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Transcript of Chapter 3 Culture and Language. Chapter Outline Humanity and Language Five Properties of Language ...
Chapter 3
Culture and Language
Chapter Outline Humanity and Language Five Properties of Language How Language Works Language and Culture Social Uses of Speech
Language Homo sapiens is the only animal capable
of speech. Language makes it possible for people to
communicate and think about abstract concepts.
Language Social learning by which children acquire
culture would be impossible without language.
Language allows us to communicate about past, present and future events.
Properties of Language Multimedia potential: Language can be
transmitted through a variety of media. Discreteness: Language is made up of
discrete elements.
Properties of Language Arbitrariness: The meaning of each
individual word is arbitrary. Productivity: A finite number of words
can be combined into an infinite number of sentences.
Displacement: Language makes it possible to communicate about people, things and events that are not present.
Grammar
The knowledge shared by those who speak and understand a language: Sounds Rules for combining them Meanings that are conveyed How sentences are constructed
Two Aspects of Grammar Sounds and their patterning. Sound combinations and their meanings.
Total system of linguistic knowledge that allows the speakers of a language to send meaningful messages and hearers to understand them. Dialect - A regional or subcultural
variant of languages.
Grammar
Sound Systems Phonology
Sounds of a language and how they occur in patterns.
Phonemes
Sounds that speakers of a language recognize as distinct from other sounds.
Tone Languages Languages in which changing voice pitch
within a word alters the entire meaning of the word.
Words and Meanings lexicon
The total words in a language. morphology
The study of the units of meaning in language.
morpheme The sequence of phonemes that carries meaning.
Morphemes free morpheme
A morpheme that can't be used alone.
bound morphemeA morpheme attached to a free morpheme to alter its meaning.
Language and Culture Language is a part of culture. Language and culture are independent. Language and culture are partly
interconnected.
Semantic Domain A class of things or properties that are
perceived as alike in some fundamental respect; hierarchically organized.
Whorf-Sapir Hypothesis Language defines the world view of its
speakers. Not widely accepted:
World views change more rapidly than language.
Speakers of languages with a common ancestor should show cultural similarities.
Social Uses of Speech To speak appropriately, people must take
the total context into account. They must know the various situations, or
social scenes, of their culture. People must recognize the kinds of
interactions they are expected to have with others.
Sociolinguistics Specialty within cultural anthropology that
studies how language is related to culture and the social uses of speech.
Quick Quiz
1. Which of the following is not a key property of language?
a) proper grammar
b) arbitrariness
c) discrete and recombinable units
d) displacement
Answer: a
Proper grammar is not a key property of language.
2. The ability to talk about things that don’t exist is called:
a) arbitrariness
b) displacement
c) grammar
d) discrete and recombinable elements
Answer: b
The ability to talk about things that don’t exist is called displacement.
3. The sounds and words in a language and the rules that govern how words are combined are called:
a) phonetics
b) arbitrariness
c) grammar
d) syntax
Answer: c
The sounds and words in a language and the rules that govern how words are combined are called grammar.