IPA: /ʔot.'ku.tyʁ/
Fr., from feminine of haut (high) + couture (nf.), "sowing, dressmaking", from Vulgar Latin consutura, formed from the supine consutum from Latin consuere, from suere, "to sew", from PIE root *siw-. *sju-, "to sew". English cognate "sew" descends from this PIE root, via Proto-Germanic siwjanan into Old English siwian. Latin -ere verb ending alerts one to the fact that descendant verbs of this PIE root are ablaut verbs, hence, sewn. Sewing may have been an important part of PIE culture, given a direct verb is present (in contrast, PIE had no direct verbs for writing).
Frequently (ab)used as a false cognate of "high culture". Dude, it only means "high dressmaking", but people - I've observed this of Singaporeans especially - mistakenly transfer the association of elitism in the industry to that of society in general. An observed comment on a Singapore blog: "Paris is all about haute couture, the language of love, the monuments...." Paris is all about dressmaking? Really?
"High culture" would be plain haute culture in French. Coincidentally, "culture" is a feminine noun, but that's where the similarities end.
Culture (nf.) [IPA: /'kʌl.tʃɚ/ (Eng.), /kyl.'tyʁ/ (Fr.)] from Latin cultura, "tilling of land". The semantic drift in English is from "maintainence of arable land" (1440) to "personal cultivation and sophistication" (1510) to "lifestyles and customs of civilisations cultivated carefully" (1867). From past participle stem of "colere", "to cultivate, inhabit, guard, grow, practice", which led to senses of "worship, respect" -- compare colonus (colony) and cultus (cult). Colere is from PIE root *qwel-, "to turn around", with descendant words like Latin cyclus (cycle), Sanskrit cakram (cf. Indonesian-Malay cakra, "discus") and Old English hweol, which became modern English wheel. Indeed, cultivation (agriculturally at least) can be thought of as a cycle.
As you can see, culture and couture have very different roots. I can see plausible associations, because culturing something -- be it your crops, your personal character or a society -- is comparable to the fine work of sewing a dress; that of creation, of tending and whatnot. But no, they are not actually connected etymologically or semantically.
I suspect that people choose this phrase because rendering it in French, even though one might not actually know the language, sounds more posh or something, while ironically ignoring the direct French cognate la culture. I have a slight trouble with such folks.
Lately I have been reading arguments that attack Singlish because of the very fact that it's not posh or "high culture". They consist of fallacious accusations that generally argue several of these things: Singlish is broken English (despite it being a creole with its own grammar). It is a "problem". It is a "sub-standard" language. It is a "crutch" in some way. It needs to be discouraged from use, suppressed, wiped out.
It is of a basilectal and informal register, I will grant that. Singlish is an intimate language and can be overly familiar at times: it is just like the French would tutoyer their friends and other intimate contacts but vouvoyer strangers and superiors. It does not mean the language used while tutoying is any more inferior -- in fact it can be the other way round due to the intimacy and familiarity.
People who make the accusation that Singlish is inferior have neither real knowledge of linguistics nor the true meaning of culture, especially when they are as bigoted to imply that speaking dialects is "as bad" as speaking Singlish. (Ng Ya Ken, are you telling me the Chinese dialects are "broken Chinese" too? Dude, I hope you know that Cantonese is centuries older than Mandarin itself.) Singaporeans are a resilient lot, and Singlish is so pervasive in the national culture that is unlikely to go soon. The elitist upper class Putains Au Pouvoir ("bitches in power", or PAP) hate this fact. But they will use whatever campaign necessary to try to have Singlish eliminated in twenty, thirty or fifty years time.
As this elitist and superficial "high culture" mentality occurs at the expense of what should be otherwise thriving legitimate national culture, I bear a strong antipathy to such attitudes.
10 comments:
interesting blog.
