week 1

Question 1

linguistic anthropology

Answer 1

study of language origins, nature of language, how humans use language, how language relates to culture and thought, how language matters in politics and society

strives to explain culture and society (identity, politics, beliefs, values) though consideration of language

Question 2

socio-cultural anthropology

Answer 2

all aspects of systems of meaning and their implications, including art, religion, politics, science

Question 3

archaeology

Answer 3

studies past culture through material remains

Question 4

physical/biological anthropology

Answer 4

evolution, relation to other primates, biological aspects

Question 5

what makes anthropology different from other fields

Answer 5

holistic - studies all aspects of human condition from past to present (physical to metaphysical)

comparative - study of other cultures (historically), comparing what is “normal” in two diff cultures sheds light on what is taken for granted; comparison allows you to “otherize” your own culture, to gain insight into how it works

fieldwork based - long-term immersion in everyday life, participant observation, interacting with people, learning what questions are important to the people you study

Question 6

linguistics - structural

Answer 6

human behavior has inherent underlying patterns; language is a structured system

meaning depends on position in a structure (contrast)

Question 7

linguistics - theoretical

Answer 7

aims to figure out underlying rules of language; how language works as a system

Question 8

sociolinguistics

Answer 8

strives to explain language through consideration of cultural and social factors

Question 9

participant observation

Question 10

ethnography

Question 11

self-othering

Question 12

self-reflexive anthropology

Question 13

semiotics

Answer 13

the study of how things mean

Question 14

semiosis

Answer 14

sign process, production of meaning

Question 15

semantics

Answer 15

meaning in language

Question 16

Ferdinand de Saussure’s semiotics: signifier & signified

Answer 16

signifier: a word; can be multiple signifiers (word in many languages for the same signified)
signified: an object or concept (many signifieds - many types of trees for same word)

relationship between signifier and signified is (mostly) arbitrary (unmotivated by anything other than convention)

Question 17

icon

Answer 17

meaning by virtue of resemblance; most direct relationship (meaning inherent in 1 thing) - firstness

Question 18

index (causal vs. spatial/visual)

Answer 18

visual/spatial: pointing

causal: smoke means fire, footprints means someone was here

meaning by virtue of physical relationship (spatial, temporal, causal)

relationship between 2 things - cause/direction - secondness

Question 19

symbol

Answer 19

meaning by virtue of convention (most arbitrary)

relationship between signifier and signified; mediated by a 3rd party (mind/convention) - thirdness

Question 20

onomatopoeia

Answer 20

meaning by resemblance; example of how spoken language is iconic

words that sound like what they represent: slush, tie-tock
animal sounds: woof-woof, cock-a-doodle-doo

example of how signifier-signified relationships are not arbitrary

Question 21

indexical relationship

Answer 21

physical relationship between a sign and what ie means: footprints, smoke from a fire, arrow

Question 22

deictics in language

Answer 22

I, you, here, now - words whose meanings depend on context

Question 23

symbolic relationship between signifier and signified

Answer 23

connections between words and meanings based on convention

Question 24

arbitrary relationship between signifier and signified

Answer 24

unmotivated by anything other than convention - random/lacking a system

Question 25

language

Answer 25

chops up the world of sounds and the world of experiences into units and correlates them; imposes structure

Question 26

indexical

Answer 26

“deictics” or “shifters” are words whose meanings depend on context: I, you, here, now, yesterday, this, that