ANT102 - Introduction to Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology

Introduction What distinguishes us from our closest primate is language Language is bound with key concepts in the social sciences; philosophy Language is communication and community building. Idea of the Unconscious is stimulated from language Linguistic anthropology focuses on little societies and primitives and the evolution of linguistics; the origins Linguistic anthropology originated in North America Why do we have language? Language is essential to our understanding of thought, communic

Anthropology: The study of humanity, including its prehistoric origins and contemporary human diversity. Biological (Physical) Anthropology: The study of humans as biological organisms, including evolution and contemporary variation. Archaeology: The study of past human cultures through their material remains. Linguistic Anthropology: The study of human communication, including its origins, history, and contemporary variation and change. Cultural Anthropology: The study of living peoples and the

Introduction Language is essential to understanding the formation of society Language studies have been important in anthropology How Anthropology is Different? Anthropology is a discipline that looks at small scale societies, and at society as a whole Rejected the idea of savages, hierarchy, etc. They are interested in things like kinship, magic, rituals, all these types of neglected subject matters in the 18th and 19th century Franz Boas First professional anthropologist Writing on Innuit lang

Changing Research Methods Fieldwork: Research in the field, which is any place where people and culture are found. From the Armchair to the Field Armchair Anthropology: Early cultural anthropologists conducted research by sitting at home in their library and reading reports about other cultures written by travelers, missionaries, and explorers. These early thinkers never visited the places they wrote about and had no direct experience with the people whose customs they discussed. Armchair anthro

Behaviour that affects the behaviour of others by the transmission of information" (Rowe & Levine) Universal among animals Adaptive significance (product of natural selection/communication is means of group and individuals survival) Different methods to transmit info Universal; plays important role of Darwinian evolution Basis of social life; social ordering mechanism Reduce aggression and likelihood of violence Allows people to establish predictability of behaviours; predict how others act/beha

Communication Is an action at a distance, through messages and information Could be vocal, verbal, gestural, postural, chemical Example Insects, choreographic It is a behaviour that affects the behaviour of others by the transmission of information It is universal among animals All animal species have at least one or more forms of communication Adaptive significance It is through communication, that group survival is guaranteed Needed to determine whether one group lives or dies Communication

Theories of Language Origins Theory Divine theory Onomatopoeia theory Natural cries theory Hominization theory The design features of language There’s very little evidence about the origins of language, but there are numerous theories Divine Theory Also known as miracle theory Based on idea that language is a gift from god, something supernatural Heroditis, a Greek historian, wrote about an Egyptian god named sumtik Had newborns isolated to see what language they would speak First word was “bre

Modes of Livelihood All modes of livelihood are sustainable as long as outside forces to do interfere Mode of Livelihood The dominant way of making a living in a culture. How we make a living, how we meet our needs and wants. All of these modes still exist today. In a culture, different modes could coexist.  Mode of Consumption The dominant pattern, in a culture, of using things up or spending resources to satisfy demands. Mode of Exchange The dominant pattern, in a culture, of transferring good

1. Divine Theory Miracle theory, oldest theory. Language is a gift from the gods, something supernatural. The Greek historian, he wrote about an Egyptian pharaoh. He had these newborns isolated to see what language they would speak. The language they first spoke was primordial language, and they thought that was the first language. Supposedly their first word was “bread” in Phrygian. This was false however since if you take “bekos” and remove “kos” it just becomes “be” which sounds like the nois

Learning how to communicate is more than just knowing the sounds and composition of a language Language Acquisition Theories Innateness hypothesis Are still born with some rules at birth Theory posits that language is a species-specific characteristic. Believed that even in environments which are not very stimulating, people will still learn the language that they observe. This supports that the ability for language acquisition is hard-wired within us. Language activates a learning module in th

Modes of Reproduction Fertility: The rate of births in a population or the rate of population increase in general. Mode of Reproduction: The predominant pattern, in a culture, of population change through the combined effect of fertility (birth rate) and mortality (death rate). Cultural anthropologists only have enough data to provide characteristics on three of five modes of livelihood. The Foraging Mode of Reproduction Birth Intervals: The time between a birth and the next birth. Moderate deat

Speaking Language acquisition theories Acquired components of language Laura Ahearn’s article on language acquisition and socialization Communicative competence: some conclusions Language Acquisition Theories Innateness hypothesis States that language is innate Learning is a way of triggering this module of learning Chomsky thought there was an innate system that all individuals are born with, called the universal grammar → ability to learn language Argue that it is species specific Significant

