Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Chapter 10 - Language
Language and Culture
- Language: the system of arbitrary vocal symbols we use to encode our experiences
of the world
• A bio cultural phenomenon
• Provides basic tools for diverse forms of creativity and communication
Anthropological Interest in Language
- Four reasons that anthropologists are interested in language:
1. Fieldwork proceeds through oral communication
2. Language is the best tool anthropologists have to access informants’ perceptions
and interpretations
3. Grammatical and conceptual complexities provide insights into a culture
4. Applied anthropologists work to support and maintain the diverse languages
spoken in the world
- Native speakers of a language share not just vocabulary and grammar but also a
number of assumptions about how to use the language
- Language has several forms
• Spoken word
• Non-spoken (Morse code, gestures, writing)
• Human communication(transfer of information)
- Computer Language
• Digital transmission of complex ideas and instructions.
1
, Tuesday, November 12, 2019
• Growth of computer coding
• Binary system
Talking about experience
- Language is a product of our attempt to come to terms with experience
- Di erent languages have developed to be more or less complex in di erent ways
• E.g., some have more complex (or less complex) sentence structures than others
have
- Speech communities are languages speci cally associated with groups of people
Non-verbal communication
- It can be culturally speci c
- It interacts with verbal language and used to complement, accent, contradict, repeat,
substitute, and/or regulate
• E.g.,sign language, gestures, facial expressions, physical appearance, clothing,
hairstyle, etc.
Pidgin Languages: Negotiated Meaning
- Pidgin: a language with nonnative speakers that develops in a single generation
between members of communities that possess distinct native languages
• Its shape depends on the context in which it arises (e.g., colonial conquests,
commercial exchanges)
- Creole: pidgin language that has been passed down through generations
Code Switching
- Switching back and forth between one linguistic variant and another depending on
the cultural context.
2
ff fi fi ff
Chapter 10 - Language
Language and Culture
- Language: the system of arbitrary vocal symbols we use to encode our experiences
of the world
• A bio cultural phenomenon
• Provides basic tools for diverse forms of creativity and communication
Anthropological Interest in Language
- Four reasons that anthropologists are interested in language:
1. Fieldwork proceeds through oral communication
2. Language is the best tool anthropologists have to access informants’ perceptions
and interpretations
3. Grammatical and conceptual complexities provide insights into a culture
4. Applied anthropologists work to support and maintain the diverse languages
spoken in the world
- Native speakers of a language share not just vocabulary and grammar but also a
number of assumptions about how to use the language
- Language has several forms
• Spoken word
• Non-spoken (Morse code, gestures, writing)
• Human communication(transfer of information)
- Computer Language
• Digital transmission of complex ideas and instructions.
1
, Tuesday, November 12, 2019
• Growth of computer coding
• Binary system
Talking about experience
- Language is a product of our attempt to come to terms with experience
- Di erent languages have developed to be more or less complex in di erent ways
• E.g., some have more complex (or less complex) sentence structures than others
have
- Speech communities are languages speci cally associated with groups of people
Non-verbal communication
- It can be culturally speci c
- It interacts with verbal language and used to complement, accent, contradict, repeat,
substitute, and/or regulate
• E.g.,sign language, gestures, facial expressions, physical appearance, clothing,
hairstyle, etc.
Pidgin Languages: Negotiated Meaning
- Pidgin: a language with nonnative speakers that develops in a single generation
between members of communities that possess distinct native languages
• Its shape depends on the context in which it arises (e.g., colonial conquests,
commercial exchanges)
- Creole: pidgin language that has been passed down through generations
Code Switching
- Switching back and forth between one linguistic variant and another depending on
the cultural context.
2
ff fi fi ff
