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FOCUSING ON LANGUAGE:Languages of the World, Structure of Language

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Introduction to Cultural Anthropology ­ SOC401
VU
Lesson 09
FOCUSING ON LANGUAGE
An Anthropological Perspective
Language is a unique phenomenon, which allows human beings to communicate meaning to others and
express our thoughts and feelings to other people.
Perhaps the most distinctive feature of being human is our capacity to create and use language. Many
anthropological linguists would agree that without language, human culture could not exist beyond a very
basic level.
The Nature of Language
The meaning we give to language is arbitrary (random). It is due to this arbitrary nature of language, there is
such a diversity of languages.
Languages of the World
Almost 95 percent of people speak fewer than 100 languages of the approximately 6,000 languages that are
currently found in the world. Due to this, many languages face the threat of extinction, with an increasingly
small number of people who know the language.
This evident dying out of rarely spoken languages is an issue of concern to cultural anthropologists since the
extinction of a language also means the death of a way of thinking and expressing human thought.
Of the more widely spoken languages, Mandarin (Chinese dialect) is spoken by almost 1 in 5 people in the
world. Hindi is also spoken by multitudes of people. Yet, English is the most popular second language
spoken by people all around the world.
Communication ­ Human versus Nonhuman
Humans are not the only species that communicate. Animals use calls to mate, find food and signal danger.
Human communication amongst humans is however much more complex than that of animals. We can
combine words in unique ways, to express our innermost feelings or even very complicated ideas which can
be understood by others who can speak the same language.
Open and Closed Communication Systems
Animal sounds are mutually exclusive (Closed Communication systems), they cannot be combined to
express new meanings. A warning sound of an animal is always the same and this sound is used to convey
the same message always, it cannot be combined with other sounds to convey different types of meaning.
Only humans can put different meanings together (through using of an Open Communication system,
which is the language they speak).
This categorization of Open and Closed communication systems has been questioned by anthropological
linguists, based on research conducted using sign language. A chimpanzee for example can in fact combine
two words to create a third word. Researchers have trained a chimpanzee to learn the sign language for
`water' and for `bird' but not shown it how to say `duck' using sign language. This chimpanzee has however
been able to create the two known words, `water' and `bird' to refer to a `duck', indicating that other species
could also use open communication systems like humans.
However, no linguist has yet made the claim that any animal species has evolved language to a degree which
can express the complexities of meaning that human beings can.
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Introduction to Cultural Anthropology ­ SOC401
VU
Displacement
Humans can speak of purely hypothetical and abstract things, of things which happened in the past or may
happen in the future. Whereas animals only communicate in the present about things concerning their
immediate surroundings, animals cannot express abstract thoughts.
Learning to Communicate
Imitating adult speech is partially responsible for acquisition of language. Linguists (like Noam Chomsky at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) think that children are born with a universal grammatical
blueprint, which helps them pick up the rules of the language being spoken around them so quickly, and
that this is a biological gift that only the human species seems to possess, since no other species has such
complex communication abilities.
Structure of Language
All languages have logical structures or rules, which are followed by all those who can speak, read and write
that particular language.
·
Phonology: provides the sound structure to a language so it can be commonly understood when
spoken.
·
Morphemes: the smallest units of speech that convey meaning (art-ist-s) by standing alone or
being bound to other words
·
Grammar: provides the unique rules of a language, which help give a logical structure to a
language. Grammar also provides rules by which words are arranged into sentences (syntax).
Consider the words: Adam apples likes eating, which make no sense since the verb `eating' and the adjective
`likes' are not in their grammatically correct position. Correcting the mistake will make the sentence clear:
Adam likes eating apples. The underlying structure of sentences which enables us to correct such a mistake
and speak in a clear manner is due to the grammatical rules of syntax.
The fact that we can even say this sentence is due to phonology and morphemes help us create a sentence
by providing us with different meanings in smaller words (eat-ing, like-s).
Useful Terms
Displacement: the ability that humans have to talk about things remote in time and space.
Free Morphemes: morphemes that appear in a language without being attached to other morphemes.
Grammar: the systematic way in which sounds are combined in any given language to send and receive
meaning-full utterances.
Phonology: the study of language's sound system.
Suggested Readings
Students are advised to read the following chapters to develop a better understanding of the various
principals highlighted in this hand-out:
Chapter 6 in `Cultural Anthropology: An Applied Perspective' by Ferrarro and/or Chapter 15 in `Anthropology' by
Ember and Pergrine
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Introduction to Cultural Anthropology ­ SOC401
VU
Internet Resources
In addition to reading from the textbook, please visit the following website for this lecture:
Anthropological Linguistics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropological_linguistics
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Table of Contents:
  1. WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?:Cultural Anthropology, Internet Resources
  2. THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE AND THE APPLICATION OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
  3. MAJOR THEORIES IN CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY:Diffusionism
  4. GROWTH OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY (continued):Post Modernism
  5. METHODS IN CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY:Comments on Fieldwork
  6. METHODS IN CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY (continued):Census Taking
  7. COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION AND CONSUMPTION IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD
  8. ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY (continued):THE DISTRIBUTION OF GOODS AND SERVICES
  9. FOCUSING ON LANGUAGE:Languages of the World, Structure of Language
  10. FOCUS ON LANGUAGE (continued):Levels of Complexity, Cultural Emphasis
  11. OBTAINING FOOD IN DIFFERENT CULTURES:Optimal Foraging, Suggested Readings
  12. FOOD AND CULTURE (continued):Food Collectors, Food Production
  13. OBTAINING FOOD IN DIFFERENT CULTURE (continued):Pastoralism, Agriculture
  14. RELEVANCE OF KINSHIP AND DESCENT:Kinship Criteria, Rules of Descent
  15. KINSHIP AND DESCENT (continued):Tracing Descent, Primary Kinship Systems
  16. THE ROLE OF FAMILY AND MARRIAGE IN CULTURE:Economic Aspect of Marriage
  17. ROLE OF FAMILY AND MARRIAGE IN CULTURE (continued):Family Structures
  18. GENDER AND CULTURE:Gender Stratification, Suggested Readings
  19. GENDER ROLES IN CULTURE (continued):Women Employment, Feminization of Poverty
  20. STRATIFICATION AND CULTURE:Social Ranking, Dimensions of Inequality
  21. THEORIES OF STRATIFICATION (continued):The Functionalists, Conflict Theorists
  22. CULTURE AND CHANGE:Inventions, Diffusion, Donor, Conventional
  23. CULTURE AND CHANGE (continued):Cultural Interrelations, Reaction to Change
  24. CULTURE AND CHANGE (continued):Planned Change, Globalization
  25. POLITICAL ORGANIZATION:Bands, Tribal Organizations, Chiefdoms
  26. POLITICAL ORGANIZATION (continued):State Systems, Nation-States
  27. POLITICAL ORGANIZATION (continued):Social Norms, Informal Mechanisms
  28. PSYCHOLOGY AND CULTURE:Emotional Development, Psychological Universals
  29. PSYCHOLOGY AND CULTURE (continued):Origin of Customs, Personality Types
  30. IDEOLOGY AND CULTURE:Ideology in Everyday Life, Hegemony
  31. IDEOLOGY AND CULTURE (Continued):Political ideologies, Economic Ideology
  32. ASSOCIATIONS, CULTURES AND SOCIETIES:Variation in Associations, Age Sets
  33. ASSOCIATIONS, CULTURES AND SOCIETIES (continued):Formation of Associations
  34. RACE, ETHNICITY AND CULTURE:Similarity in Human Adaptations
  35. RACE, ETHNICITY AND CULTURE (continued):Inter-group Relations
  36. CULTURE AND BELIEFS:Social Function of Religion, Politics and Beliefs
  37. LOCAL OR INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE:Changing Definitions of Local Knowledge
  38. LOCAL OR INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE (continued):The Need for Caution
  39. ANTHROPOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT:Influence of Development Notions
  40. ANTHROPOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT (Continued):Contentions in Development
  41. ANTHROPOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT (Continued):Operational
  42. CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND ART:Relevance of Art, Art and Politics
  43. CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND ART (continued):Art as a Status Symbol
  44. ETHICS IN ANTHROPOLOGY:Ethical Condemnation, Orientalism
  45. RELEVANCE OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY:Ensuring Cultural Survival