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LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND THOUGHT

A. Introduction
The way we see and think the realm will indicate who we are in midst of entire
world. Our existence is indeed so unique in terms of we are able to breathe or live,
think, speak or utter something, live among creatures to interact using the symbols
or language that we have in order to get various experiences. Clark said in (Gentner
& Meadow: 2003) Although we use language every day to talk about experience,
language itself is far from being an exact representation of our experience. Even
though we have high philosophy in thinking the realm, are able to utter phenomenon
in good sentences, are able to represent an attitude, aptitude, and latitude, as
human being who have culture but we still cannot represent the entire world in which
we live.
Less and more than 6.800 languages are spoken in this world by which the
linguists and anthropologists come to debate such numerous languages in quantity
but here we do not further explain or debate the quantity. The point is that each
language represents its culture and thought so as they are being in existence in this
world as the realm of society. Human communicate using language or symbols, they
think and behave based on the tradition they have that reflect each culture of
language spoken. There are three points that will be put into account in terms of
human existence in generally this world and community specially, namely Language,
Culture, and Thought. These three terms really determine the civilization of human
being. All human beings are not apart from the fact that they are being in these three
terms in order to exist as living creature that is different from other creatures.
Dealing with the topic, there will be some explanation of the three terms with
its part of important supporting topic. The three terms will be sequentially explained
till we can get the gist of the relationship among them so as to become a postulate in
scientific logos in linguistics, sociology, philosophy, psychology research,
anthropology, and other research disciplines. The point is that we are able to
distinguish the three terms and each function in regarding to the work of linguistics

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area. This paper is presented to lecturers, teachers, and students who do want to
know more about Language, Culture, Thought, and its relationship so that the three
terms will be functionally applicable to daily life.

B. The Definition of Language

The word LANGUAGE derived from Indo-European, which means "tongue,
speech" through Latin; lingua, "tongues" and Old French; Langage. This word is
sometimes used to refer to the codes, ciphers and other types of communication
systems which are artificially constructed like those used for computer programming.
A language in this sense is a system of signs for encoding and decoding information.
The following is some definitions of language:
Language is a human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of
communication.
Language is something that offers an exciting new perspective on the way
people communicate.
Language is a complex system of human communication that uses arbitrary
signals (random), such as the voices, gestures, or written symbols.
Language is the most important aspect in the life of all beings.
Language is a symbol that we use to communicate with each other, and the
rules that govern how we use it.
Language is words, pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used
and understood by the public.
Language is a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by using
conventional signs, sounds, gestures, or marks that have understood the
meaning.
Language is a system of formal signs and symbols (such as FORTRAN or a
calculus in logic) including rules for the formation and transformation of
expressions that can be accepted.

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Language is a body of words and the systems for their use common to a
people from the same community or nation, the same geographical area, or
the same cultural tradition.
Language is communication with sound in a way unique to humans, using
arbitrary sounds (random) in a conventional manner with conventional
meanings (speech).
Language is a system of linguistic signs or symbols considered abstractly (as
opposed to speech).
Language is any set or system of such symbols are used in a way that is
more or less the same by a number of people, which thus makes it possible to
communicate with each other to be easy to understand.
Language is a system of symbols, signs, sounds, gestures formalized, or as
used or understood as a means of communicating thoughts, emotions, etc.
(mathematical language, sign language).

All definitions of language stated above is, however, at least easy to

understand to approach to what we think as language. To define the language in the
form of words is very difficult, however, of some language definitions above it can be
concluded that the interpretation of the language is a tool of communication in the
form of a sign or symbol, sound, movement or body language, and odor randomly
transferred and which has been formalized or agreed by each community with both
coder and decoder can be mutually understand its meaning.
Chomsky said that a language associates sound and meaning in a particular
way; to have command of a language is to be able, in principle, to understand what
is said and to produce a signal with an intended semantic interpretation (Chomsky:
2006). He stated that language is an extra-human object, the standard view within
major currents of philosophy of mind and language, and also put forth recently by
prominent figures in neuroscience and ethology (Chomsky: 2002). Language is not
only such a symbols or signs that have meaning but it is more to how to interpret
semantically. An interpretation is needed to conceptualize what a speaker utter in

