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.