Chapter 6 Flashcards
What is language?
A form of communication based around a systematic set of arbitrary symbols, shared among a group, passed on from gen to gen. From latin word “lingua,” means tongue or speech.
What is the textbook definition of language?
The process of sharing information and knowledge either through language or some nonverbal system of meaning.
What are some different forms of communication?
facial expressions, body language (kinesics), use of space (proxemics), math, art, writing, music, signs, hand gestures, tone.
What is the textbook definition of nonverbal communication?
The various means by which humans send and receive messages without using words.
What is paralanguage?
Para-Greek word for beside. Focuses on how people deliver their spoken messages. Not taught formally, but understanding usually precedes use of words.
What is haptic communication?
How people interact through touch-most intimate form, and codified so culturally-based misunderstandings can easily arise.
What is low vs high context cultural communication?
Low-Prioritizes precise, straight forward, unambiguous communication. Tend to be literal, less emotional, focus on what is said rather than how it is said.
High- Ambiguous, inexplicit, inexact communcation. Less emphasis on words, more on social context and non-verbal cues.
What does it mean by language is organic?
Language is a creation and function of human society, therefore it is constantly changing.
What part of Canadian language is trending downwards?
The use of “eh,” slowly being replaced by the word, “right.”
What are sociolinguistics?
Study of languages in relation to society. Language expresses symbols and helps maintain social order. Social variables influence a persons use of langauge.
What is social competence and how does it relate to language?
The ability to recognize and interpret the social activity taking place. A child acquires this when learning language.
How does language shape social identity and prestig?
Different forms of language dictate whether you are of higher or lower class. The language you use can be a sign of power. Also denotes ethnic differences and class differences. Language use helps form national identity.
What is one example of ethnic revival with languages?
The revival of the Irish language in the 19th century, after it was deemed the language of the poor in the 16th century. National movement led to the Irish free state.
What is diglossia and an example of this?
Diglossia is the use of two languages under different conditions. Ex: Spanish used in formal situations and Guarani used in informal.
What is code switching and an example of this?
The practice of alternating between two or more languages or a variety of languages in a conversation. Ex) Use of Guarani in situations of intimacy, location of interaction, informality, and seriousness of discourse.
How do we understand the choices people make in the language they use?
Cultural rules for appropriate interaction-what should and should not be said in particular contexts.
Information about the speaker (class, gender, ethnicity)
Explicit and implicit norms for communication regarding aspects of verbal, non-verbal, and social parameters of interaction.
What is African American Vernacular English (AAVE, or Ebonics)?
A variety of American English that African Americans speak. Has been referred to as Ebonics since 1996. Originated in the Southern US from speech traits of African languages combined with English of white southerners with scottish-irish ancestry. Now a national language.
What are indexicals?
Items that mark features of the speakers and/or the hearers identity. Include pronouns, kinship terms, forms of address, and speech levels. Create and sustain a relational social identity.
What is the power semantic?
Determines which pronoun will be used on the basis of the difference in social status (or power), between the speaker and the addressee. Based on an asymmetrical relation-is non-reciprocal.
What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
Habitual thought might be influenced, if not determined, by linguistic structures.
What are the 2 basic principles of the S-W hypothesis?
Linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity.
What is linguistic determinism?
The language we use to some extent determines the way in which we view and think about the world. Can be strong (language actually determines thought), or weak (thought is merely affected or influenced by our language).
What is linguistic relativity?
Distinctions encoded in one language are unique to that language alone. Ex) colour spectrum is a continuum, no need to impose boundaries, but we do anyways. These distinctions are arbitrary, and different depending on the language.
What are some different cultural terms for colour?
Dani (New Guinea)- Only 2 terms for colours: Mili (dark, cold colours), and Mola (warm, bright colours).
3 Colour Terms- Add Red
4 Colour Terms- Add Yellow
Piraha (Brazil)- No words for colours.
Does our language cause our perceptions in colour to be different?
Not really, despite differences in colour terminology, humans share similar sense perceptions of colour.
What was the Casagrande and Carroll Experiment on the Navaho?
Took English speakers and Navaho speakers, showed them a set of objects (green and blue rope, and green and blue sticks), asked them to categorize them. English speakers put things together based on colour, Navaho based on object.
What were the results of Alexander Guiora’s study on language differences and gender perception?
Hebrew speaking- Most gender emphasis
English-Less gender emphasis in language
Finnish- Least gender emphasis
Findings: Hebrew speaking children acquire concept of gender identity earliest on average, Finnish children the latest.
How are time and space related to language?
Believed that cultures who think differently about space should also think differently about time-we think of time as a pathway, therefor you can move backwards and forwards-bringing about the idea of time travel.
What are some criticisms of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
If language determines thought, then language must precede thought, however pre-linguistic babies can think, and some actions do not require language, but do require thought. Differences are not in thought, but in the way we express the same thought, if this were not so then languages would be impossible to translate.
What is one of the more recent views on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
Language sets up a filter between the human being and what they perceive-dims some perceptions and heightens others.
What did politeness first entail?
The correct use of formal modes of addressing royalty with linguistic terms that exalted royalty and humbled those of lower status.
What do the first and second person pronouns mean when addressing the king in the Thai language?
1st person- “I, the slave of Lord Buddha”
2nd person- “The dust beneath the sole of your august feet”- meaning they do not dare to address the king directly, and just address the dust beneath his feet.
How often do men interrupt/overlap females vs how often do females interrupt/overlap men?
M>F= Interruption: 96%. Overlap: 100% F>M= Interruption: 4%. Overlap: 0%
What was found in turn-taking conversation surveys?
Turn length: Men take more turns and longer turns
Interruptions: Done mainly by men
Silence: (after speakers turn, before addressee continues), women’s silence way longer than men
Back-channels: (oh, mhmmm, really?) women use more, supportive behaviour.
Questions: 70% by women as means of topic introduction
Topics: Men try 29 times and succeed 27 times (97%)
Women try 47 times and succeed 17 times (36%)
What are genderlects and how do they vary amongst men and women?
The gendered differences in language. Men tend to use more socially disfavoured language, and women use socially favoured variants.
What are some explanations for the differences between men and women?
- Subordinate groups must be polite
- Women are guardians of societal values
- Vernacular forms express machismo
- Women have less access to power and status; they make up for this by using prestigious language.
- Women and men are socialized differently
- Women more status conscious than men
- Women and men have different networks
How does the order of linguistic terms affect importance? (ie: Mr and Mrs, bride and groom)
Reflects cognitive importance, may be reversed in formal or polite conversations, paired words give positive connotations to the first word and negative to the second.
What is lexical asymmetry?
When two words mean the same thing for a man and a woman, but have diverting connotations. Can reinforce negative and sexist stereotypes.