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his/her own concept so as to understand or get the meaning. Cooper said language
is the most complex and sophisticated of our possession (Cooper: 1973). In present
modern situation, language is not used by human as an alive being but also things
like computer, robot, and or digital machine can use language though they cannot
develop in concept as human beings do. A language derives from ones concept in
thought and it will be interpreted as a meaning. The way in conceptualizing language
is regarded to a philosophical work.

a) The Philosophy of Language

Language should be and has been conceptualized in thought. A
philosophy is one of disciplines that can work of such conceptualization.
Philosophy is a discipline that study and investigate everything in common and
specific that refers to principle or basic concept of thought of all being not exist
yet, being exist, and will be being exist which is its existence is referring to the
noble and wise goals. If we try to connect a philosophy and language then we
deal with a Language Philosophy which is a branch of philosophy in which
philosophers attempt to analyze, elucidate, and investigate certain crucial
linguistics concepts such as meaning, reference, and truth (Cooper: 1973).
In this correlation, the philosophers tried to analyze what are employed by
the linguists. The linguists concern with and focus on the language while the
philosophers are on analyzing certain or crucial concept of a language. When
someone is speaking about something then we will think or ask what does it
mean? This enforces us to describe the meaning of what is being spoken and
we try to analyze and elucidate in our own concept referring to the spoken word.
Each community has each philosophy by which a meaning will be varying in
each aspects of speech. We may also differ a meaning from the point of view of
cultural case. Ones culture will be different to another since another one has a
probability in elucidating a concept of his/her culture. Hudson approaches to
meaning by underlining two approaches namely Relativism and Determinism.
He lines Relativity as a Cultural Relativity which refers to the difference of

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language or non-language in culture. Based on this view then we can say that
there is a non-linguistic aspect in culture (Hudson: 1980) that can arise a different
meaning for each cultural background. The view of the influence of a language
on thought which is the statement of Determinism. There must be a certain thing
of a spoken word or sentence that can influence the way of ones thought. The
influence then will become certain meaning of each listener who is listening to it
and of course; it is based on listeners cultural background or his/her linguistic
items. Lets say the different culture between Torajanese and Mamasanese.
Lexically in Isogloss, when people of Toraja use the word kamu (with an
apostrophe) then it is a polite way of a pronoun (you) to a superior. In contrast
with Torajanese, people of Mamasa use the word iko to a superior as a polite
way of a pronoun (you). Dealing with this lexical use, it is really impolite to say iko
to a superior for people of Toraja unless it is used to an inferior.
We still concern with the approaching to a meaning, Cooper puts three
terminology in dealing with a meaning. He firstly puts the approach as
Verificationism; it is the theory according to which giving the meaning of a
sentence is simply describing the ways in which it would be verified (Cooper:
1973). Although he takes this theory on his book but he is rather disagree with it
but he is precisely with another theory of a model of verification namely The
Principle of Verification. This theory states that there is no sentence will have a
meaning except one is able to show the way to test its truth or falsity. This theory
does actually describe a meaning empirically rather than simply describing a
meaning through only the behavior or to what is uttered. The second is
Emotivism which is a meaning since it refers to the response of an emotional
utterance. In the other words, a meaning can appear out of a psychological
activity such as emotional expression. The last is Paradigms and Polarity Case.
A meaning that concerns with a freedom of the will is called Paradigm case. In
order to understand further this concept, it is important to observe attentively the
case of marriage in Indonesia. The people of Minangkabau are only tribe who are
in contrast with other tribes in Indonesia in terms of courtship. Casually, in asking

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in marriage; a males family should do asking in marriage to a females family.

This is a general tradition for any tribe of people of Indonesia but in
Minangkabau, the one who does asking in marriage is the females family.
Concerning with a freedom of the will, people in Minangkabau will unhesitatingly
do such expression or act as long as it is acted in courtship context of
Minangkabau. It will be absolutely different and incompatible to the situation
when a person from different tribe who lives in Minangkabau does his/her own
cultural tradition in which a males family will ask in marriage to females family,
the fact that males family will hesitatingly do it. His family, of course, will consider
such action or expression when they want to do it in the society of Minangkabau
but by their own knowledge and a freedom of the will, they could unhesitatingly
do it in Minangkabau and we all should admit it that it is valid. If God as human
Creator does not appreciate human free will then human beings will be
defenselessly in terms of finding out their bride or bridegroom. But with
knowledge in human thought that they should have an effort to do so as the
freedom of the will besides only praying then they realize that they have freedom
of the will and God indeed appreciates it at all. In line with this Paradigm Case,
the concept of Polarity will focus on a Polar Case. By the name of Polarity that
means opposite to, will arise the case of meaning. The word Polarity is
understood as an opposite meaning to one another. In the other words, there
must be a meaning that is in polar opposite to another meaning. For example,
the word probable is in polar opposite to the word certainty (Cooper: 1973). If we
say head then we also say that there must be a tail. The two words are seen as
different meaning. Physically, it is true that they are different in shape, measure,
and meaning but in unity of one body they are the same as to have function. We
cannot say that head is more important than tail or vice versa; they should be
seen as the two things that have function and cannot be separated to each other.
The cases of Paradigm and Polarity point out the meaning as different
understanding. But although it is so, we should understand that meaning is
relative to the way of one thinks of something.

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b) The Sense of Language in Speech

Cohen stated in (McKay and Hornberger : 2009) A speech act is a
functional unit in communication. Speech becomes the central of a language
function by which human give information and express meaning through a
language. Piaget said that adults do speech is to convey ideas or information and
it is social (Lund: 2003) but children do not convey information; they are only
using the words as what they have heard before. By these two different ways in
using speech as an interaction, we will see the sense of a language. We can say
that the sense of a language refers to the way to feel utterances in order to
understand meaning and keep significantly relationship. The case of sense of a
language is also showed by Schoeck when he tried to investigate the sense of
using Envy and Jealousy. Here are the lines of his:
envy is present when there is 'mortification and ill-will occasioned by the
contemplation of superior advantages.' On the other hand, envy may simply
mean that one wishes one might do the same as someone else. The first
definition of envy as a verb is most specific: 'To feel displeasure and ill-will at the
superiority of (another person) in happiness, success, reputation, or the
possession of anything desirable.' (Schoeck: 1966)

'Jealous' and 'jealousy' are given detailed treatment by the Oxford English
Dictionary. Obviously 'jealous' at first denoted simply an intense or highly excited
emotional state, and then came to include a craving for the affection of someone
else. Later it came to designate the fear of losing another person's affections, just
like 'jealous' in the modern sense. Sometimes 'jealous' has the sense of
'envious,' as in: 'It is certain that they looked upon it with a jealous eye.' Earlier
there was also an English term 'jealous glass,' meaning the frosted glass used
for groundfloor windows, analogous to the French jalousie. But the principal
meaning of 'jealousy' remains the passionate endeavour to keep something that
is one's own by right. In complete contrast to the envious man, therefore, one
may postulate a man of jealous disposition whose mind is at rest once he knows
that he is free of rivals. (Schoeck: 1966)

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Using words in a speech means we express the sense of its meaning. We

sometimes confuse how to use certain words in a speech when the words come
to be applied in a different utterance. Lets say the words to remember and to
remind. Most language users are still confusing in using the words in a speech.
We tend to say please remember me to bring you the book instead of please
remind me to bring you the book. The way we feel those words is rather skeptic.
This is because of the concept in the thought that we have made all this time. We
might know their different meaning but we still confuse when we are going to use
them in a speech. So, the sense of a language should be the basic concept in
dealing with a speech.
When we express something then we use language to express it. Since
speech is central to the proposed functional language system, it is necessary to
take note of the nature of speech production and speech perception, as well as
the general role of speech (Lieberman, 2002). According to the received view of
linguistic communication, the central function of language is to enable a speaker
to reveal his or her thoughts to a hearer (Gauker, 2003). Language expression is
not only verbal but also non verbal. People who want to express something by
using language both verbal and non-verbal of course have reason why they want
to communicate it. Language is the only tool in speaking and communicating or
expressing what we want to do. As King stated whatever our views about
language- strict or liberal, traditional or progressive - it is abundantly clear that
language is at the centre of all of the activities we connect (Demers, 1986) to
each other. At least there are four main reasons why people want to
communicate (Verspoor & Sauter, 2000) as follows:
People want to inform someone of something
People want to get information from someone
People want to get someone to do something
People want to express ones attitude about something

