Human Language

1. Human Language

2. Language and Culture • Language: _________________________ • Importance of language for human life • 1. only animal capable of _______________ • 2. avenue of communication & thought concerning abstract concepts, and concrete persons, places, things, actions, & events • 3. _____________of culture aided by _________

3. Linguistic Anthropology • Focus on language • ________________________ • Generally interested in how language changes • Examples: • Comparisons • World economy • Gender

4. Language and Communication • What is the difference between language and communication? • Communication: Act of transferring information to others • 1. • 2. • Language can be thought of as a way of communicating • 1.

5. Human Language Distinctive • 1. Openness (a.k.a. ________) • _________________ to create totally novel sentences and a ___________ to comprehend them • A language’s __________________ can be combined into a infinite number of meaningful sentences

6. Human Language Distinctive • 2. Displacement • Our ability to talk about __________ __________________________________ • Due to usage of symbols to transmit meanings

7. Human Language Distinctive • 3. Arbitrariness • ___________________________ between particular linguistic sounds & particular linguistic meanings • Evidence in the design feature of language known as ________________ and ______________

8. Communication Among Non-Human Primates • Primates don’t ______ • Parts of calls are not ___________to get new information • Their calls are _____________

9. Language, Thought, and Culture • Language _________________ • Coined by _______________ • Mastery of adult grammar • Communicative _________________ • Coined by ______________ • Mastery of adult rules for socially & culturally appropriate speech

10. Language, Thought, and Culture • Noam Chomsky • Set of rules – ___________________________ • Human brain contains a limited set of rules for organizing language • All Languages = ________________________

11. Language, Thought, and Culture • Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis • Idea that different languages produce _______________________________ • English & Hopi languages

12. Language, Thought, and Culture • Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, continued • Initial ideas centered on ‘all thoughts being constrained, or determined, by language’ • Various studies have: • 1. • 2.

13. Language, Thought, and Culture • __________ Vocabulary • Set of words describing particular domains of experience • Examples: • 1. • 2.

14. Pragmatics • Study of language in context of its use • 1. • 2. • Discourse • ____________________________________ • Series of verbal exchanges in conversation

15. Ethnopragmatics • Study of language use: • Relies on ethnography to illuminate the ways in which speech is both constituted by and constitutive social interaction • Focus on practice - how are rules of grammar, cultural values, and physical action conjoined

16. Language Revitalization • Collaboration between linguistic anthropologists and fluent speakers of indigenous languages

17. Language Revitalization • Hinton’s work in CA: