Linguistic anthropology Flashcards
What is Linguistic Anthropology?
Linguistic anthropologists study variation in languages and the relationship between culture and language
Uses both ethnography and techniques from sociolinguistics
Ferdinand de Saussure
Looked at languages as a series of symbols
Words as signs – made up of signifier and signified
Roman Jakobson
Significantly influenced modern phonology
Looked at sounds as binary opposites
Edward Sapir
Linguistic Relativity
Noam Chomsky
Universal Grammar
Believes each baby has an inherent system of grammar that allows them to learn any language
Language is made up of five key components:
Phonology (sounds)
Morphology (word structure)
Syntax (sentence structure)
Semantics (meaning)
Pragmatics (practical use in context)
Phonology: Sound Inventory
Each language has a limited sound inventory
Babies can learn all these sounds from birth
Some sounds are more rare than others
Morphology: Word Structure
Some languages have multiple meanings in one word:
Jiisdeeyoolohvsga - ‘I’m about to finish braiding it’ (Cherokee)
Some languages have only one meaning per word:
Wǒ shì lǎoshī – ‘I am a teacher’ (Mandrian)
Syntax: Sentence Structure
In English, the subject comes before the verb:
I am reading a book.
In Welsh, the verb comes at the beginning of the sentence:
Siaradodd Aled y Gymraeg. – ‘Spoke Aled Welsh’
Semantics: Meaning
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Does this sentence fit the syntactic rules of English?
What does it mean?
A sentence can follow all the rules and still have no meaning.
[description] [subject] [action] [direct object]
Pragmatics: Context
The way context contributes to meaning
“Who is that by the door?” has no meaning outside of the physical context where it was spoken.
A semantically correct sentence still requires appropriate context.
Linguistic Equality
There is no such thing as a “primitive” language.
All languages are equally complex!
When pidgins form, their linguistic structure is usually simpler at first, but when it becomes a creole it becomes more complex.
When we lose some of our linguistic diversity, we lose the ability to understand that the entire complexity of human languages.
Sometimes a language might be easier to learn because your first language is closely related to it (EX: French speaker learning Spanish). But no language is actually easier than another.
Pidgin
grammatically simplified way of communication between groups who speak different languages
Creole
a pidgin that develops complex grammar and has native speakers
Language shift
the process by which a community shifts from using one language to another
Language loss
when a language stops being spoken at all
Language falls out of use due to:
speakers’ shift (either voluntarily or involuntarily)
death of native speakers
Are Latin and Wiyot (a language of California) “dead” in the same way?
Latin “DNA” lives on in its daughter languages–we can reconstruct it based on currently spoken languages.
Wiyot is no longer spoken natively due to the wholesale slaughter of its speakers during the 1860 Wiyot Massacre.
Colonialism
Forced shift through education (boarding schools)
Genocide of native speakers
Globalization
English as a lingua franca
What is lost when a language disappears?
Linguistic Diversity
Cultural Connections
Language and Culture
Language is one of the important ways culture is learned
Language is a set of symbols that connect to cultural symbols
Both language and culture shape how we view the world
Language as connection
Language is more than just words—it’s a way of connecting people to each other
Expressions of culture establish and promote identity as a member of a group
Language as identity
Loss of modes of cultural expression accompany loss of language
Language defines a culture
who speaks it
what it allows speakers to say
how information is packaged
Oral traditions – passing on culture and history
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
Interaction with natural world
Information about species & other natural phenomena
Key to preserving species and ecosystems.
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
the theory that an individual’s thoughts and actions are determined by the language or languages that individual speaks (linguistlist.org)
Language Ideologies
The way people think and feel about languages ex.
“English Only”, Prescriptivism vs descriptivism, Monolingualism vs multilingualism
Vary widely throughout speakers of the same language
Influenced by cultural and social norms and practices
