4. Language Flashcards
Language?
A symbolic system of communication expressing meaning through voice, gestures and writing.
What the multiple factors that influence one’s speech?
- Biological, use mouth and throat
- Sociocultural, gender, socio-economic status, education, geographic region + use it to socialize
- Political, expressed in relationships where power is constantly negotieted
Syntax?
Grammar
Semantics?
Meaning
Pragmatics?
Contextual meaning
What role did trust play in the development of language?
Trust and cooperation allowed members of a social group to accept that sounds had meaning
Why can’t apes speak?
The brain lacks the strong neural connection of human brains
Different musculature around throat and mouth -> larynx dropped
What is communication?
A process of transmitting a message from a sender to a receiver
What does it mean that communication is based on signs?
Signs carrying multure messages, signifiers and signified
- Verbalized, written and spoken
- Performed, bodily actions, rituals, repetitions
- Materialized, objects, foods, tools, clothes
The two different types of signs used to communicate?
Index sign (Direct link): Emotional expressions that carry meaning directly related to the response (scream of fear)
Symbol (Indirect link):
Stands for something else that has no apparent connection to the meaning
Displacement?
Humans use symbols freely like in planning
Agency?
Use words to deceive or persuade, politics of social order
Honorifics?
Linguistic way to show honor or respect
What do linguistic anthropologists do?
Studies the way that language, social life and culture intertwine
Document a language, break it down into its components
Phonetics?
The study of the sounds in human speech
Phonemics?
The smallest unit of sound that affects meaning
Morpheme?
The smallest part of a word that conveys meaning. “Textbooks”, three units
Morpheme differed from phonemics because they can contain several sounds.
Paralanguage?
All the ways we express meaning through sounds beyond words. There are two kinds
Voice qualities?
Type of paralanguage. Background characteristics of a person’s voice, pitch, rhythm, articulation and lip movements
Vocalization?
Type of paralanguage. Intentional sounds we make to express ourselves but are not actual words. “uh oh”, “Ahh”, “huh”
Non-verbal communication?
Very specific set of unspoken rules; gestures, body movements and facial expressions
The three types of non-verbal communication?
Proxemics:
The cultural use of space
- How close people stand to each other based on the relationship
- How space is organized in homes and cities
Kinesics:
Cultural use of body movements
Haptics:
Touch
Ethnolinguistics?
The study of the relationship between language and culture. (a subset of linguistic anthropology)
Linguistic relativity?
The idea, studied by Benjamin Whorf, that the language one speaks shapes the way one sees the world.
Linguist determinism?
The idea that the language one speaks locks a person into seeing the world a certain way - NOT accurate
Cosmologies.
A shared understanding of the world. Determines what metaphors we use, example illnesses is like war; Fight a cold
Build resistance
Heart attack
Speech communities?
Groups of speakers that share the same expectations and rules about a language.
Code-switching?
Switch between speech styles (codes) known to each group
Language register?
Different levels of speech formality within the same language (honorifics)
What are some reasons for language loss?
- Genocide leaves no living speakers
- Evolve into other languages
- Deliberate suppression of a dominant group
Why is it important to preserve a language?
It encodes all the cultural information. Many words and phrases can’t be accurately translated.