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What they want to do is only to intertwine the relationship and desire to

maintain it for a long term communication. Speaking and Expressing are
fundamentally different. Speaking is the ability of a person in spelling letters and
uttering words, phrases, and sentences by involving linguistic competence.
Expressing is the ability to act a speech or communicate the discourse or
language function by involving linguistic performance in a nuance of a language.
Speaking refers to the knowledge in thought while expressing refers to both
knowledge and emotion. Most people are able to speak but in fact, they are not
able how to express appropriately in communication. The hearers still feel like
confusing and even they feel aggrieved or angry after hearing what those are
speaking. They just speak what they have in their thought without understanding
emotionally the interlocutor.
Expression involves speech act ability. Speech act refers to a language
function and of course this pervades social life. Just as language use pervades
social life, the elements of social life constitute an intrinsic part of the way
language is used (Krauss & Chi). How language used in daily life will become the
factor in relationship among people. Using language as the tool of
communication is not just the way of mere communication. It should involve the
taxonomy of speech. Austin had distinguished three kinds of action within each
utterance as follows:
a) Locution
The physical act of producing an utterance. What is defined here is actually
about the concept in thought of meaning. In other words, the form of Locution
is limited to a mere understanding cognitively in mind and it has not been
uttered but it is still being in the thought and might be in a shape of word or
sentence. Cohen stated in (McKay and Hornberger : 2009) that Locution or
Propositional Meaning is the literal meaning of the utterance.
b) Illocution
The act that is committed by producing an utterance. When we utter the
concept in speech form then we do an Illocution. We act to produce the

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utterance; that is the point of an Illocution which has five basic categories of
verdictive, expositive, exercitive, behabitive, and commissive (Searle, 1979).
Cohen said as the social function that the utterance or written text has.
c) Perlocution
The production of an effect through locution and illocution. For example, the
execution of an order by the addressee (Renkema, 2004). In other words,
Perlocution appears just because the effect of the concept and speech
uttered. Cohen explain Perlocution as the result or effect that is produced by
the utterance in that given context.
In expressing a language or acting a speech then we must refer to a
philosophy of a language that has been exposed previously above. This is
important to understand before performing the speech or expression because
this contains a philosophical utterance as Searle stated the study of speech acts
seemed to lie clearly on the side of the philosophy of language, and until the past
few years most of the research on speech acts was done by philosophers and
not by linguists (Searle, 1979). That is why the nuance of language has the effect
or influence of the hearers.

c) Language, Speech and Thought

Lund stated Language is used both to communicate with others and to
monitor our internal thoughts (Lund: 2003). The definition of language has been
explicitly rolled out before in many definitions. A language is general; any tool of
communication but speech is the unit of a language by which language is structured,
arranged and uttered through capability of human being to use the language. The
way someone acts a speech is really determined by human thought. Brain has a
mind to think about thinking and "Mind" refers to the part of you that is capable of
thought. The process of thinking creates thought; so, thought is the deposit of a
mind. According to Bohm, thought is nothing more than a form of reflex and
conditioning. When we are thinking of something then we reflexively churn the
deposit and conditioned various kinds of concept in the thought. The ancients simply

