Relative Points of View

The relationship between language and various kinds of non-linguistic behavior has been of great fascination for many of those working in the fields of cultural anthropology, linguistics, and philosophy, or, broadly understood, cultural studies. The authors in this volume explore this relationship in a number of cultures and social contexts and discuss the problem of linguistic relativism and its application to several areas of social interaction across cultures. The authors deal with such questions as how language and culture intersect resulting in different points of view on reality that are all equally authentic and rooted in experience. The question of the influence of language and culture on our perceptino of physical and social reality is re-examined for such domains as politics, commerce, working with people, religion, and gender relations.

Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Space and Time in Natural Language
Chapter 2. Politicians on Drugs: Functions of Political Metaphor across Culture
Chapter 3. Rendering Metaphor in Reported Speech
Chapter 4. Between Relativism and Truth: Jean Baudrillard, the Sokal Affair, and the Use of Scientific Terminology across Cultural Boundaries
Chapter 5. Nationalism and Culture: Some Reflections on the Construction of National Languages
Chapter 6. Language, Culture, and Gender Identities: Examining Arguments about Marriage
Chapter 7. Management, Culture, and Discourse in International Business
Chapter 8. Emotion and Labor in Cultural Comparison
Chapter 9. From "Ulla Ulla" to "Cosmic Linguistics": On Alien Language and Culture in Science Fiction
Chapter 10. Intercultural Competence: Theories into Practice