Speech Sounds McLean Identified that the Brain was Made of Three Main Components Nonmammalian (neo-cortex) Found in higher mammals Most developed in humans Divided into left and right hemispheres Humans cannot live without neo-cortex (2/3 of the mass of brain) Very complex in structure Most of it grows after birth Paleomammalian (limbic system) Consists of several components Seat of social motivation (social brain) Involved in organized fighting, sex/reproduction, parental Decides whether higher

Ethnomedicine  Ethnomedicine: The study of cross-cultural health systems. In the 1960s, the term first came to use where it only referred to non-Western health systems and was synonymous with the now abandoned terms primitive medicine. The early use of the term was ethnocentric. The current meaning of the word encompasses health systems everywhere.   Health System: Encompasses many areas: perceptions and classifications of health problems, prevention measures, diagnosis, healing (magical, religi

The Triune Brain: Model of Evolution of the Brain Edward Hall R-complex First part of brain to evolve Reptilian like, controls rage Breathing, heartbeat Aggression Immediate bodily defence Limbic system stored in the Paleomammalian part Consists of various subunits that manipulate significant components The “social brain” The brain that controls social life, motivation, emotion, etc Related to central survival behaviours such as feeding, fighting, mating, parenting The seat of value recognition

Kinship System: The predominant form kin relationships in culture and the kinds of behaviour involved. Like language, one's kinship system is so ingrained that is it taken for granted as something natural, rather than cultural -- predominant form of kin relationships and behaviours.   Kinship   Relatedness - continuity, support systems, etc.   Culturally determined  Cross-culture variation - who and how  Links all aspects of culture  How Cultures Create Kinship   Studying Kinship: From Formal An

Morphology Morpheme The basic units of meaningful speech Free morpheme (words) Terms that stand on their own Words that have meaning by themselves Bound morphemes (affixes) No meanings on their own But meaning when added to free morphemes Two types Derivational morphemes alter the meaning of words Example capable /incapable Example Box /boxer Inflectional morphemes alter grammatical sense of words Example quick / quickly [adjective → adverb] Example walk / walked [present → past tense] Exa

Morphology Morpheme - basic units of meaningful speech Words and speech Free morphemes (words): not problematic Words that have meaning by themselves (lexical categories or parts of speech) Nouns, Pronouns Adjectives Verbs Adverbs Prepositions Conjunctions Interjections Bound morphemes (affixes) - alter the basic meaning of words, used more frequently. no meaning on their own but have meaning when they are added to a free morpheme Derivational morphemes alter the basic meaning of words I.e. ca

Semantics - meaning of utterances in a strictly linguistic sense (internal) Lexical Semantics - deals specifically with the meaning of words in a narrow sense, in a sense the word has a referent The Meaning of Words 1. Referent can be tangible existence or not Entities that can be animate or inanimate (ppl, chair, table) States of mind, sadness, spirits, feelings, things that might not be directly observable Could be imaginary 2. Referential vs. grammatical meaning Referential means is that th

Overview Semantics - meaning of words Lexical semantics Structural semantics Pragmatics - meanings of words with context Social and affective meaning Speech arts Discourse analysis Deixis Semantics The meaning of utterances/words in a strictly linguistic sense Two basic areas: lexical and structural (1) Lexical deals with meanings of words Referent the thing that a word or phrase denotes or stands for Referential vs grammatical meaning Referential = action/state of being Grammatical = bound mo

Social Groups Social Group: A cluster of people beyond the domestic unit who are usually related on grounds other than kinship. Share some kind of identity.  Primary Group: A social group in which members meet on a face-to-face basis. Involves more direct accountability about rights and responsibilities than does membership in a secondary group.   Secondary Group: A group of people who identify with one another on some basis but may never meet with one another personally. For example, internet g

Political Anthropology: Addresses the area of human behaviour and thought related to public power - who has it and who does not, degrees of power, bases of power, abuses of power, relationships between political and religious power, political organization and government, social conflict and social control, and morality and law.  Legal Anthropology: The study of socially accepted ways of maintaining social order and resolving conflict.   Politics, Political Organization, and Leadership Politics:

This used to be known as ethno-linguistics. It looks at how culture and language shape us and how we speak. Zapotec Body Parts (Oaxaca, México) The human body is a metaphor for all other inanimate objects Example: “face of a house”, “foot of a tree” Franz Boas (1883-1884) and native North American languages (Noticed how many different terms for the one word in english; “Seal”) Inuit - words for ‘seal”: Generic “seal” - the one that we as Canadians are familiar with Male / female seals Seals of