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decided that thoughts came from the mind and the heart. Everything we think is
becoming a thought in the mind which belongs to the brain. So, the 'mind' is just our
everyday way of saying the 'brain'.
The relation of these three terms is really unique and interesting. The reason,
all living things philosophically have a language. Animals and plants are also having
language; symbols which are the language but they are not able to use it in terms of
acting a speech to communicate. Another case with human beings, they have
language or symbols and they are able to use it to communicate in conveying
information to understand. Human languages are known to be much more uniform
than was at one time thought, which may be one reflection of their neurological basis
(Trimble: 2007). This is however the thing that differs to animals and plants.
Previously stated that human has language to communicate and human has brain in
which thoughts deposited in mind. Thought covers a number of different mental
activities (Hudson: 1980) which is the concept in human mind. When human beings
try to communicate, they will have capability to act a speech in any interaction that
they make because one feature that sets human communities apart from animal
communities is the use of language (Lund: 2003). The use of language refers to the
capability of acting a speech in interaction. Language is the tool and speech is the
way to use the tool. No matter how good the tool is, but if we do not know and
cannot use it properly based on the function then the tool is absolutely meaningless.
That is so, although the language is good but if we do not have ability to use it in a
speech act then it will be meaningless at all. This ability to act a speech is actually
determined by maturity of mind in which thoughts exist. Amajian (2001) stated that
speech act is an act performed in uttering expressions. Dealing with uttering
expressions then we should pay attention to the act of uttering sounds, syllables,
words, phrases, and sentences from a language. So, speech act emphasizes the
functions, aesthetics, and ethics of a language production. Thoughts which are the
basic deposit in mind will enable brain to command nerves of articulators to
construct and utter those speech items. Mind is the representative of thoughts; a
speech act is the representative of a language and it represents ones culture.

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C. The Definition of Culture

What actually do the people think of the entire world, the other people, the
things around them, and even of themselves? How do people respond to what they
see, think, and perceive and what will be the effect on them? How do people behave
based on their thought?
All the questions above will bring us to the complexity of the term of Culture. It
is a truism that each individual has a cultural diversity, by which they express his/her
thought. Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952) stated culture consists of patterns, explicit
and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting
the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in
artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived
and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may, on
the one hand, be considered as products of action, and on the other as conditioning
elements of further action. We do not explain a culture in the pattern of ones
perception but we should try to put it across into wide definition in order to get and
cover the widest range of what people think about the nature of culture itself. From
the 18th century, debates surrounding the merits and demerits of ancient and
modern culture one can trace the developing historical understanding from a limited
awareness of the historicity of culture and science to the full recognition of the
historical nature of art and knowledge (Oergel: 1964). So, we will cover all terms
deal with culture in this paper.
The following definitions of a culture will vary in understanding but they
basically have been included in the previous definition:
"Most social scientists today view culture as consisting primarily of the
symbolic, ideational, and intangible aspects of human societies. The essence
of a culture is not its artifacts, tools, or other tangible cultural elements but
how the members of the group interpret, use, and perceive them. It is the
values, symbols, interpretations, and perspectives that distinguish one people
from another in modernized societies; it is not material objects and other

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tangible aspects of human societies. People within a culture usually interpret

the meaning of symbols, artifacts, and behaviors in the same or in similar
ways." Banks, J.A., Banks, & McGee, C. A. (1989)
"Culture: learned and shared human patterns or models for living; day- to-day
living patterns. These patterns and models pervade all aspects of human
social interaction. Culture is mankind's primary adaptive mechanism"
(Damen, L :1987 p. 367).
"Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the
members of one category of people from another." (Hofstede, G: 1984 p. 51).
"By culture we mean all those historically created designs for living, explicit
and implicit, rational, irrational, and nonrational, which exist at any given time
as potential guides for the behavior of men." (Kluckhohn, C., & Kelly, W.H:
1945)
"Culture is the shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of people for
perceiving, interpreting, expressing, and responding to the social realities
around them" (Lederach, J.P: 1995 p. 9).
"A culture is a configuration of learned behaviors and results of behavior
whose component elements are shared and transmitted by the members of a
particular society" (Linton, R: 1945 p. 32).
"Culture...consists in those patterns relative to behavior and the products of
human action which may be inherited, that is, passed on from generation to
generation independently of the biological genes" (Parson, T: 1949 p. 8).
"Culture has been defined in a number of ways, but most simply, as the
learned and shared behavior of a community of interacting human beings"
(Useem, J., & Useem, R: 1963 p. 169).
The ecological matters of life and death are relevant to a proper
understanding of what we collectively value, believe, seek, avoid, and do: that
is, our culture. (Vliert: 2009)
Culture is as shared knowledge - not a people's customs and artifacts and
oral traditions, but what they must know in order to act as they do, make the

