What is the anthropological interest in lang?
lang is a means to communicate in the field. lang as an object of study in itself. lang illuminates culture. distinction btwn lang, speech, and communication.
What is the biocultural evolution of lang?
when we learn lang it causes permanent changes in the brain. linguistic anths are interested in the role of lang in sociocultural life. lang evolved btwn 200,000 and 50,000 yrs ago (so dont rlly know when). Hominins had to be physically and cognitively capable of speech. speech allowed the creation of culture, on which we are now dependent on.
Who are the diff animals humans tested nonhuman communication on (list)?
Washoe, Lana, Koko, Nim Chimpsky.
Who is Washoe?
a chimpanzee who was taught 150 signs in the 50s.
Who is Lana?
chimpanzee who was taught lexigrams to communicate. so using symbols in a keyboard.
Who is Koko?
a female gorilla who was taught 1000 signs. she was able to joke, lie, and combine signs.
Who is Nim Chimpsky?
chimpanzee who cast doubt on earlier projects. he was diff bc the researcher didnt train him himself. turns out nim was classically conditioned (got an award for signing), and didnt sign unless cued. so he could learn sign lang, but not rlly communicate. the researcher thought that the previous results were being exaggerated, and that it was more likely that they could learn the signs but not so much communicate.
What is the gesture call system?
monkeys and apes, like many other animals have call systems using gestures or sounds to communicate. they are closed systems ie they cant create new meanings or messages. they dont do calls without a stimulus. have one set of calls for their fam group and another set of calls for outside groups. apes have linguistic centres in the brain but lack some abilities.
Who has been studying chimps in the wild since 1960?
Jane Goodall
What is nonverbal communication?
sounds and gestures. in english 90% of emotional info is conveyed in body lang. the basic elements of body lang are universal. lang allows us to deceive (unlike the gesture call syst).
What are the types of nonverbal communication (list)?
kinesics and proxemics.
What is kinesics?
the study of all forms of human body lang. including postures, facial expressions, and motions. some aspects are universal while others are not. consider how gender is conveyed through body lang in NA. ex; how M and W typically sit is diff in diff cultures, so in NA crossing legs is more F coded here but M around world cross their legs much more often than here.
What is proxemics?
the study of how ppl use space to communicate. ie personal space diffs across cultures. this area is rife for cross cultural miscommunication bc lots of diff cultures have diff concepts of what approp and inapprop personal space is.
What are the design features of human lang (list)?
openness - in contrast to gesture call systems which are closed and cant create more or combine meanings; displacement - can talk about things that arent present; prevarication - allows us to say things that dont make sense/mean anything; arbitrariness - words are arbitrary; duality of patterning - phonemes combined to create morphemes then put into sentences according to rules ie syntax; semanticity - lang being able to convey meaning to ppl.
What are John Locke and BF Skinners theories on lang acquisition?
thought that we start as a blank slate (tabula rasa) and learning adds things us. thought learned lang through conditioned response and feedback.
What are rené descartes and noam chomskys theories on lang acquisition?
rene thought we had innate structures in the mind that allowed us to learn how to speak. noam agreed with this and thought that we learned lang through innate predisposition, but took it a step further saying that brains are prewired to learn lang and grammar, but theres a critical period where it has to be acquired. ie the lang acquisition device - that theres an innate ability to learn lang and grammar as children. said there was a window of opportunity for lang learning and if dont learn lang in this period, wont be able to later or wont be able to fully understand it.
What are phonology?
study of the sounds of a lang. includes phonemes. involves the international phonetic alphabet. using minimal pairs to discover phonetic and phonemic inventories of a lang. nasality, pitch, stress, length of hold, clicks, voiced vs unvoiced, aspirated, front vs back of throat all are all units of sound that change the meaning of smthn depending on how theyre used.
What are phonemes?
the minimal unit of sound that can make a difference in meaning if substituted for another sound in a word thats otherwise identical. so the phoneme itself doesnt carry meaning. ie bit vs pit - switching out the unit of sound b and p makes the word mean smthn else but b and p dont mean anything individually.
What is morphology?
study of the smallest units of lang that convey meaning. has bound morphemes and free morphemes.
What is a morpheme?
a minimal unit of meaning in a lang. can be a word that stands alone or could be any part of a word that carries meaning that cannot stand alone but must be attached to another morpheme.
What is a bound morpheme?
occur in combinations with other morphemes. ie prefixes and suffixes. so its a part of a word that carries meaning but cant stand alone. ie un in unhappy, or ly in quickly.
What is a free morpheme?
a word that is independent and can stand alone. ie dog, educate, etc.
What is syntax?
grammar. rules for combining words and sounds to make sentences and phrases. making sentence structure grammatically correct. order of subject, verb, and object in a sentence which differs by lang (the girl saw the dog). rules for turning a sentence into a question.
What is the Sapir-Whorf hypoth/the linguistic relativity theory?
created by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf. says that lang influences how you think about things/worldview, so lang shapes the way a person experiences the world.
