Culture and language processing

Oneof theprimarymeans throughwhichwecommunicateour knowledge, ideas, thoughts, andbeliefs is through language. Increasingly, theworld has becomemore andmore linguistically diverse, not only in terms of the number of languages that we know of and are aware of, but in terms of the richness of those languages and the degree towhich individualsmaster and usemore than one language (Altarriba andHeredia 2008).Yet linguistic knowledge rarely lives devoidof the influence of the cultural context inwhich it is used. The question that has been at once at the forefront and the backdrop of the study of language and communication has been whether or not language influences thought or, the other way around (see e.g., Carroll 1956). However, it is important to bear in mind that this question assumes that culture is not a moderating variable in that relationship. Culture, for the purpose of this chapter, refers to sociocultural context that may be affecting or affected by language use, form, and function. Yet, the works reviewed in the current chapter underscore the importance of understanding the delicate interplay between language, culture, and cognition, and understanding to what degree the former variables influence the latter and under what conditions.