Anthropology Ch. 5

Anthropology's interest in human language (4 reasons)

1. uniquely human behavior
2. primary vehicle for transmitting culture
3. shaped by culture
4. helps to shape culture

arbitrary nature of human language

the meanings attached to any given word in all languages are totally arbitrary

What are the three characteristics of language

conventionality, productivity, and displacement

what is conventionality

the arbitrary relation between sign and referent (agree to assign meaning to symbols)

what is productivity

infinitely capable of novel arrangements with limited primary inputs

what is displacement

convey info about something not in the immediate environment

what are closed communication systems

(non human) the meanings and their representations are fixed, generally unchangeable and do not admit novel arrangements (not productive)

what are open communication systems

(human) the meanings and their representations can change and can be put in novel arrangements to allow for unlimited expansion of the communication system (productivity)

what is code switching

blending two different languages

what is descriptive linguistics

describes the way language is actually spoken, generally speaking anthros are interested in descriptive accounts of language and culture

what is diachronic analysis

when linguists study how languages change over time

what is synchronic analysis

when linguists look at the structure of a language at a single point in time

ethnic identity and language

language plays an important symbolic role in the development of national and ethnic identities

what is ethnolinguistics

studies the relationship between language and culture

2 features that distinguish human from nonhuman communication

-human communication is open, meaning that they are capable of sending an infinite number of messages
-can communicate about events that happened in the past or might happen in the future

grammer

rules of a language

what is the international phonetic alphabet

takes into account all the possible sound units (phonemes) found in all languages in the world

how many languages are there in the world

6k

linguistic style

can lead to cross-cultural misunderstanding, like how americans are clear and blunt and japanese choose their words carefully

what is a morpheme

The smallest unit of language that carries meaning.

what is morphology

The study of morphemes

mutual intelligibility

if people are able to understand each other-they speak the same language, if they are not able to understand each other-they speak different languages

nationalism and language

they like to have 1 national language for a country

what is the importance of nonverbal communication

helps us to interpret linguistic messages and often carries messages of its own

what are the types of nonverbal communication

hand gestures, posture, touching

what is a phoneme

a specific sound used in a specific language

perception of sounds (phones)

may not be the same sounds but our brain percieves them as the same

what is the average number of phonemes in languages

15-100

what is phonetics

Study of the thousands of sounds (phones) possible for human vocal and auditory apparatus

phonology and phonological systems

Study of how the human mind perceives and organizes speech sounds

what is prescriptive linguistics

it is the way people think that language should be spoken

The Sapir-Woof Hypothesis

our perception of the world is conditioned by the structure of the language we speak

what is semantics

meaning of language

what is sociolinguistics

concentrate on variations in language use depending on the social situation or context in which the speaker is operating- job interview and brandon

what is specialized vocabulary

prostitutes, polititions, ect, develop unique ways of communicating with signature expression

what is syntax

The study of the principles guiding how words are arranged into phrases and sentences.