Chapter 9 Flashcards
What is language?
System of arbitrary vocal symbols we use to encode our experiences of the world and of one another
What is Dialect?
Way of speaking in a particular place associated with region, social class, ethnic group
What are the features that distinguish human language from communication between other living beings?
Productivity: ability to create an infinite number of novel and understandable messages
Displacement: ability to communicate about past, future and imaginary things
What do non human primates rely on to communicate?
Call system
Formal properties of verbal language?
Phonemes, Morphemes, syntax, lexicon
What does linguistic anthropology study?
Aspects of human communication, verbal and non-verbal languages, role of language is mass media, changes of languages.
Focal vocabularies and an example.
Words that refer to important features of a particular culture.
Ex. Snow in circumpolar languages, Camel in Arabic
Semantics
Study of meanings of words, phrases, sentences
Ethno-semantics
meaningful words and phrases in specific cultural contexts
Heteroglossia
Coexistence of multiple varieties of specific language
What is the use of silence often related to?
Status, power, culture
What are ways the body can convey meaning?
Tattoos, piercing, dress, fair, odours.
What does a head covering signify in Kuwait versus Egypt?
Wealth (Kuwait) and being a good muslim (Egypt).
Who introduced linguistic relativity? What does it mean?
Franz Boas. Each language should be studied on its own terms and not in relation to European languages.
What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
Language has the power to shape the way we see the world
What is part of the linguistic relativity principle?
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, structure of given language will affect the way speaker withink, language determines how we see the world and our behaviour. (Linguistic Determinism)
What is Sociolinguistics?
The study of how cultural and social contexts shape language.
What is a cultural constructionist’s argument?
A person’s context and social position shape the content, form and meaning of their language
Sociolinguistics examines language in relation to:
Class, gender, ethnicity, age, profession, sexual orientation.
What is an example of studying language in relation to age?
Kogals in Japan, teen girls who dress very specifically and challenge female norms through speech.
What is the hypothetical early parent language?
Proto-Indo European
Where do the earliest written languages come from?
Mesopotamia, Egyptand China
What is a pidgin? How is it associated with colonialism?
Languages comprising two or more other languages, not written. Came from communication need in trade and contact.
What is an example of a pidgin language?
Tol Pisin of Papua New Guinea (English, Samoan, Chinese, Malaysian)
What is a creole?
Elaborated and expanded pidgin language
What was Lord Macaulay’s position of Colonialism in India in 1835?
Want to form a class of people who are racially Indian but “English in opinions, morals”, etc…
What are some examples of nationalist language policies? What do they promote?
Soviet promotion of Russian and suppression of indigenous languages, english only movement in US, bilingualism in Canada, Urdu as nation language for east pakistan and west pakistan. They all promote ethnic assimilation.
What are the categories of endangered languages?
Language shift: speakers have limited vocab.
Endangerment: fewer than 10000 speakers
Near extinction: fewer elders alive
Extinction: no competent speakers
Why is it important for anthropologists to know the local languages?
Communicate when doing fieldwork, understanding language can help understand culture, see through informants perspective.
What are some challenges with linguistic anthropology fieldwork?
Some words can not be translated through languages, observer can alter speaker’s language use.
What is special about the Piraha of Brazil?
Their language questions the universality of human language. Lacks displacement feature. Not many words related to time, no past tense verbs, no numbers, only speak one language, little art.
Who studied the Piraha?
Daniel Everett
What is an example of big data use in linguistic anthropology?
Cell phone call study analyzing call trends in European country
What is narrative therapy?
Used to treat refugees. Allows survivors to recount their stories. Success depends on openess of culture (worked well for Bosnian refugees)
What is an example of silence being related to social status?
Daughter in law has lowest status in house so doesn’t speak much (Rural Siberia).
What is media anthropology?
cross-cultural study of communication through electronic media and print media
What is critical discourse analysis?
approach within linguistic anthropology that examines how power and social inequality are reflected in and reproduced through verbal language
What are logographs?
Symbols that indicate words, syllables or sounds
