Anthropology Test
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ANTH300_Chapter2LanguageandCulture.pptxChapter 2 Language and Culture
Many of you have probably heard about the Inuit and their 100s of words for snow. This is a common misunderstanding
Chapter 2
How does language reflect culture?
What is the difference between Isolating Languages and Agglutinating languages?
-Agglutinating languages like Inuit can have one word that represents an entire phrase or sentence in English.
“learning another language…also means learning how it organizes ideas into words, phrases, and sentences”
Do we consider speakers of other languages different from us?
Cultural Emphasis:
A linguistic emphasis reflects a cultural emphasis – The Inuit and “snow”
Thai Example -- ใจ ‘jai’
The idea of cultural emphases is an accepted axiom
Exercise:
How many words do you have for these topics?
Kin
Body parts
Colors
Ethnosemantics, Ethnoscience, Cognitive Anthropology, New Ethnography:
Seeing how words people use for describing areas of experience reveal underlying systems of meaning and perception. Language is the focus
Semantic Domain:
A specific area of cultural emphasis. A Semantic Domain is also an area of meaning
Categorization System:
The way a language categorizes items
Ethnoscientific Model or Mental Map:
An indigenous scientific categorization system
Exercise:
Make a mental map for computers
Ethnography:
The study of a culture
Taxonomy:
Show how words are related to one another
Componential, Feature or Contrast Analysis:
Reveals the culturally important features by which speakers of the language distinguish different words in the domain
This has proven successful in studying sub-cultures
Prototype Theory:
Suggests that categories can be graded and that some members of a category can be more central than others…”best examples” are used as cognitive reference points to determine appropriate categories for other things
Linguistic Relativity:
The idea that languages are different, that they are arbitrary systems, and that knowing one language does not allow you to predict how another language will categorize and name the world
How many colors are in a rainbow?
What color is Grue?
Exercise:
How many colors do you know?
In many studies, females tend to know more color names than males – what does this tell us female culture
What did Berlin and Kay say about color?
What is wrong with their approach?
Searching for Universals
Berlin & Kay
Basic color terms
Focal points vs boundaries
Sequence
black & white
add red
add green or yellow
ditto
add blue
add brown
add purple, pink, orange, and/or gray
Problems:
defining basic; no ‘standard’ measure.
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Hanunóo Color Terms
Dark
Light
Fresh
Dry
Reflects an agricultural focus
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Linguistic Determinism:
Language affects or even determines one’s ability to perceive and think about things, as well as talk about them.
“Human beings . . . are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society.” (Sapir 1929)
“we cannot talk at all except by subscribing to the organization and classification of data” (Whorf 1940).
Principle of Linguistic Relativity:
Markedly different grammars point its speakers toward different types of observation and different evaluations of externally similar acts…must arrive at somewhat different views of the world
Languages are different
Languages are arbitrary systems
Differences are not predictable
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis/Whorf-Sapir Hypothesis/Whorfian Hypothesis:
Linguistic Determinism
Relied on Hopi examples of time
Strong Whorf: Language is a prison aka Absolute Linguistic Determinism
Weaker Whorf: Language is a room you can leave…ability to shift perspectives
Weaker Whorf is more likely the accurate version of linguistic determinism since language tends to change overtime
Sapir
“The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached.” (Sapir 1929).
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Whorf
“We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages.” (Whorf 1940)
Strong Whorf
Language determines thought
Weaker Whorf
Language influences thought.
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Deictic:
Pointing concepts regarding the way in which we organize and name the space around us in terms of our own bodies. Results in relativistic spatial reckoning systems.
What is an Absolute Reckoning System?
How is Guugu-Yimidhirr (also see this link) using an Absolute Reckoning System?
Does language have an effect on how we react to our environment?
Exercise:
Let’s talk about love -- รัก vs. ชอบ (what can we “like” and “love” in American English? In Thai, we can only “love” people and maybe pets, but not things)
What does this tell us about Americans and their things?
Let’s talk about Time (how do we use “time” in American English?)
We can save it, make it, have it, run out of it, use it wisely, etc…
Frames:
Similar to worldview. Often invoke cultural metaphors i.e. grouping ideas into commonly used phrases
Ideology:
Set of ideas we have about the way things should be
What is hypocognition?
Not having the words to talk about experiences can prevent frames from forming
Example: Grief and Suicide in Tahiti, guilt in the Yucatan
Frame Shifting
Taxes – Burden or Community Maintenance Fee?
Can you think of any other words for frame shifting?
Chapter 2 Summary
Linguistic Relativity is an accepted concept
“Learning a new language isn’t just learning new labels for the same things”
“Instead it is about learning a different set of cultural assumptions and about what things are considered worth labeling in that culture”
It is learning new ways of organization and classification
It is learning new idioms and expressions
Learning a new language allows us to reflect on our native language and world
Linguistic Determinism is still unclear and controversial – Does the language cause the culture to organize in a specific way, or does culture cause the language to be organized in a specific way?
Or does it go both ways?
Language and Thought
Language and Thought cont.
What is a sign?
Anything that announces the existence or the imminence of some event, the presence of a thing or person, or a change in the state of affairs—causes action
What is a symbol?
Brings the thing or person to mind—causes thought
“…the combination or manipulation of ideas is man’s outstanding characteristic.”
What is the language line?
Animal communication rarely/never has structure
“Languages are not invented but grow with a need for expression”
