anthropology week 9

expanded on Sapir's work

Benjamin Lee Whorf

urged cultural anthropologists to pay close attention to language during field research; urged that a language inclines its speakers to think about the world in certain ways because of its specific grammatical categories

Edward Sapir

"Why Isn't the Sky Blue": Which society was the earliest to have a term for the color blue in the written literature? a. Greeks b. Egyptians c. Chinese d. Persians

Egyptians

hypothesized that English, German, Latin, Greek, Slavic and Sanskrit all came from a common ancestor

Grimm's Law

described how "talking like a lady" involved the expectation that a woman's speech patterns should include things such as tag questions (... isn't it?) intensifiers (very) hedge (I'm pretty sure) or hesitation and the repetition of expression

Lakoff's study of gendered speech

argued that the social effects of speaking this way can marginalize women

Larkoff

this anthropologist worked with koko

Patterson

three levels of descriptive linguistics

Phonology, morphology and syntax

A hypothesis that assumes a close relationship between language and culture; it claims that language defines people's experiences

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

"Why Isn't the Sky Blue": What conclusion did Prime Minister William Gladstone make about how the Greeks saw color? a. They were colorblind b. They simply had different terms to describe what everyone sees c. Their terms were limited to the colors they could manufacture d. Their terms and perception were the same as ours; Homer had simply been mistranslated into English

They were colorblind

i. had studied the language of the Hopi Indians and found that his knowledge of the grammars of European languages was little help in understanding Hopi grammar

Whorf

Which of the following is a feature of language? a. It is used to communicate b. It is symbolic c. It consists of sounds organized into words according to some sort of grammar d. All of the above

all of the above

patterned sounds or utterances that express meaning usually related to animals

call systems

People speaking different languages don't see color differently, they just

classify it differently

The communication systems of nonhuman species consist of a finite (limited) number of signals for finite specific meanings. Such systems are said to be: a. open b. arbitrary c. symbolic d. closed

closed

words in two languages that show the same systematic sound shifts as other words

cognate words

a language of mixed origin that has developed from a complex blending of two parent languages that exists as a mother tongue for some part of the population

creole language

the systematic analysis and description of a language's sound system and grammar

descriptive linguistics

regional accents (Brooklyn vs. Alabama)

dialects

is the ability to communicate about things and ideas not immediate in space and time

displacement

units of sounds and units of meaning that those units of sound are combined to create

duality

these symbols help us sort out complex feelings and relationships

elaborating symbols

The study of the meanings of words, especially as they relate to folk taxonomies. Ex: Color Categories

ethnoscience

Countries find it relatively easy to decide what language its citizens will speak. a. True b. False

false

these anthropologists worked with washoe

gardeners

The branch of linguistics that attempts to classify and construct a family tree of languages and to reconstruct extinct languages is known as a. structural linguistics b. sociolinguistics c. descriptive linguistics d. historical linguistics

historical linguistics

these linguistics focus on how and where the languages people speak today emerged.

historical linguistics

non-genetic model of change languages change by being

in contact with other languages

implies how people should act. (the American dream/ rags to riches)

key scenario

a system of communication consisting of sounds, words and grammar

language

referring to the dying out of many minority languages. Some linguists argue that nearly half the world's 5,000 or 6,000 languages are in jeopardy of dying out within a century. Cultural disruptions created by rapid social changes such as colonization and globalization have undermined the use of native languages.

language death

Links language use with identity, morality, and aesthetics

language ideology

widespread assumptions that people make about the relative sophistication and status of particular dialects and languages

language ideology

the formal structure of language

langue

Animals can't speak because they do not have a

larynx

the idea that people speaking different languages perceive or interpret the world differently because of differences in their languages

linguistic relativity

If you studied speech patterns such as those analyzed in Robin Lakoff's study of gendered speech, you might find that "talking like a lady" a. contributes to gender equality in the workplace b. marginalizes women's voices in work contexts c. demonstrates that women and men are equal d. builds certainty and trust

marginalizes women's voices in work contexts

unit of meaning in a language, made up of phonemes

morpheme

the structure of words and word formation in a language

morphology

1. When anthropologists study the way people use language in real settings rather than as a set of grammatical rules, they are focusing on a. Parole b. Langue c. Phonetics d. Morphology

parole

the actual speech used in any community

parole

pertaining to displacement, humans have the ability to communicate about

past, present and future

the comparative study of ancient texts and documents

philology

a unit of sound we make

phoneme

Linguists refer to mixed languages with a simplified grammar that people rarely learn as a mother tongue as a. a pidgin language b. a creole language c. a national language sd. lang

pidgin language

a mixed language with simplified grammar, typically borrowing its vocab from one language but its grammar from another

pidgin language

a hypothetical common ancestral language of two or more living languages

proto-language

Chimps and apes have the cognitive ability to associate ____ with _____ and then to combine them in original ways

signs with concepts

Through ______, _________ and _________, language thus reinforces cultural values that are already present in the community

signs, symbols and metaphors

the study of how sociocultural context and norms shape language use and the effects of language use on society.

sociolinguistics

sounds that are formed by closing off and reopening the oral cavity so that it stops the flow of air through the mouth, such as consonants p,b,t,d,k and g

stops

these symbols sum up a variety of meanings and experiences and link them to a single sign (i.e. American flag)

summarizing symbols

_____ are elaborations on signs

symbols

pattern of word order used to form sentences and longer utterances in a language

syntax

ex of morphology

tenses, pronouns

Most people are unaware of the structure of a language until someone speaking it makes a mistake a. True b. False

true