Linguistic Anthropology

linguistics

the study of human languages within the framework of anthropology

• classifying languages

• determining past migrations and interactions by examining languages

• studying change in language

• influence of language on elements of culture and their influences on it

• language usage

communication

relaying message through symbols

• all language contains communication, but not all communication is a language

language

symbolic system of communication expressing meaning through voice, gestures, and writing. it is symbolic because we use words to refer to ideas

• only humans have complex speech, began with vocal sounds

• most animals are limited to call sounds

• limited number of sounds produces given particular environmental stimuli

speech

influenced by biological, cultural, social, and political factors

symbolic communication

must have meaning even when the thing is referred to is not present

• have arbitrary meaning

• can’t be guessed from the sounds or known instinctively

• symbols have to be learned

kinesics

study of communication by non-verbal means

language (2)

primary means of communication (spoken or written)

• transmitted through learning as part of enculturation

• based on arbitrary, learned associations between words and the things they represent

benefits of language

humans can:

• conjure up elaborate ideas

• discuss the past and future

• share experiences

• benefit from others experiences

grammarians

interested in what people say: vocab, punctuation, etc.

linguists and linguistic anthropologists:

interested in what people say

linguistic anthropologists

study what people say in social and cultural context

origin of language

mutated gene, FOXP2, allows humans to make fine tongue and lip movements for clear speech

nonhuman primate communication

call systems: use a limited number of sounds that are produced in response to specific stimulti: automatic and cannot be combined

sign language

koko the gorilla learned more than 1,000 ASL signs and regularly used over 800 signs

cultural transmission

transmission through language, basic to language

productivity

combing two or more signs to create new expressions

displacement

the ability to talk about things that are not present

the structure of spoken

scientific study of spoke language involved several interrelated areas of analysis

phonology

study of speech words

morphology

study of forms in which sounds combine to form morphemes

morphemes

words and their meaningful parts

lexicon (vocabulary)

dictionary containing all morphemes and their meanings

syntax

arrangement and order of words in phrases and sentences

3 types of speech sounds

1. phonetics

2. phonemics

3. phoneme

phonetics

the study of human speech sounds in general

phonemics

studies only the significant sounds contrasts of a given language

phoneme

a sound contrast that makes a difference or differentiates meaning

Chomsky

• human brain contains a limited set of rules for organizing language, so all language have a common structural basis

• human’s capacity to learn any language

• common features of creole languages developed from combining English with the native language

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

grammatical categories of different languages lead their speakers to think about things in particular ways

focal vocabulary

specialized sets of terms and distinctions that are important to certain groups

opposite of Sapir-Whorf

• language, culture, and thought are interrelated

• changes in culture could produce changes in language and thought

semantics

language’s meaning system

ethnosemantics

study of lexical categories and contrasts

sociolinguistics

investigating relationships between social and linguistic variation, or language in its social context

• focuses on features that vary systematically with social position and situation

• does not occur in a vacuum but in society

linguistic diversity

• style shifts: varying speech in different contexts

• diglossia: regular style shifts between “high” and “low” variants of the same language

gender speech contrasts

men and women have differences in phonology, grammar, and vocabulary as well as in body stances and movements that accompany speech

honorifics

terms of respect; used to honor the recipients

stratification

the dialect of the dominant stratum often constructed as standard dialect and valued more than other dialects

Bourdieu

linguistic practices are symbolic capital that properly trained people convert into economic and social capital

historical linguistics

examines the long-term variation of speech by studying protolanguages and daughter languages

protolanguage

original language from which daughter languages descend

daughter language

languages that descend from the same parent language that have been changing separately for hundred or even thousands of years

subgroups

languages within a taxonomy of related languages that are most closely related to each other