week 3

Question 1

Franz Boas

Answer 1

started approach in anthropology; “father of US anthropology”; opposite of ethnocentrism

diff cultures/languages should be judged on their own terms; no culture/language elevated above others

first professor of anthropology in the US

Question 2

ethnography/linguistic ethnography

Answer 2

ethnography: study of a culture (what culture anthropologists do); descriptive not prescriptive

linguistic ethnography: study of a culture focusing on language use

Question 3

ethnocentrism (Agar’s #1 mentality)

Answer 3

judging another culture on the basis of your own; assuming one culture is the “standard” or “normal”

“number one mentality”

Question 4

arbitrariness (Kiki and Bouba)

Answer 4

95-98% picked curvy = bouba and jagged = Kiki

suggests that human brain is somehow able to extract abstract properties from the shapes and sounds

even so, most language is symbolic (originally arbitrary connection between word and concept)

no similarity/physical connection between signifier and signified

Question 5

displacement

Answer 5

ability to talk about things removed in time and space, or even hypothetical, unreal

most non-human animals communicate about immediate conditions and desires

limited examples from animals: bees (distant nectar source), kook gorilla (missing kitten)

Question 6

discreteness

Answer 6

sounds differentiated into segments, “chunks” - a categorical distinction

variation not continuous, not variation on a scale

ex: 3 vervet monkey calls given for distinct predators and produce distinct escape behaviors; diff between human language phonemes such as a, e, i, o, u

Question 7

non-discrete continuous variation

Answer 7

ex of continuous (non-discrete) variation: loudness, intensity, frequency

bee dance based on variation on a continuum

richness of food source denoted by liveliness of dance

direction denoted by angle of diagonal dance path

angle to vertical = area of flight to food source with respect to sun

Question 8

duality of patterning

Answer 8

limited number of distinct segments (differences between segments are meaningful, but segments themselves have no referential meaning) are recombined to make vast number of units on another level

discerning discrete units and recombining them to make meaningful units at another level

phonemes - words - sentences

Question 9

productivity (openness)

Answer 9

ability to express unlimited new things, to say what has never been said before or what does not even exist

Question 10

traditional transmission

Answer 10

language is transmitted socially; combination of teaching and instinct to acquire language; how much hard-wiring, how much teaching, is still debated

whales - diff dialects with diff pods

Question 11

learnability

Answer 11

we are able to learn the languages of other human groups (and even other animals)

Question 12

prevarication

Answer 12

ability to lie, to say things that are false, and to say meaningless statements

Question 13

reflexiveness

Answer 13

ability to analyze language using language:
- linguistic research
- we can discuss what is “correct”
- language games that break words up into components

Question 14

differences between human and other animal communication - design features unique to humans

Answer 14

unique to humans: duality of patterning, productivity, reflexiveness, displacement - in both time and space and hypotheticals

Question 15

evidence for innate, instinctual basis of language

Answer 15

physical features that enable human language have some disadvantages, outweighed by advantages

benefits of language for survival:
- planning depth: survival in harsher climates and riskier situations
- language extends memory, passing on knowledge through oral traditions
- stronger social alliances
- enables imagination, hypothesizing

Question 16

evolution of features enabling language: problems

Answer 16

vocal tract - enables intricate sound manipulation, has lowered larynx: huge choking hazard

Question 17

physical basis for language

Answer 17

• physical structure of vocal apparatus allows for quick and highly nuanced modulation of sound
• large brain has physical disadvantages (outweighed by evolutionary advantages): bulbous metabolically greedy organ, balancing a watermelon on a broomstick, childbirth pain and difficulty
• round tongue
• specialization of areas of brain

Question 18

aphasia

Answer 18

a language disorder

Question 19

anomia

Answer 19

a type of aphasia in which a person cannot recall nouns (may occur when a very specific area of brain is damaged)

“can you put this thin on that…thing”

Question 20

injury and genetic disorders affecting language

Answer 20

• damage to diff areas leads to specific impairments: grammar, access to vocabulary

SLI: (specific language impairment): difficulty in basic grammar skill like forming plurals say “wugness” “zackle” instead of “wugs” “zats” - could excel in math or other non-linguistic mental skills

williams syndrome: low IQ, but very eloquent and loquacious, preferring complicated unusual words

Question 21

brain lateralization - key areas for language

Answer 21

• language most strongly associated with the left hemisphere
• broca’s area
• wernicke’s area

Question 22

brain development from birth: trends for changes in neurons, synapses, metabolic activity

Answer 22

before birth: all neurons (brain cells) formed, migrate to proper locations in brain

1st year after birth: cerebral cortex thickness and brain size and weight increase

long-distance connections complete at 9 months of age

synapses (connections between neurons) peak in number between 9 months and 2 years (depending on region)
- at point, child has 50% more synapses more than adult

metabolic activity reaches adult levels by 9-10 months and then exceeds it, peaking at age 4

brain not only adds but chips away neural material, dying off of neurons levels off at age 7

synapses wither from age 2 and into adolescence, when metabolic rate falls back to adult levels

Question 23

critical period hypothesis and evidence

Answer 23

acquisition of language is an innate process determined by biological factors

the critical period for acquisition is up to age 6; from age 6 through puberty the possibility of acquisition closes down

refers to 1st acquisition of language

evidence: children raised without language (abusive silence/isolation or misdiagnosed deafness) expose before puberty = grammatical language; exposure after puberty = inability to acquire grammar

Question 24

critical period hypothesis as it relates to second language learning skills of immigrants arriving at diff ages

Answer 24

immigrants arriving ages 3-7: performed identically to US-born students

ages 8-15: did increasingly worse the later they arrived

ages 17-39: did worst of all, with huge variability unrelated to age

Question 25

mistakes children never make

Answer 25

certain grammatical relationships appear to be hard-wired

• shifting “is” to form a question: a cow is in the field - is a cow in the field
• innate understanding of subordinate clause

Question 26

overgeneralization of rules by children

Answer 26

extension of grammar rules to irregular cases where the rules don’t apply

ex: gooses (geese) swimmed (swam)

shows that children are not just copying, but deducing patterns, rules - they must have a basis for doing this

Question 27

instinct to develop language: evidence from Nicaraguan sign language

Answer 27

previously deafness was stigmatized - no sign language for deaf, only “home sings” no deaf community

at school for deaf teachers tried teaching language based on Spanish - wasn’t successful

students started with home signs and developed their own pidgin-like sign language

eventually fully grammatical nicaraguan sign language elaborated by the children, especially younger children - pidgin developed into creole