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things they make, and interpret their experience in the distinctive way they
do. (Quinn: 1987)
Culture-meaning classical or high culture founded on a concept of creation
and the life of the spirit-was a major weapon in the state's armory in its
mission to civilize and socialize its citizens. (Silverman: 1999)
However we define culture, most anthropologists agree that it has to do with
those aspects of human cognition and activities that are derived from what we
learn as members of society, keeping in mind that one learns a great deal that
one is never explicitly taught. (Monaghan & Just: 2000)

It seems to be so complex to understand but we will try to gain an

understanding that Culture, however, covers all things concerns with patterns,
behaviors, symbols, distinctive achievements of human groups, embodiments in
artifacts, ideas, values, systems, actions, knowledge, microorganisms, belief, art,
law, morals, and custom. All things that affect on human beings and affect on the
things are categorized as a Culture.

a) The Linguistic and Cultural Relativity

By imaging that almost 7000 languages used in this world today will at
least remind us a hypothesis of Sapir and Whorf about Linguistic relativity.
Chomsky even said to approach to Linguistic or Language Relativity - I believe
without exception, depart from the commonsense notion in several ways; these
departures also affect the concepts of knowledge or understanding of language,
use of language, rule of language, rule-guided linguistic behavior, and others
(1986). A linguistic relativity hypothesis says that some particular aspect of
language influences some particular aspect of cognition. In the other words,
some linguistic items can influence the way one thinks of. Because this is just a
hypothesis then we should give a test in order to raise the truth of it. Lets take an
example of this; in Bahasa Makean Barat, Halmahera Selatan, there are three
levels in choosing words in terms of acting a speech to a superior, peer, and
inferior. Put an example of inviting; Mari Makan (Lets have meal), people in

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Makean Barat use fajou, falakut, and fa to mean makan (to eat). When
children and adolescents want to invite adult to have meal, they should say Ino
t fafajou. At the level of peer, they say Ino t fafalakut and when adolescent or
adult invite children to have meal, they say Ino t fafa. The case of linguistic
relativity will arise when children use Ino t fafa to invite adult to have meal and
mostly adult will react emotionally and cognitively. Adults think that that child is
impolite and his/her parents should teach and educate him/her to act an
appropriate speech. This is a kind of Linguistic Relativity in terms of Lexicon.
The same case happened when I was being in Balikpapan, Kalimantan
Timur. I am a Torajanese and of course I am from Sulawesi. Mostly people in
Sulawesi have a concept of Taxi as a public transportation which is a brand of a
type of Sedan. When I first arrived in Balikpapan, my uncle asked me out to look
around. I asked What transportation should we take to leave? and my uncle
replied We will get a Taxi. It was accidently becoming above the common in my
mind to leave for looking around by Taxi and of course it would be so expensive,
I thought. It was just a moment that then the Taxi came to picked us up. It was
happening next that I was so surprised because what they meant by a Taxi was
a Microlet which I knew as Pete-pete or Angkot as my concept in my mind. I had
time to think that people in Balikpapan were categorized as middle to upper
economy level.
Next example of linguistic relativity is the linguistic item concerns with
Phonology. In 2002, I was in Surabaya for an International Seminar. The next
day after arrival, I was looking for socks and I found a store nearby my hotel.
When I bargained; spoke in Makassarese dialect, the seller was accidently
startling then said Lo.. lo.. lo.. lo Mas dari Makassar ya? (Ow.. ow.. ow.. ow
Are you coming from Makassar?) Iya (Yes) I said. She replied Pantes, ya (No
wonder). So, what the gist here is that firstly she did not know actually where I
come from but she directly confirmed Are you coming from Makassar? This
means that she had a concept about Makassarese dialect so she knew that I was
coming from Makassar. Second is that when I responded Yes to her

