ( ) Different cultures, different meanings. ) Different languages, similar cultures. ) Different meanings, different speeches. ) Different cultures, similar meanings.

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Letras/Ingls - Cultura Anglo-Americana Read the following text then answer the questions. Set in 1920s New York City, the novel depicts the struggles of The Wallflower Order, an international conspiracy dedicated to monotheism and control, against the Jes Grew virus, a personification of ragtime, jazz, polytheism, and freedom. The Wallflower Order is said to work in concert with the Knights Templar Order to prevent people from dancing, to end the dance crazes spreading among black people (who are referred to in the novel as Jes Grew Carriers or J.G.C.s). Historical, social, and political events mingle freely with fictional inventions. The United States occupation of Haiti, attempts by whites to suppress jazz music, and the widespread belief that president Warren Harding had black ancestry are mingled with a plot in which the novels hero, an elderly Harlem houngan named PaPa LaBas, searches for a mysterious book that has disappeared with black militant Abdul Sufi Hamid, whose name reflects that of the Harlem street corner radical preacher Sufi Abdul Hamid.(Excerpt from Mumbo Jumbo, a novel by Ismael Reed, 1972. Text transcribed from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishmael_Reed.) 9. Tick () the correct alternative that contains American cultural traits detectable in Ismael Reeds excerpt above. a) ( b) ( c) ( d) ( ) Ragtime, freedom, jazz, racial repression. ) Monotheism, control, virus, personification. ) PaPa LaBas, black militant, street corner. ) Dance, Jes Grew Carriers, J.G.C.s.

10. Tick() the alternative below that, according to the text, DOES NOT contain a historical event that influenced the American culture. a) ( b) ( c) ( d) ( ) The occupation of Haiti. ) The struggles of The Wallflower Order, ) The belief that President Warren Harding had black ancestry. ) Black militant Abdul Sufi Hamid

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