Linguistic Anthropology

Six design features of human language

• Linguistic relativity 

• Components of language 

• Non-verbal communication 

• Linguistic diversity, inequality and oppression 

• Language and gender 

• Change and the flexibility of Language 

Language

The system of arbitrary vocal symbols we use to encode our experience of the world 

Biological Study of Language

study of the brain and anatomy of the mouth and throat

Cultural Study of Language

study of language shared by groups with encoded symbols, patterns which are learned and communicated within that group

Linguistic Anthropology

• study sounds, words and grammar

• how language is used in particular contexts

• study everyday use of speech

• patterns of selecting certain features of speech

• language as expressions of social identity and reflections of structural power dynamics

Anthropological interest in language

• Means to communicate during fieldwork 

• Provides insight into a culture 

• A focus of study in its own right

Politics of Identifying languages

• Old languages disappear 

• Marginalized languages are often referred to as ‘dialects’ rather than languages 

• Political ramifications of giving a language status 

• Blurry boundaries between languages

Vocabulary

words used in a particular language by members of a speech community

Grammar

set of rules that describe patterns of linguistic usage observed by members of a speech community

Speech Community

group of speakers that share vocabulary, grammar and assumptions about how to use the language

Complexities of Language in practice

• Speech communities have tensions between diversity and commonality 

• Knowledge about language varies 

• Use and applications of languages vary

• Language is constantly produced and reproduced through social interactions

• Speech: spoken language 

• Communication: transfer of info from one person to another 

• Language: can be spoken or unspoken 

Dell Hymes

• Mastery of language includes linguistic competence (master of grammar) and communicative competence (mastery of socially appropriate speech) 

• Three factors influence socially appropriate speech

  • Social position of speaker 

  • Social position of person they’re addressing 

  • Social context of interaction 

Charles Hockett

• identifies 16 features of human languages

Openness

ability to conceptualize, label and discuss the same experiences using different words and various grammatical constructions

Displacement

People’s ability to talk about absent or nonexistent object and past or future events as easily as they discuss their immediate situations

Arbitrariness

no inherent connection between a symbol and its meaning

Duality of Patterning

language is paired on 2 levels, phonemes and morphemes

Prevarication

to speak falsely or to make statements that violate convention

Semanticity

association of linguistic signals with aspects of social, cultural and physical world of a speech community

Phonemes

basic units of distinct sound

Morphemes

smallest meaning bearing units

Linguistic Relativity Principle/Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

• language has to power to shape the way people see the world

• shaping people’s cognitive representations of the world

• criticized by scholars as inflexible, but has revived in recent years

Components of Language

• grammar

• phonology

• morphology

• syntax

• semantics

• pragmatics

Phonology

• parts of words (sounds)

• gestures in sign language

Morphology

word structure

syntax

sentence structure

semantics

• meaning

  • denotative meaning

  • connotative meaning

pragmatics

context of use

denotative meaning

formal meaning

connotative meaning

contextual meaning

Ethnopragmatics

study of language use in a specific culture, grounded in ethnographic approach, with close attention to the relationships between language, communication and social interaction

Linguistic context

other words, expression and sentences that surround an expression

non-linguistic context

objects and activities that are present in the same situation

non-verbal communication

• Gestures and body language 

• Can be culturally specific 

• Interacts with verbal language and used to complement, accent, contradict, repeat, substitute and/or regulate  

Language Ideology

system of beliefs about how language is impacted by colonialism, power and inequality

Language Contact Phenomenon

• Languages never operate in a vacuum 

• Often interact w each other

Heteroglossia

coexistence of multiple varieties of a specific language

Pidgins

• fairly simple language

• no native speakers

• develops in a single generation between members of communities that possess distinct native languages

Creole

• complex language

• has native speakers

• developed over one or more past generations

• comes from two or more distinct languages

African American English

• linguistic form of English with its own grammar, syntax, semantics and pragmatics

• predominantly used by Black communities in the US

Language and Gender

Early Studies:

• focused on differences between how men and women speak

• naturalized gender categories

Today:

• recognize that language produces, maintains and subverts normative ideas about gender roles and intersects with other structural inequalities