Language And Communication Flashcards
What is the definition of primates?
Apes and monkeys
What is the primary means of communication?
Language
How is language transmitted?
It is transmitted through learning
What is the language based on?
Language is based on arbitrary, learned associations between words and the things they stand for
How do anthropologist study language
They study the language based on cultural and social context
What does language help us to communicate?
The past and the the future, share our experiences with others and benefit from their experiences
How do linguists reconstruct ancient languages
By comparing their contemporary descendants and doing so make discovers about history
What do other linguists do when studying languages
Linguists differences to discover the varied worldview and patterns of thought in a multitude of cultures
What do sociolinguist do when it comes to dialect
They examine dialects and styles in a single language to show how speech reflects social differences
What is the other natural form of communication for other primates?
Call system
Call system characteristics
These vocal systems consist of a limited number of sounds calls-that are produced only when particular environmental stimuli are encountered.
Such calls may be varied in intensity and duration, but they are much less flexible than language because they are automatic and can’t be combined.
The call system faults and how human ancestors learned from it.
When primates encounter food and danger simultaneously, they can make only one call. They can’t combine the calls for food and danger into a single utterance, indicating that both are present.
At some point in human evolution, however, our ancestors began to combine calls and to understand the combinations. The number of calls also expanded, eventually becoming too great to be transmitted even partly through the genes. Communication came to rely almost totally on learning.
What is the discover when they try to teach apes spoken languages?
the vocal tract of apes is not suitable for speech. Until the 1960s, attempts to teach spoken language to apes suggested that they lack linguistic abilities.
In the 1950s, a couple raised a chimpanzee, Viki, as a member of their family and systematically tried to teach her to speak. However, Viki learned only four words (“mama,” “papa,” “up,” and “cup”).
Even though apes cannot speak spoken languages what other way can they communicate?
Through sign language
Who is the first chimpanzee to learn ASL?
Washoe {Female (2007) }
Died at 42
Research by R.Allen & Beatrice Gardner scientists at the University of Nevada in Reno, in 1966.
She was 1 year old when she was watched
She lived in a trailer with no spoken language so the researcher only communicated with one another thru ASL.
Who was the second chimpanzee that was introduced to ASL
Name: Lucy
Death: murdered ??
Lucy lived with a family in Norman, Oklahoma.
Roger Fouts came to see Lucy ASL skills: During that test, Lucy used ASL to communicate with her foster parents
What did the two chimpanzee develop by doing ASL?
They both develop trait like:
• Telling Jokes
• Swearing
• Telling lies
What is the definition of Linguistic Productivity
Creating new words to shorten ideas ex: finger bracelet=ring).
What is the definition of cultural transmission
The process through which cultural elements, in the form of attitudes, values, beliefs, and behavioral scripts, are passed onto and taught to individuals and groups (the monkeys taught ASL to the other monkeys).
Which animal are harder to teach AND WHY?
Gorillas because they are more resilient and stronger
Even though gorillas are hard to teach, which gorilla made the expectation?
Koko, a female gorilla who ASL had surpass chimpanzees ASL
What is one trait that KOKO and other chimpanzees possesses that they have along with humans
Productivity
How do we create new words?
We combine two words
What is the point of teaching apes and chimpanzees ASL?
 it is not to say that they can create languages, but that they can develop it
Productivity & creativity is the major factor
What is linguists displacement?
speaking about things not around or tangible
ex: speaking about doing something in the past or future tense).
Good because every call is tied to environmental stimulus such as food
What is the difference between human language and gorilla language?
.
What explains why humans can talk but chimpanzees can’t?
The mutated gene called the FOXP2
Those who have the nonspeech version of the gene cannot make the fine tongue and lip movements that are necessary for clear speech, and their speech is unintelligible-even to other members of the KE family
What are the other way of communicating ?
We communicate when we transmit information about ourselves to others and receive such information from them.
What did DEBORAH TANNEN study ?
Studied the nonverbal communication between American Woman and Men
Woman:
Look directly at one another when talking
Tend to be relaxed in all woman groups but when it comes to conversation with men {have a tighter stands and draw in their limps}
Men:
Don’t make eye contact
Tend to be more relaxed and comfortable in groups
What is the definition of kinesics ?
the study of communication through body movements, stances, gestures, and expressions.
Linguists pay attention not only to what is said but to how it is said, and to features besides language itself that convey meaning.
What does body movement communicates as well
They communicates to social differences because in Japan there are different bow, depending on your social status
What is the definition of phonology?
the study of speech sounds, considers which sounds are present and meaningful in a given language.
