Cultural Dimensions of Discourse by Johnson

This was a bit of a complex article full of lots of information. It was a little bit hard to read, so I had to go over it twice. Since the article was a little bit long, I'll elaborate on one of the parts I found interesting.

In Johnson's article, he discusses multiple theories about the role of language in culture. Johnson creates a bit of a metaphor in his description on a theory, which was quite interesting to read and analyze. Here is the quote listed below,

Language is essentially a vehicle for transporting information and ideas. Like any vehicle, language in this view is a medium from getting one place to another. And like any vehicle, language can be improved on, made more efficient and effective, and fueled with higher quality material. (Johnson 50)

In this theory, culture is something you can learn and enhance with the help of communication. Each person is "like a vehicle" with the ability to carry information to others, whom can relay that new information to more people. People can learn from other people's experiences and knowledge they possess. Learning from others, it can change a person's perception, culture, and language. (Like Professor Freed said,) People tell stories in order to pass on their culture. People learn new lexicon based on other people's experiences as well as their own.

(The next part will be based upon my own experiences, not empirical data.)
I've noticed that within some of the younger Asian communities, frozen yogurt has become a craze. A lot of places has opened up within the last 5 years. These places serve frozen yogurt with all these toppings lined up that you can put on your dessert. What does this have to do with language? I believe that because of this craze, some terms have evolved in people's lexixon. Examples would be Fro-yo (slang, representing a shortened version of frozen yogurt), and people have used the terms Pink Berry and Red Mango to represent these stores (when really they are just names of corporate stores). Another craze within the younger Asian communities is bubble tea. It is a new thing replacing just getting coffee or tea. I think it gives them a sense of identity of belonging to the Asian community. (As not many of the older generation would know what bubble tea is.)

Again, this is just a thought, not real data.