LING Readings

Alessandro Duranti

explores language through anthropological lens

Salzmann

broad base of anthropology

Ottenheimer and Pine

Language in different contexts, how it is learned and changes

Franz Boas anth and lang link

not one to one, but subtle links

Boaz why fieldwork?

1. learning language integral to learning a culture
2. collecting data in language you are studying improves understanding
3. learning about other languages and cultures helps you better understand your own

Sapir-Wharf hypothesis

the structure of language can determine our perception/experience

Linguistics is

focused, specific, intuitive

Anth is

holistic, comparative, fieldwork based

anthropological code of ethics

conduct fieldwork in a way that does the least amount of harm

Anth is holistic

seeing the whole picture, four branches, work together

Anth is comparative

cultural relativity

frames of reference

ways we interpret and understand the world

Anth is fieldwork based

spending time in a different cultural system

First Anth prof in US

Franz Boas

Boas book

Handbook of American Indian Languages (1911)

Ling is focused

primary goal = describe underlying structure of a language

Ling is Specific

seeks language universals in underlying structure of specific languages

Ling is intuitive

primary data-gathering = introspection

Psycholinguistics

language acquisition, speech perception, language processing, linguistic functioning

Ling term coined in

19th century

Sir William Jones (18th century)

connections among Sanskrit, Greek, Celtic, Latin, German-related languages → common ancestor = proto-indo european

Ferdinand de Saussure

distinction between language and speech

structuralism involves

isolating, classifying, analyzing, segmenting observable linguistic data

Transitional approach

Roman Jakobson: concerned with basic units of language and contrast between units (phonetics, phonology, semantics)

Generative Grammar

Noam 1950s → all languages have the same deep structure but different surfaces because of different rules

Philology

study of language history

signifier

word or symbol that stands for something

signified

what the word or symbol stands for

Chimp Lana

employed novel structures

Chimp Washoe

generalized signs to new objects + spontaneous sign combos

Gardners did not record

the order of signs

Tetsuro Matzuzawa

taught apes associations b/w photos and geometric designs → just stimulus reponse pairs

words and rules are embedded within a

socio-cultural structure

Terry Deacon

symbols are what construct the human mind

Critics of great ape studies emphasized that

children do not requite training but apes do

when Kanzi failed a task

it wasn’t because of the grammar, it was word meaning or view of what should be done

Universal features of language shared with animals

broadcast transmission and directional reception, rapid fading, interchangeability, total feedback, specialization

Universal features of language important to any definition of human language

vocal-auditory channel, semanticity, arbitrariness, displacement, openness/productivity, tradition/cultural transmission, duality of patterning

Other universal features of language

discreteness, prevarication, reflexiveness (communicate about language itself), learnability (can learn more than one language)

Everett and theory of mind

in order for languge to evolve you need culture and theory of mind

to be fully competent children need to

interact w/parents and caregivers

Kauli (New Guinea)

wait until children use adult sounding words before interacting

we are socialized

through language and to language

brain weighs

3-4lbs

how many neurons in the cortex

100 billion

cortex surface area

1\.5 square yards

cortex thickness

2mm

oldest part of cortex

long term memory and emotions

neocortex

frontal, temporal, occipital, parietal, younger and larger

neocortex is what percent of human brain

80%

neocortex is what percent of new world monkey brain

language usually in the

left

perceptual pattern recognition in the

right

in most people left

better with language, rhythmic perception, math and judgement about time and order of events

in most people right

better at matching patterns, recognizing faces, spatial orientation

severe epilepsy could be stabilized by

cutting corpus callosum

arcuate fasciculus

neural pathway connecting posterior receptive areas to premotor areas

5-6million years ago split between chimps and

australophithecus

2\.5-2 million years ago

homo habilis

habilis brain

distinct frontal and parietal lobes

australopithecus brain

apelike in shape, imprint of frontal orbital lobes of brain

possible signed and spoken language developed

at roughly the same time

in other primates the larynx is

higher

lower larynx means

longer pharynx, greater variety of vowels

human tongue more flexible =

more consonants

human babies born with

high larynxes, can breath when feeding

a more curved basocranisum =

lower larynx

fully modern homo sapiens from 100kya

Jevel Qafzeh and Skhul in Israel

recent research in other mammals

possible to lower the larynx when producing sound, neanderthal speech may not be as limited as indicated by reconstruction

linear grammar

language that lacks syntax and morphology

protolanguage

has words that map to meanings, but no further structure beyond linear order

village sign languages

develop in isolated communities with significant hereditary deafness

old school language acquisition experiments

babies cared for by mute woman on isolated island, feral children

bow wow theory

language comes from imitation of animals

ouch theory

language comes from reactions to pain or surprise

ding dong theory

language came from sounds produced by certain objects

yo-he-ho theory

language arose from people working together

social contract theory

groups of people agreed among themselves that certain sounds would represent certain objects or ideas

Societe de linguistique de Paris

1871 bylaws prohibiting discussion on origin of language

Darwin thought language originated in

imitation

what makes primate brains well suited to language?

1. enlarged occipital lobes
2. strong development in temporal lobes (good for displacement)
3. enlarged frontal lobes (fine motor movements of fingers, hands, and mouth)
4. lateralization

line between humans and apes based on

1. bipedalism
2. increased cranial capacity
3. habitual tool use
4. use of language

two main functions of language

communal and informational

evolutionary linguistics

identify how, when, and where language originates, how it changes, and why it disappears

influence of language on thought and culture

predispositional rather than determinative

how many human languages

\~ 7000

most children under ___ fail sally theory of mind task

4

Colour labeling/sorting experiments show people perceive things as more or less different depending on

linguistic categorization

Korean spatial categories

tight vs. loose git

Yucatec Maya vs. English speakers choosing material composition vs. shape

difference in how plural is marked

literacy divide Vai example (Vai passed informally vs. English in schools vs. arabic in morning sessions)

* no divide on cognitive tests between people who had at least one form of literacy vs. none
* did find some localized differences but because of social practices cannot attribute to the kind of script alone

Some people hostile to the idea that language might influence thought because it touches on

1. nature of power
2. nature of human agency
3. opposition between universality and diversity

Iroquois parallel cousins

same as siblings, descendants of same sex siblings of parents (Catherine and Elizabeth)

Iroquois cross cousins

descendants of opposite sex siblings (Clare and Liam)

Omaha kinship

on mother’s side all males and females lumped together, on father’s different terms for each generation

Crow kinship

mirror of omaha

Hawaiian kinship

smallest number of terms, all relatives of same sex of same generation use same terms

Folk taxonomy

focuses on features used in folk classification

components

individual units of meaning that when combined define a category

designatum

category name w a native term (ex. aunt)