Zapotec Body Parts Human body terms are extended to other things Example → gik for head of human is also gik for head of pig + lid of jar is gik + top of the box is also called gik Terms are rooted from the body and applied to other things This interest between culture and language arises from the work of Franz Boas Boas and Native North American Languages Inuit words for “seal” Generic “seal” Male / female seals Seals of different ages Seal basking in the sun Seal floating on piece of ice Many

Sociolinguistics Linguistic anthropology Sociology of language Social psychology of language Ethnography of speaking Dialectology Discourse analysis Geo-linguistics Sociolinguistics - Basic Concepts 1 by Dell Hymes The speech community Speech community is a community of speakers with who share the same verbal speech or “repertoire” linguistic skills and norms of linguistic behaviour. Example → village, region Studying linguistic behaviour rather than texts Communicative competence Focused on soc

Sociolinguistics: Study of Language and Society Linguistic Anthro Sociology of language Social psychology of language Ethnography of speaking: a lot of speech variations Dialectology Geo‐linguistics Sociolinguistics: Basic Concepts 1 The speech community: concept that was developed by Jean Lave Share the same verbal repertoire → the set of language varieties used in the speaking and writing practices of a speech community 1. Communicative competence: coined by Dell Hymes The ability to communic

Dialect: Language used by a certain society and community Regional - geographic variation What language do different places speak? Social - status variation Tend to be arranged on a hierarchy of prestige Blue collar workers have a different dialogue than street talk Registers - functional variation, language that’s governed by functional aspects classroom, church Standard and Non-standard Dialect Standard - promoted by school Non-standard - not promoted by schools Some are promoted by governmen

Pages 209-212  Ritual Practices Ritual: Patterned behaviour that has to do with the supernatural realm.   Sacred Ritual: The enactment of beliefs expressed in myth and doctrine.  Secular Rituals: Sorority or fraternity initiations, which have no connection to the supernatural realm.  Periodic Rituals: Rituals that are performed regularly. Often performed annually to mark a seasonal milestone such as planting or harvesting or to commemorate an important event.   Non-Periodic Rituals: Occur irregu

Dialect Regional Geographic variation Language is varied around the world, Example → Scottish and Canadian English are different Social Status variation Social groups and categories → sociolects Arranged on a hierarchy of prestige Registers Functional variation Not regional or social, but a language that seems to govern by functional aspects Example → courtroom or classroom or a church → depending on function, language can vary Standard and Non-Standard Dialects Example → received pronunciation

Introduction Example: Old English to Modern English Caused by the coming of the Normans to British Isle, Normans invaded Britain. Normans came to France, product of mixture Norwegian and French Invaded England in 1066 and imposed their language and never learned old English before invasion Norman was a mix of Frankish-German and Latin which was brought to England Norman French becomes new prestige, they wiped out Anglo-Saxon and imposed their authority with new language → now Anglo-Norman Norman

The way art is defined affects the manner in which a person values and treats artistic creations and those who create art Anthropologists propose broad definitions of art to take into account emic definitions cross-culturally   Art and Culture Expressive Culture: Behaviours and beliefs related to art, leisure, and play.  Art: The application of imagination, skill, and style to matter, movement, and sound that goes beyond what is purely practical. All cultures have art and have a sense of what ma

Sumerian First civilization with written language and then influenced the rest of written language First in middle East that we are aware of (IN IRAQ) Writing has to be learned, speech comes naturally Writing is forever - speech is forgotten (like these lectures) 1 - Logographic/Morphographic Written character represents one word / One symbol representing a word or a phrase. Phonographic - represents sounds Believed it started at Logographic and then became Phonographic Cuneiform - earliest at

Institutional settings Legal contents - e.g courts, police offices Political language - highly connotative, uses metaphors Language politics - in Quebec, menus have to be more french than other languages Laws existing around language Many nations trying to preserve their language and culture Question of human rights Human rights principles 1. The right to life and freedom from physical and psychological abuse 2. The right to fair trial 3. Freedom from slavery and genocide 4. The right to nation

Defining Development and Approaches to It Development: Change directed toward improving human welfare.  Poverty: The lack of tangible and intangible assets that contribute to life and the quality of life.  Invention: The discovery of something new.  Diffusion: The spread of culture through contact.  Acculturation: A form of cultural change in which a minority culture becomes more like the dominant culture.   Assimilation: A form of cultural change in which a culture is thoroughly acculturated, o