I like your blog a lot and find it really interesting. I do want to point out that the name and term of haute couture, comes from a department of design in France. To sew anything and put the label of haute couture or even just couture, you must apply for a license in France. The reason why so many people think it is linked to upper class is because the dress is of the highest quality and is the only one of it's kind, not to mention it is made completely by hand sewing every stitch by the designer themselves, thus the price of the dress is incredibly high. The French are basically considered by most haute couture because that is where it comes from or at least where you have to go to get the license for it.
Dialects caused Chinese to be inunited because of different languages.
Singlish degrades the quality of the English language being spoken or written among Singaporeans.
In the worst scenerio, youngsters are apathetic towards their own Mother Tongue languages and also English language. They cannot speak dialects. Ignorance in all languages is not healthy for a language-based Singapore.
>> Chinese dialects are "broken Chinese" too?
--> Only for those English-speaking elites will have this type of bad mindset that pictured Chinese language for the low-class people and dialects for the even-low-class people.
>> I hope you know that Cantonese is centuries older than Mandarin itself
--> I hope you know that Mandarin existed in a longer era than all dialects.
>> As this elitist and superficial "high culture" mentality occurs at the expense of what should be otherwise thriving legitimate national culture, I bear a strong antipathy to such attitudes.
--> In this case, it existed everywhere, not only in Singapore. PAP leaders have this attitude of discriminating the Chinese language and dialects while China discriminates English language. It comes to the same for the rest of the world. You cannot change this bad trend, it is a brutal reality.
"Dialects caused Chinese to be inunited because of different languages."
On the contrary, it makes the Chinese language family as a whole richer. The solultion to unity is not to eliminate languages: what's wrong with picking up all of them?
After all, multiculturalism and multilingualism is the way to go. I can support the encouragement to learn Mandarin, just not linguicide of seeking to destroy other dialects just because it is thought to have a distracting influence.
People used to think that learning a second language detracts from mastering the first. Modern linguistic theory has now shown this to be false.
"Singlish degrades the quality of the English language being spoken or written among Singaporeans."
So, speaking French degrades the quality of my English, or my Latin?
Singlish is a dialect of English. The problem is when people try to use the dialect in all registers that use English. Singaporeans should be able to both speak Singlish and a formal register of English.
It's not speaking Singlish that's the problem, but rather thinking Singlish can fit every situation. Singlish has a rich cultural heritage and it would be a shame to see it go away. I don't speak French to people unless I think they have some knowledge of it, for example.
I still use certain Singlish phrases in the United States; they are part of my identity. I use them as my idiosyncrasy.
"Only for those English-speaking elites will have this type of bad mindset that pictured Chinese language for the low-class people and dialects for the even-low-class people."
My point exactly; not just the English speaking elites either, but those Beijing hegemonists who want to turn Singapore into a mini-Beijing (which is only one city out of a rich tapestry of many).
It's because the upper classes do not know Singlish that they despise it. They cannot speak it, and they are afraid of what they do not know. The upper government officials who discourage it do not know linguistics at all, and they dare criticise the dialect without knowledge of it.
"You cannot change this bad trend, it is a brutal reality."
A slight tip, it's "discriminate against". But you make a worthy point. Yet, I have hope!
I'm a TCK, and I yearn for multiculturalism. I want to throw off the chains of monoculturalism, especially the plural monoculturalism that the PAP preaches (it's not really "multicultural" in any way).
>> On the contrary, it makes the Chinese language family as a whole richer. The solultion to unity is not to eliminate languages: what's wrong with picking up all of them?
--> Richer but destroys the unity in Chinese. Hokkien stays away from Cantonese and Cantonese stays away from Ke Jia. They are all Chinese but fought against each other for many centuries just because of these dialects. If they all speak only one Chinese language, China and Chinese people will be more united.
>> After all, multiculturalism and multilingualism is the way to go. I can support the encouragement to learn Mandarin, just not linguicide of seeking to destroy other dialects just because it is thought to have a distracting influence.
--> If it causes Chinese to be so chaos, then I will not be hestitate to throw dialects aside, though I will not destroy it because it is part of the Chinese culture.
>> People used to think that learning a second language detracts from mastering the first. Modern linguistic theory has now shown this to be false.
--> It is absolutely false. I learn Chinese first before English. But today, I can speak and write in English, without sacrificing my Chinese foundation.
>> So, speaking French degrades the quality of my English, or my Latin?
--> That depends on you.
>> Singlish is a dialect of English. The problem is when people try to use the dialect in all registers that use English. Singaporeans should be able to both speak Singlish and a formal register of English.
--> I don't think Singaporeans are able to write in both Singlish and formal English. Many are so addicted at Singlish that they forgotten how to spell an original English word.
>> It's not speaking Singlish that's the problem, but rather thinking Singlish can fit every situation. Singlish has a rich cultural heritage and it would be a shame to see it go away. I don't speak French to people unless I think they have some knowledge of it, for example.
--> I don't see any special or even rich heritage in Singlish. It just spoils everything for the language being spoken and written. To be honest, it is a shame for Singaporeans to be weak at both Monther Tongue langauage and English language (not to mention zero knowledge at dialects).
>> I still use certain Singlish phrases in the United States; they are part of my identity. I use them as my idiosyncrasy.
--> If I were you, I will use Chinese language as my identity. Not only it states me as a Chinese and a Singaporean but also an Asian.
>> It's because the upper classes do not know Singlish that they despise it. They cannot speak it, and they are afraid of what they do not know. The upper government officials who discourage it do not know linguistics at all, and they dare criticise the dialect without knowledge of it.
--> They know Singlish but they do not speak or write in Singlish because that degrades their status.
>> I'm a TCK, and I yearn for multiculturalism. I want to throw off the chains of monoculturalism, especially the plural monoculturalism that the PAP preaches (it's not really "multicultural" in any way).
--> Monoculturalism of over-westernism. I want to make this country a balance of western and eastern culture. I hope Chinese language would make its way back to youngsters, and to this over-westernism society.
"They are all Chinese but fought against each other for many centuries just because of these dialects. If they all speak only one Chinese language, China and Chinese people will be more united."
But they fought because they refused to learn from one another. Each dialect is culturally valuable, and dear to the hearts of its speakers. One way to resolve disunity is to stop speaking them, yes. But that is like saying we should all destroy parts of ourselves so we're too crippled to fight against each other.
Why not learn the dialects that we hold so dearly, each other's dialects? After all, one doesn't have to learn all the dialects. If I should know Hainanese for example (my maternal grandfather's dialect) but also know Cantonese, then I know a friend who knows Cantonese and Hokkien, and that friend knows another friend who knows Hokkien and Teochew, I have linguistically "networked" myself with Hainanese, Cantonese, Hokkien and Teochew. We share friendship bonds with one another, and we are united.
Of course, for me this is really hard, since I don't know any Chinese languages - not yet - but once I break the barrier I think learning the dialects will be much easier. For example, once I broke the barrier of French (a Romance language), the other Romance languages like Spanish and Italian now seem easy to me. So I expect it to be a worthy task for those already speaking some form of Chinese.
"If I were you, I will use Chinese language as my identity. Not only it states me as a Chinese and a Singaporean but also an Asian."
But I don't want to be identified as just Asian. I am Singaporean. Singlish is Singaporean. I find it hard to culturally identify with the immigrants from Fujing at my school for instance. Here, there's a certain stereotype of "Asian American". Identifying myself as "Singaporean" frees myself from all these labels.
But yes, I am learning Chinese.
"If it causes Chinese to be so chaos, then I will not be hestitate to throw dialects aside, though I will not destroy it because it is part of the Chinese culture."
Chaos ... perhaps you are slightly intimidated by just how many dialects there are?
That's why I learn linguistics though! Language scientists classify each dialect as a separate language actually: the Chinese language is actually a language family. The Chinese language family is home to several dialect continuums, where the language steadily changes bit by bit village by village.
At first there seems to be so many dialects - almost too many dialects to learn! But there is an order to all the chaos, a science. Each dialect is related to the other, some areas actually speak a language that is "halfway" between the two dialects, and as you go to one side or the other, it slowly changes to that dialect.
"It is absolutely false. I learn Chinese first before English. But today, I can speak and write in English, without sacrificing my Chinese foundation."
I'm glad that you see it that way. Then, speaking Singlish should not sacrifice learning English, should it?
I mean, just because I learn Spanish should not detract from learning French, even though they are closely related. Why should speaking Singlish detract from speaking English?
"I don't think Singaporeans are able to write in both Singlish and formal English. Many are so addicted at Singlish that they forgotten how to spell an original English word."
To me, this is because they rely on Singlish for all purposes, and don't pick up standard English. The solution is not to do away with Singlish, the solution is to reinforce the concepts of standard English so one can code-switch to the other.
"I don't see any special or even rich heritage in Singlish. It just spoils everything for the language being spoken and written. To be honest, it is a shame for Singaporeans to be weak at both Monther Tongue langauage and English language (not to mention zero knowledge at dialects)."
Ah, but look at this blog! This blog was set up to discuss linguistics, and Singlish is part of my fascination. Look at my post titled "lugi": Singlish borrows from Hokkien and Malay and incorporates them into Singlish. Malay is culturally rich and itself borrows heavily from Sanskrit, which descends from Proto-Indo-European. Proto-Indo-European was the ancestor of Latin, Greek and the Germanic languages. The Germanic languages gave birth to both Old English, which became English, as well as German, Dutch and Norwegian.
Hence I write how "lugi" is a word that is related to standard English words like "lugubrious" and "lose", only over a span of 7000 years.
So Singlish shares rich heritages, from Old English and Germanic; Malay and Sanskrit; Hokkien and Chinese, as well as other borrowings from Tamil and so forth.
"They know Singlish but they do not speak or write in Singlish because that degrades their status. "
I don't think they have ever spoken it at all, except to try to imitate the masses or to appear to be "connected" with them. This is because a lot of them are often ignorant about the principles of Singlish.
Take for example, the government campaign with PCK about SARS, the "SARS is the virus that I want to minus" commercial (from a long time ago in 2003). They tried to use "lah" and "leh" in the song, but had absolutely no idea what its grammatical function was, because they can't speak it.
"I want to make this country a balance of western and eastern culture. I hope Chinese language would make its way back to youngsters, and to this over-westernism society."
I agree with you also. But I also want people to speak more than just Chinese: I want people to learn each other's mother tongues. Chinese learning Malay, Indians learning Chinese and Malays learning Tamil for example. I want to go just beyond the national languages, like Hindi, the Chinese dialects, or Arabic.
If more people learned French for example, it would strengthen their grasp of English, since England was once conquered by the Norman French and modern English is basically a merger (a combination or a mixing) of Norman French and Old English.
Also, I forgot this:
"I hope you know that Mandarin existed in a longer era than all dialects."
Well, actually, Proto-Mandarin emerged during the Ming Dynasty during the 13th or 14th centuries, it emerged as the dominant dialect of the North in the 17th century. The Manchurian Qing Dynasty ensured the shift of power from Nanjing to Beijing (more secure base of power, and closer to Manchuria). At first, the Qing Court spoke a different language than that of Mandarin, from Manchu to the Southern dialects such as Wu, but as the years progressed, they adopted the langauge of the city the court resided in: Mandarin.
In contrast, Cantonese is far older dialect that developed in the Qin Dynasty when Han Chinese started to colonise the south, mixing it with the language of the native peoples there. It started to emerge as a distinctively separate language-dialect during the Tang-Sui period. It is one of the oldest Chinese dialects.
Chinese linguistics is really intricate and complex. It's still being fiercely debated and there are lots of other linguistic influences - from the Mongolian languages, from the Austronesian languages (the same language family as Malay, Filipino, Hawaiian and Indonesian), Austroasiatic (Vietnamese, etc.) and various others over the years. It has a complex sequence of mergers and splits.
Many of the Chinese dialects of today can be traced back to the states of the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States Era, of Chu, Qi, Jin, etc.
see for example this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chinese_language_tree.png (and also the discussion page)
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