The Anthropology of Language:
An Introduction to Linguistic
Anthropology
Chapter 1
Linguistic Anthropology
“Krazy Kat Comic Strip - 1918
Introducing Linguistic
Anthropology
• Anthropology…
– Anthropos – logos (logia)
Anthropology is Holistic
• Four Fields:
– Archaeology
– Physical Anthropology
– Cultural Anthropology
– Linguistic Anthropology
• Applied Anthropology
– A fifth field or a second dimension?
Cultural Diversity - Food
What is a Taco?
But some foods can seem a bit “funny”
…even a bit ugly.
You might even wonder if you want
to eat it?
Anthropology is Comparative
• Ethnocentrism
– frames of reference
• Cultural Relativity
• Commonalities
Anthropology is Fieldwork-based
•
•
•
•
Living in another culture
Participating in everyday activities
Adapting to new frames of reference
Learning ‘inside’ view.
New Guinea, 2001
Theoretical Linguistics is:
• Focused
– On underlying structures and rules
• Specific
– Deducing universal rules from specific languages
• Rule from English: if O follows V, then use Prep
– To see the cat in the tree
– BUT
– Huona mpaha mwiri-juu
• Intuitive
– Using your own language as a source of data.
Boas and Fieldwork
• Language vs culture vs race
• Language as window into culture
• Language as necessary for fieldwork.
Franz Boas, 1900, posing for model of Kwakiutl dancer
Some Fieldwork Concerns
•
•
•
•
Culture shock
Illness
Ethics
Mitchell
Wedding preparations, Domoni, 1985