MESSAGES HIDDEN IN LANGUAGE. ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE, IN GENERAL AND WITH RESPECT TO HUNGARIAN

The guiding principle of this paper, in trying to disclose the complex system of relations between language and culture, is Claire Kramsch's conception that can be summarised as follows: 1. language expresses cultural reality; 2. language is the embodiment of culture; and 3. language is a symbol of culture. The discussion of the first two aspects is embedded in a historical description of that relationship and in a survey of the changing views concerning the functions of language. Thus, without claiming exhaustivity, the authorerss discusses the idea of linguistic relativity as well as usage-centred trends of the eighties of the last century. In the second, practical part of the paper, she explores some formal manifestations of social organisation in Hungarian (such as the use of familiar vs. nonfamiliar forms of address and the role of subjectivity in communication); she also points out the way these manifestations define cultural values characteristic of the community of speakers.