Human Language 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 _________ Linguistic Anthropology Focus on language ________________________ Generally interested in how language changes Examples: Comparisons World economy Gender 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. 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 Human Language Distinctive 2. Displacement Our ability to talk about __________ __________________________________ Due to usage of symbols to transmit meanings Human Language Distinctive 3. Arbitrariness ___________________________ between particular linguistic sounds & particular linguistic meanings Evidence in the design feature of language known as ________________ and ______________ Communication Among NonHuman Primates Primates don’t ______ Parts of calls are not ___________ to get new information Their calls are _____________ Language, Thought, and Culture Language _________________ Coined by _______________ Mastery of adult grammar Communicative _________________ Coined by ______________ Mastery of adult rules for socially & culturally appropriate speech Language, Thought, and Culture Noam Chomsky Set of rules – ___________________________ Human brain contains a limited set of rules for organizing language  All Languages = ________________________ Language, Thought, and Culture Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Idea that different languages produce _______________________________ English & Hopi languages 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. Language, Thought, and Culture __________ Vocabulary Set of words describing particular domains of experience Examples: 1. 2. Pragmatics Study of language in context of its use 1. 2. Discourse ____________________________________ Series of verbal exchanges in conversation 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 Language Revitalization Collaboration between linguistic anthropologists and fluent speakers of indigenous languages Language Revitalization Hinton’s work in CA: