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Semiotics (Arbitrary, Motivated, Symbol, Icon, and Index)
A sign in a relationship between a significant (a perceptible form) and a signed (a conceptual form)
Symbol = Convention code → Arbitary
Icon = Similarity → motivated
index = indexicality → motivated
what is Language Sustainability?
Definition: Efforts to preserve and revitalize languages.
Challenges: Language endangerment due to globalization & colonization.
• Revitalization:
Documentation (recording words, grammar, oral traditions).
Education programs (teaching younger generations).
Government policies (supporting Indigenous & minority languages).
Why it matters: Preserves culture, identity, and knowledge.
what is Speech surrogates?
A communication system based on language
what is Kinship Analysis in linguistics?
definition: Study of how languages classify family relationships.
Kinship Terminology → Words for family members.
Kinship Systems → Different ways cultures categorize kin.
Linguistic Relativity → Kinship terms shape social worldview.
Purpose: Shows cultural values & social structure through language
Non-verbal communication
Definition: Conveying messages without words.
Channels:
• Gestures
• Facial expressions
• Body posture and movements
• Eye contact
Role:
• Complements verbal communication
• Can operate independently to convey emotion, intent, or context
what is Writing in linguistics?
Definition: Representing language with visual symbols.
Graphemics: Smallest units in writing (graphemes).
Writing Systems: Alphabets, logograms, syllabaries, etc.
Distinction: Writing is a different modality from speech.
Influences: Shaped by cultural and historical factors.
what is Multilingualism?
definition: using two or more languages in your community other in society
Individual multilingualism: A person who can speak multiple languages (bilingual/trilingual)
societal multilingualism: Societies where several languages are used in daily life, education, or government
what is Language History?
Language history = study of how languages change over time
Language families → English is Germanic.
Sound changes → Knight used to have a “k” sound.
Word changes → Nice meant “foolish” before.
Grammar changes → Sentence structures evolve.
Language contact → English borrows from French.
Helps trace language roots and evolution.
What is taxonomy?
Taxonomy is the science of classification, particularly in biology, where it involves categorizing organisms based on shared characteristics and relationships.
organizes words and concepts, or sounds into hierarchies
examples
animal taxonomy: Animal → dog → Labrador
what is a Prefix in linguistics?
A prefix is an affix added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning.
- prefixes cannot stand alone as words
EXAMPLE
Un - (not) — unhappy (not happy)
what is Logographic?
A writing system that uses logograms, which are symbols that represent words/morphmes
What is a symbol?
a symbol is a sign with an arbitrary connection to its meaning
meaning comes from Convention (agreed upon used)
Examples
words → dog, doesn’t look like dog.
traffic signs → stop signs means “stop” because we agree it does.
part of semiotics (study of signs)
What is an icon?
an icon is a sign that resembles what it represents
the connection is based on similarity (not arbitrary rules)
EXAMPLES
Photographs → look like the real thing
Onomatopoeia → Buzz, meow (sound like what they mean
emojis (a heart emoji can represent love)
What is an index?
A sign that has direct, casual, or contextual connections to what it represents (linked by association or evidence)
EXAMPLE
Smoke → fire (smoke indicates fire is present)
Pronouns (I, you) (their meaning depends on who is speaking
•contextual relationship •evidence-based connection
CASE STUDY - The Pueblo - Hopi
lost city, hunter gatherer
matrilineal - through mother lines
clan structures - matrilineal
matrilocal - live with the mothers side of the family
exogamous
what does Exogamous mean?
can't marry inside your clan - has to marry outside the clan (avoids incest) (forges connections)
what does endogamous mean?
marrying within a specific social group, community, or ethnic group, as opposed to marrying outside of it.
what does Primogeniture mean?
a system of inheritance in which a person's property passes to their firstborn legitimate child upon their death
why and how is slang used??
faster to say certain things
more fun - social persona - don’t talk that way with your parents or grandparents but you do with your friends)
appropriateness
Dialect Distinctiveness
Nomadic: Fuzzy boundaries
Sedentary: Distinct
Stratification: Distinct + Pritege langauge
Plains sign language - structure
Compunds: “White man” + “Soldier” = Infantry
- Largest record sign lexicon = 3500 signs; comparison to pidgins & creoles
Note 
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