ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE STUDY
OF LANGUAGE
Linguistic Anthropology
reconstructing ancient languages by
comparing to contemporary descendantshistorical linguistics
how universal features of all languages
says something about the human brain
how language differences reflect world
view
how speech reflects social relations
Language is a System of
Symbols
symbols are objects, events, speech
sounds, written forms, gestures,
which humans attach meaning
Symbols operate in changing fields
of social relationships
symbols are multivocal -- enables a
wide range of groups & individuals to
relate to the same symbol in a variety
of ways
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
Descriptive Linguistics or FORMAL
LINGUISTICS
study language as a formal system of rules
a set of rules that can be studied apart
from its context
Historical Linguistics
Ethnolinguistics
Language in its Social & Cultural
Settings
•
Does language influence
the perception of reality
and cultural behavior?
•
Does language reflect
reality in a culture?
•
Or, is it both?
LINGUISTIC RELATIVISM and
DETERMINISM
Edward Sapir/Benjamin Lee Whorf – the
“Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis”
language & culture intrinsically linked
"language is a guide to social reality... it
powerfully conditions all our thinking about
social problems and processes."
Language and Thought
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Language predisposes
people to see the world in
a certain way guiding
behavior
Language reflects reality
Rich vocabulary reflects a
cultural focus
GRAMMAR AND CONSCIOUSNESS
linguistic conditioning of
behavior – “linguistic
determinism”
language is not simply a way
of voicing ideas, but the very
thing which shapes those ideas
Lexicon and Focal Vocabulary
lexicon – a vocabulary; a dictionary of terms
focal vocabulary -- specialized set of terms &
distinctions that are particularly important to a
certain group
tell us something about world view, historical
events, ideas, influences, perceptions important to
a particular group
Inuit terms for snow; skiers terms for snow
Ethnography of
Communication
the descriptive study of the use of
language, deeply embedded in its
cultural and social context (Dell Hymes)
The acronym SPEAKING
S – setting and scene
P – participants
E – ends: the desired or expected outcome
A – Act: how form and content are delivered
K – key: mood or spirit (serious, ironic, etc.)
I – instrumentalities: the dialect or language
variety
N – norms: speaking conventions
G – genres: different types of performance
(speech, joke, sermon, etc.)
Paralinguistic Features
Body language and extralinguistic noises
At least 90% of emotional information in English is
transmitted by “body language” and tone of voice
Kinesics
System of notating
and analyzing
postures, facial
expressions, and
body motions that
convey messages
Social Dialects
Forms of a language
Reflecting regions or social classes
Similar enough to be mutually intelligible
Social dialects (or sociolects) are language
varieties that are correlated not so much with
geographic as with social space
Examples – black English, Spanglish, inner city
Boston, Newfie
Regional/Geographic Dialects
Define people by where they live
“southern” dialect
“newfie”
Language and Gender
Linguistic features as markers of social
divisions in society
North American society
Men and Women use English differently
• Language reflects traditional gender
inequality
•
Are Women More Polite than
Men? N. America
Women typically use more polite speech
Characterized by a high frequency of
honorific and softening devices such as
hedges and questions
“act like a lady” “respect those around
you”
Boys and men & the “masculine voice”
Languages in Contact
Diglossia
Bilingualism
Pidgins and creoles
DIGLOSSIA
Speech communities in which two or
more varieties of the same language
are used by some speakers under
different conditions
Classic Arabic of the Koran and
diversified local forms of Arabic
Java – Javanese and Bahasa Indonesia
BILINGUALISM
“native-like” control of two languages
A gradient
Degrees or stages of bilingualism based on
performance – the ability to understand
and produce meaningful utterances in the
second language
Pidgin Languages
a pidgin is a lingua franca that comes
into use in situations where a group of
individuals with no language in common
find a need to communicate
a minimal language
a mixed language, bulk of vocab usually
from the language of the dominant power
many pidgins are short-lived
Creole Languages
a creole – a pidgin that remains in use
and is expanded to serve the whole
range of functions necessary to a
speech community – over the course of
two or more generations
Reflects hybrid origins
SPEECH EVENTS
how individuals behave with speech in a
specific, culturally defined situation
LINGUISTIC CODES AND
SPEECH COMMUNITIES
Speech communities – a real social unit
within which speakers share a repertoire of
‘ways of speaking’
may include one or several languages
Members of such communities engage in
verbal interaction that is not randomly
alternating between distinct LINGUISTIC
CODES but choose systematically among
them and put them to specialized uses
CODE SWITCHING
Crystal (1987) suggests that code, or
language, switching occurs when an
individual who is bilingual alternates
between two languages during his/her
speech with another bilingual person
WHY CODE SWITCH?
a speaker may not be able to express
him/herself in one language so switches
to the other to compensate for the
deficiency
switching commonly occurs when an
individual wishes to express solidarity
with a particular social group
to create a special effect
CODE SWITCHING AS
METACOMMUNICATION
Code switching is an indirect form of
social commentary
code switching is a linguistic device for
FRAMING verbal messages
it is a fine-grained technique for
identifying stretches of talk as particular
kinds of doings that are intended to
accomplish particular kinds of work
Language Registers
A variety of language that serves a
particular social situation
Monolingual code switching – styles of
speaking
The vernacular, the standard, the
honorific
Specifically defined varieties – scientific,
legal, religious, intimate, etc.
Language, Nationalism, Ethnicity
Linguistic nationalism – attempt by
ethnic minorities and even countries to
proclaim independence by purging their
languages of foreign terms or reviving
unused languages
Language Planning and
Identity
Purification
Revival
Reform
Standardization
Modernization
Discourse, Subjectivity, Power
Discourses
Ways of talking about the world
a system of representation
Codes and conventions
rules and practices that produced meaningful statements
and regulated discourse in different historical periods
about language and practice
Discourse is "a group of statements which
provide a language for talking about ...a particular
topic at a particular historical moment."
"Discourse, Foucault argues, “constructs the
topic. It defines and produces the objects of our
knowledge. It governs the way that a topic can be
meaningfully talked about and reasoned about.”
Discourse, Subjectivity, Power
Discourse -- the bearer of various subject positions
Subject positions -- specific positions of agency and
identity in relation to particular forms of knowledge
and practice
Subjectivity --produced within discourse,
subjected to discourse.
subject position--[for us to become the
subject of a particular discourse, and thus the
bearers of its power/knowledge] we must locate
ourselves in the position from which the discourse
makes most sense, and thus become its 'subjects' by
subjecting' ourselves to its meanings, power and
regulation.
Discourse, Subjectivity, Power
power follows from our casual acceptance of the
"reality with which we are presented"
Power: a field of possibilities in which several
ways of behaving, several reactions and diverse
comportments may be realized
the totality of practices, by which one can
constitute, define, organize, instrumentalize the
strategies which individuals in their liberty can
have in regard to each other
Discourse, Gender, Power
sexuality and the body -- sites of power
and politics
socially imposed structures that
objectified sexual identity and gender
differences
socially imposed structures that shape
gender relations and behavior