ANTH 335: Language and Culture - Midterm

Key terms and concepts from week 1 to week 8.

phonology

the study of sound in language

phoneme

the smallest contrastive sound units in a language

contrastive

changes the meaning

allophones

phonetically distinctive variants of a phoneme, the meaning does not change

voiced sounds

the vocal chords vibrate

unvoiced sounds

no vibration in the vocal chords

morphology

the study of the internal structure of words

morpheme

unit of meaning (root words, suffixes (end of word, ex. -ing) and prefixes (beginning of word, ex. re, un), plural markers, etc.)

syntax

the study of the structure of sentences in a language or the structure of sentences

semantics

the study of meaning in language

pragmatics

the study of language use

tone/tonal languages

languages in which pitch can be contrastive (pitch changes meaning), ex. Mandarin, Vietnamese

orthography

the conventional spelling system of a language

multifunctionality

language is more than just description, there are 6 functions

referential/denotative function

how language can be used to describe or convey information about the world, ex. the cup is broken

expressive function

oriented towards the speaker’s emotions, expressing with tone (possibly face and body)

conative function

concerned with influencing the behavior of the addressee, imperative, command, persuasive

poetic function

emphasizes the juxtaposition of sounds, not their grammatical sequence, which words have the greatest effect when put together

ex. slogans, poetry, sound and feel of words

phatic function

serves to establish, prolong, or discontinue communication

ex. greetings, goodbyes, small talk

metalinguistic/reflexive function

language about language, reflecting on language use

language ideology

“the attitudes, opinions, beliefs, or theories we have about language” (Ahearn 23)

how people conceptualize what language is or what it can do

ex. SAE is seen as better and more proper than AAVE

indexicality

relationship between sign and object is one of connection or contiguity: “points to”

ex. smoke is an index of fire, a rainbow is an index of rain

multimodal/multimodality

idea that linguistic interactions operate “on multiple levels and have multiple functions” (Ahearn 33)

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

“the language one speaks determines how one perceives the world…[and] the distinctions encoded in each language are all different from one another”

is also referred to as linguistic relativity

linguistic relativity

language influences thought

is also referred to as Sapir-Whord Hypothesis

semiotics

the study of signs

examining relations between: sign, object, interpretant

icon

a sign that resembles what it represents

ex. thumbs up emoji resembles a thumbs up, with words onomatopoeia resemble what they represent

index

a sign that points towards something other than itself

ex. smoke is an index of fire

see indexicality

symbol

a sign with an arbitrary connection to what it represents

ex. tree connects to a real tree, but if you did not hav the knowledge tree would not mean anything

acronyms for language varieties

AAE: African American English

AAVE: African American Vernacular English

BEV: Black English Vernacular

BE: Black English

SAE: Standard American English

prestige variety

“prestige” is the level of regard normally accorded to a specific language variety relative to other languages or dialects in a specific community

vocal fry

a vocal effect produced by very slow vibrations of the vocal chord and characterized by a creaking sound and low pitch

frequently associated with women even though men use it too

register

a variety of language used for a particular purpose or in a particular communicative situation

ex. mothering language

metaphor

a figure of speech in which one thing is described as if it were another, creating an implicit comparison without using “like” or “as”

a conceptual mapping between two different domains

a comparison across modalities

metaphors we live by

metaphors are explored as cognitive and cultural tools that shape thought, communication, and social life, our ordinary conceptual system is metaphorical in nature

ex. theories are buildings:

what is the foundation for your theory?

the theory needs more support.

we need to buttress the theory with solid arguments.

dialect vs. language

there is NO technical difference between the two, the difference is political

people in power can choose to standardize a language and claim it is more prestige than others

ex. SAE vs. AAVE

language

a specific set of rules for generating speech, a language is a ‘standard’ dialect

dialect

a variant of a language

= “language variety” or “non-standard variety”

toponym

place names

Basso - how are place names used?

place names are used a a way to conform to Western Apache culture and expectations

place names as language ideology

place names are an anchor to tell stories of event that happened in the place

when speaking with place names, Western Apache people are able to travel to those places and receive wisdom from their ancestors, the place names create an image of what the place looked like when they were named

protactile/protactile movement

a touch-based language used by DeafBlind people, there are three key principles: direct access, autonomy, and contact space

direct access

prioritizing tactile communication over visual or auditory methods

autonomy

empowering DeafBlind individuals to control their own communication

contact space

using hands, arms, and body movements to convey meaning

propositional semiosis

knowledge that is independent of context, it approaches the limits of language

non-propositional semiosis

the process of meaning making that goes beyond simple facts about the world

code-switching

switching between varieties (languages) NOT register

ex. switching between SAE and AAVE

methods in linguistic anthropology

these methods are also present in cultural anthropology

there are six methods

participant observations

requires that researchers spend months or years residing in a particular community - learning the language, traditions, and interacting with members of the community

they take field notes

interviews

there are three formats, not the best way to gather information

structured: set of questions with specific wording and all participants are asked in the same order

semi-structured: list of topics, but no order or wording

open-ended: informal conversations that touch on research topic

survey and questionnaires

often used to collect demographic data such as age, education level, language spoken, income, and more

naturally occurring conversations

recorded conversations between individuals from the community the research focuses on, consent is necessary

experiments

conducting experiments to answer question

ex. matched guise test (used to find the true feelings of people towards a language, dialect, or accent

analysis of written text

historical documents copied from archives, personal letters, newspaper articles, emails, or official documents

language and thought: language in general

research focuses on broadest level how having any language at all might influence thinking

language and thought: linguistic structures

research considers how some specific structures within a particular language might influence thinking or behavior (ex. grammatical structure)

language and thought: language use

research looks at the ways that particular habits of speaking can influence thought and interpretation

language use rather than language structure

sociolinguistics

mostly quantitative, statistical

interviews as primary data

linguistic anthropology

ethnographic, qualitative

language as a social action

Boas & students: Non Indo-European languages

non Indo-European languages are complex, advanced and developed similarly to Indo-European languages