What is the definition of Morphology?
studies the forms in which sounds combine to form morphemes words and their meaningful parts.
What is the definition of descriptive linguistics?
The scientific study of a spoken language involves several interrelated areas of analysis: phonology, morphology, lexicon, and syntax.
Examples of Morphology
The word Cats
In depth:
Contains more than two morphemes
Cat is an animal and the “s” is a morpheme indicating plurality.
What is a language lexicon
It is a dictionary containing all its morphemes and their meaning
It’s influences perception
A lexicon (or vocabulary) is a language’s dictionary, its set of names for things, events, and ideas.
What is syntax?
Referred to the arrangements an order of words in phrases and sentences.
What is a phoneme?
Is a sound contrast that makes a difference that differentiates meaning.
Any of the perceptually distinct units of sound in a specified language that distinguish one word from another, for example p, b, d, and t in the English words pad, pat, bad, and bat
What is the definition of minimal pairs?
Words that resemble each other in all about one sound
What is the definition of phonetics ?
is the study of speech sounds in general, what people actually say in various languages,like the differences in vowel pronunciation described in the discussion of midwestern speech at the beginning of the chapter.
What is the definition of Phonemics?
studies only the significant sound contrasts (phonemes) of a given language.
Who argued that the human brain contains a limited set of rules for organizing language, so that all languages have a common structural basis. (Universal Grammar )
Noam Chomsky
The Sapir Whorf Hypothesis
they believe that different languages produce different ways of thinking.
argued that the grammatical categories of particular languages lead their speakers to think about things in different ways.
French genderize their nouns
Hopi Natives have only two tenses
Past/present = things that are/have happened
Future = hypothetical things that might happen or may exist
What is the focal Vocabulary
Such specialized sets of terms and distinctions that are particularly important to certain groups (those with particular foci of experience or activity.
Words/figures of speech in a language that may be specific to a particular way of life/profession
Examples:
Different area describing the different types of snow but English speakers don’t know the differences because snow is just one word.
What area in languages changes very often?
Vocabulary
What influences the change in language ?
Changes in culture
What is the definition of Semantics?
refers to a language’s meaning system.
What is the difference between grammarians and linguists and anthropologists and also what does the interest help to discover
are interested in what people do say, rather than what they should say.
Speech differences are associated with, and tell us a lot about, social variation, such as region, education, ethnic background, and gender.
Who is more likely to speak more ungrammatically?
MEN
Men and woman are different when it comes to speaking but what are the things that men and women speak differently in
Men talk more about sports
Woman talk more about fashion
Is language uniformed?
No it is not
How do sociolinguistic do their studying
must observe, define, and measure variable use of language in real-world situations.
What is the definition of style shift
The switching of languages
What is the definition of diglossia ?
When people speaking the same language switch between different dialects within that same language
People employ the high variant at universities and in writing, professions, and the mass media. They use the low variant for ordinary conversation with family members and friends.
What influence woman to use higher pitch voices, certain expressions and words
associated with women’s traditional lesser power in American society
What is the Darwinian model?
Favored by sociobiologists and evolutionary psychologists
All of our behavior is explained by how we behaved in our most primal condition
We are hardwired to battle with each other; nature selected humans to be this way
Examples:
Territorialism ? - universal mentality of us v.s them
Reproductive Success ?
Wanted to produce more babies than their rivals.
People observe chimpanzees and species that have similar DNA and notice that Alpha males fight over females which can tell us what we used to be like
Issues : War-like societies don’t produce more babies
Population Pressures/Scare Resources ?
Too many people fighting over limited resources
Created war-like tendencies
Issues:
Societies with high populations and less resources where war doesn’t happen
Societies with a lot of resources where war does happen
What does gender ideology?
The dominant attitude about the responsibility, right and the roles based on gender.
What does gender ideology influence ?
Gender ideologies create/reinforce stereotypes.
It emphasizes gender roles.
Gender Ideologies are conveyed in ritual, institutions, media, etc.
It reproduces gender stratification
An uneven balance of power between the genders.
What are the Three Diff Forms of Sovereignty
Federal and state government
Tribal citizens
What is the standing rock pipeline protest about
Protests over gas pipelines on sacred land
● Pipelines would contaminate water supply that was used on reservation
● Natives didn’t have much power in terms of environmental issues
● “Economic benefits outweigh environmental risks and breach of tribal
sovereignty”
