LANGUAGE

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• LANGUAGE
• Chapter 5

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LANGUAGE

• A system of symbolic communication using sounds
  and/or gestures that are able to be understood by
  all members within a society that share the
  language.
• Examples?
• Symbol vs. Signal
• Symbol Shared understandings about the meaning
  of certain words, attributes, or objects.
• Signal An instinctive sound or gesture that has
  a natural or self-evident meaning.

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HUMANS vs. PRIMATES

• Koko the Gorilla
• http//video.google.com/videoplay?docid-627725851
  5422356599eiv8NfS6f2CKjGqQKpyoyrCgqkokothego
  rillahlenclientfirefox-a
• Chimpanzees, Orangutans and Gorillaz can
  communicate through sign language at the level of
  a 2-3 year old human child.
• Human culture is ultimately dependent on an
  elaborate system of communication far more
  complex than that of any other species.

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LINGUISTICSThe Study of Language --one of the 4
major sub-fields of Anthropology

• Descriptive Linguistics
• Phonology Sound-study The study of language
  sounds
• Sounds in some languages that are
  absent/difficult to pronounce in others?
• Morphology Form-study The study of the
  patterns or rules of word formation in a
  language Verb tenses, pluralization and compound
  words
• Syntax The patterns or rules by which words are
  arranged into phrases and sentences
• Grammar The entire formal structure of a
  language, including morphology and syntax
• Grammar rules of different languages? Definite
  article differences?

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HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS The origins/changing
nature of language

• Deciphering dead languages
• Differences between earlier and later forms of
  the same language
• How older languages developed into modern ones
• Interrelationships among older languages

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LANGUAGE FAMILYA group of languages descended
from a single ancestral language

• Indo-European Language Family
• http//www.unilang.org/resources/linguistic/langua
  gefamily_ie.jpg
• Slavic Language Family
• http//www.lerc.educ.ubc.ca/LERC/courses/489/world
  lang/Russian/language_family.gif
• Nilo-Saharan Language Family
• http//mathildasanthropologyblog.files.wordpress.c
  om/2009/01/nilo-sharan.png
• GLOTTOCHRONOLOGY The Linguistic divergence of
  languages may be traced by a method known as
  glottochronology which compares the core
  vocabularies of languages (pronouns, lower
  numerals, and names for body parts and natural
  objects). Assumption These basic vocabulary
  words change more slowly than other words and at
  a more or less constant rate of 14 to 19 percent
  per 1,000 years.

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PROCESSES OF LINGUISTIC DIVERGENCE

• Selective Borrowing
• Ex Foreign words in the English language?
  English words in other languages?
• Professional Specialization
• Ex Anthropology terms! Medical, Legal terms
• Sub-culture lingo
• Does the gamer culture have specific lingo?
  How about those who frequent Starbucks?

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LANGUAGE LOSS AND REVIVAL

• Language loss usually the result of a dominant
  society assimilating subordinate societies.
• Ex English colonialism (500 years). In U.S.
  wiped out about half of all Native American
  languages.
• Over the last 500 years, 3,500 of the worlds
  10,000 or so languages have become extinct
  because of forced assimilation, epidemics and
  warfare.
• UNESCO (The United Nations Educational,
  Scientific, and Cultural Organization) is focused
  on preserving and reviving traditional languages
• Initiative B_at_bel Promotes multilingualism on the
  Internet, this initiative aims to bridge the
  digital divide (over 80 of all internet users
  speak just 10 languages -- chart on p. 109 in
  your book) to make access to Internet content and
  services more equitable for users worldwide.
• http//portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID16541
  URL_DODO_TOPICURL_SECTION201.html
• Reviving and Preserving language
• Koro language, Northeast India
  http//video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/n
  ews/culture-places-news/enduring-voices-koro-vin.h
  tml
• Through song Ethnographic Example Andy
  Palacio and the Garifuna culture
  http//video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/m
  usic/genre-wm/garifuna/watina-umalali-sg-wm.html

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LANGUAGE IN ITS SOCIAL AND CULTURAL SETTINGS

• Sociolinguistics Relationship between language
  and society. How social categories (age, gender,
  ethnicity, religion, occupation and class)
  influence the use and significance of distinctive
  styles of speech.
• Gendered Speech Distinct male and female speech
  patterns
• Ex (book) Lakota language and Dances w/ Wolves
• Ex Gendered speech in U.S. culture?
• Dialects Varying forms of a language that
  reflect particular regions, occupations, or
  social classes and that are similar enough to be
  mutually intelligible.
• Ex Formal (standard) vs. Informal speech
• A few American Dialects
• Sampler http//www.youtube.com/watch?vqXGuCaApR7
  Ufeaturerelated
• Appalachian http//www.youtube.com/watch?v03iwA
  Y4KlIUfeaturerelated
• Louisiana Swamp http//www.youtube.com/watch?v5
  KzeYrjfN9sfeaturechannel

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LANGUAGE IN ITS SOCIAL AND CULTURAL SETTINGS
cont.

• Ethnolinguistics The study of the relationships
  between language and culture, and how they
  mutually influence and inform each other
• Linguistic Relativity The idea that distinctions
  encoded in one language are unique to that
  language
• Ex Color spectrum and arbitrary names/divisions
• Ex Things most important to a culture are
  accorded more names and concepts
• The Ayamara Indians in the Bolivian Highlands
  have 200 words for Potato
• The Nuer pastoralists of Africa have over 400
  names for cattle.
• Ex How many words do we have for car? Types
  of car?
• What do elements of our language say about us
• We conquer space, fight the battle of the
  bulge, carry out a war against drugs, make a
  killing of the stock market, shoot down an
  argument, torpedo a plan, spearhead a
  movement, decapitate a foreign government, or
  bomb on an exam.
• The structure of the language one habitually
  uses influences the manner in which one
  understands his environment. The picture of the
  universe shifts from tongue to tongue. -B.J.
  Whorf

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GESTURE-CALL SYSTEM

• Body signs account for over 60 of our total
  communication
• It provides the key to speech, providing
  listeners with the appropriate frame for
  interpreting what a speaker is saying.
• Ideas about personal space? Business space?
• Paralanguage voice effects that convey meaning
• Giggling/groaning/sighing/pitch/tempo of words
• Clip from Pretty Woman http//www.youtube.com/wat
  ch?v4rZJ3pBAYTk
• Tonal languages In some languages, intoning a
  word slightly differently will change the word
  entirely. Ex? (70 of the worlds language are
  Tonal)
• Ex Zhutwasi, or San Bushmen click language
  http//www.youtube.com/watch?vc246fZ-7z1wfeature
  related
• What about texting, email, Facebook, etc without
  body signs and other cues, how do we get across
  the right meaning?
• (According to a recent study, the intended tone
  of email messages is perceived correctly only 56
  of the time)