ABSTRACT
Culture pervades what we are as human beings, how we act, how we think and, thus, how we talk and even how we listen. Human beings are socialized into their specific cultural context(s), and culture influences their interaction with each other. This chapter tries to give a chronological overview and then summarize some familiar approaches combining language analysis and culture. The term "cultural linguistics" can be linked to the cognitive linguist Ronald Langacker, who maintained "the advent of cognitive linguistics can be heralded as a return to cultural linguistics. Language-in-use is "open, dynamic, energetic, constantly evolving and personal" and each language user uses his or her language(s) differently. According to Weigand the interrelationship between verbal (and nonverbal) interaction and cultural background represents a central issue of dialogue analysis. The study of intercultural communication will then no longer be one separate module of language analysis, but an integral part.