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confirmation she made and she replied No wonder. The case is that she had a
concept in her mind about Makassarese and she reinforced her thought by
replying No wonder. She knew that so a Makassarese was.
Besides Linguistic Relativity or Linguistic Diversity, there is another
relativism concerned with culture; Cultural Relativity or Cultural Diversity or
Cultural Relativism. Cultural relativity states that all customs, beliefs, morals,
norms and or ethics are relative to the individual within his/her own social
context. In other words, a concept of right and wrong and may or may not
are culture-specific; what is considered moral in one society may be considered
immoral in another cultural background, and, since no universal standard of
morality exists, no one has the right to judge another societys customs. Herder
in Sikka (2011) said that different societies and ages hold distinct systems of
belief regarding what is good and bad, right and wrong, and that there are no
objective, transhistorical, and transcultural criteria for judging between these
systems. In this sense of cultural relativity, a culture is thought as a paradigm
case which has freedom of the will. Whatever someone sees, thinks, perceives,
and behaves, it is all about the freedom of ones will. No one can deny or judge it
as wrong thought or custom. Lets say me; I am a Torajanese and I of course
have culture. I was born in other region that brings me into another concept of
thought because I do not grow up in Toraja but in Kolaka where indigenous
people are Tolakinese. People of Tolaki then of course have different way of life,
thinking, philosophy, etc. I grew up in those cultural items and I realize that many
things are really far from my ethnicity; Toraja. I do then free to manifest my own
thought, philosophy, belief, custom, and things that I have grown in it up. My
original custom as Torajanese has gone long time ago and I am not with some
beliefs of Torajanese but I do appreciate them as diversity of a culture.
Cooper stated that diversity can be seen as constitutive of freedom to the
extent it makes it practically possible for people to choose and live out different
kinds of lives. At the same time, social diversity functions as an expression,
product and symbol of freedom we read freedoms presence in the range of life

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choices that exist. But diversity also works to define freedoms subjects: the
different social groups who pursue liberation through the lifting of restrictions, the
abolition of exploitative or oppressive relations, and through accessing the
resources necessary in order to flourish (Cooper: 2004). Individual cultural
diversity is really complex if we see it in the narrow point of view, so we should
leave our culture behind then we try to figure out what are the same as ours and
what are the difference. In order to be more standing up on our culture, we
should lift the restriction up to the concept of diversity. One point of a diversity or
distinction is that we concern with a freedom but here is not a freedom of
uncontrolled system. We still have something that control the freedom itself by
which we are free but still controlled based on the norm and aesthetic of the
environment of social culture. An uncontrolled freedom will bring us to an
anarchy that can break the country up.

b) Culture and Systems of Thought

As it has been stated above that culture is the collective programming of
the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from
another (Hofstede, G: 1984). There is actually the relationship between Culture
and thought and it is applicable to the way of how one lives. Whatever we do, we
think, we behave, there must be the influence of thought concerning with what
do. When we contact to the environment then we will soon contact to culture and
when we contact to the culture then we start to think and respond to what we
have seen, perceived, and heard. Our brain will be active to process it in mind
then become a thought of a concept. As Styles said that to enable us to interact
safely with real objects in the environment, the brain encodes and makes
available many sources of information about the properties of objects (Styles:
2005). Culture is the collective programming of the mind; Culture is as shared
knowledge; Culture is the concept of nature. Mostly these sentences are
concerned with a system of cognitive. It makes obvious that indeed culture
influence cognitive or the way of thinking and vice versa; cognitive can influence

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the culture by which culture experiences the changing so as to make new culture
of society. The changing of the thought system is very influenced by an
intercultural environment. The system is changed when any culture is seen and
perceived that can lead to a behavior changing. This needs a process of
approaching and learning because each man has previous concept about the
way s/he thinks of, behaves, reveals, and any other way of life.
Languages are transmitted across generations, and what is transmitted
along with them is a way of thinking: a set of beliefs, values, and judgments, a
particular, bounded perspective on the world (Sikka: 2001). The system of
thought is the way of thinking itself; culture is the result of the system of thought
which contains the way of thinking and it is happened over and again so as to
shape perspective to the new concept of behavior. When a behavior is formed
with its concept in thought then it will be a custom of life that we call Culture.
Whatever comes to human five sense will be received by cognitive then process
it to create new concept on an object seen, perceived, and learned then the
result will influence the previous concept in mind to create new concept. The
influence then will depend on the strength of the previous thought.

D. Delta Connection of Language, Culture, and Thought.

Most of us usually just point out two terms concern with language, Culture,
and Thought. We just correlate the two terms; Language and Culture, and ignore
another one; Thought.

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