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)