Transcript Introducing Linguistic Anthropology

Culture And Anthropology
• Cultural Variation
• Ethnocentrism
• Cultural Relativity
Defining Culture
• Many Ways to Define Culture Depending on
Research Orientation.
• Culture is Learned
• Culture is Shared within a Community
Elements of Human Culture
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Technology
Economic Organization
Social Organization
Political Organization
Ideology (Belief System)
Aesthetics (Artistic Expression)
Culture is not possible without Language
The Influence of Culture on
Language
• Cultural Emphasis
– Boas: Language a window into culture
• Language reflects culture
– Finer distinctions
– More elaborate vocabulary
 Inuit snow, seals Interactive IñupiaQ Dictionary
 Nuer cattle
 U. S. sports
 Hanunóo colors
 Marshallese birthing vocabulary
How Language Reflects Culture
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Cultural emphasis…
Cognitive Anthropology…
Ethnoscience as method…
Linguistic Relativity….
Ethnosemantics
• 1950s and 60s
• Frake, Goodenough, Conklin
• Alternate names:
– Ethnoscience, Cognitive Anthropology
• Vocabulary indicates
– “native” categories
– Culturally important distinctions
• Psychological reality or formal account?
Ethnosemantics as Method
• Identify a semantic domain
– Grand Tour questions
• Collect words
• Construct a taxonomy
• Develop a componential analysis
– (i.e., feature analysis, contrast analysis)
• (See W/R pp. 22-25).
Linguistic Relativity
• Languages are
– Differently structured
– Arbitrary systems
• Cultural emphases are
– Differently structured
– Arbitrary systems
• Body parts
• Kin terms
• Color terms
Searching for Universals
• Berlin & Kay: Basic Color Terms
– Focal points vs boundaries
– Sequence
• Black and white
• Add red
• Add green or yellow
• Add yellow or green
• Add blue
• Add brown
• Add purple, pink, orange, and/or gray
– Problems
• Defining basic
• Establishing a “standard” for colors
Hanunóo Color Terms
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Dark
Light
Fresh
Dry
Reflecting an agricultural focus.
Linguistic Relativity
• Languages are different
• Languages are arbitrary systems
• Differences are not predictable
- body parts
- kin
- colors.
The Influence of Language on
Culture
• Linguistic determinism
– Sapir and Whorf
• Strong Whorf
– Language determines thought
 Language as a prison (Agar)
• Weaker Whorf
– Language influences thought
 Language as a room (Agar)
• Stumbling (English) v. hobbling along (Hopi)
– An event v. a continuum
Experiments in Linguistic
Determinism: Yucatec
• Grammar stresses material
– Connects related words for wood, tree, table
• Individuals group cardboard items together.
Experiments in Linguistic
Determinism: English
• Grammar stresses shape
– Different words for wood, tree, table
• Individuals group boxes together.
New Evidence for Linguistic
Determinism
• Relative space v. absolute space
– Guugu-Yimidhirr (an Australian Aborigine
Language)
• NORTH-SOUTH-EAST-WEST (absolute)
– Tzeltal (A Mayan language spoken in Chiapas)
• UPHILL-DOWNHILL (relative).
Experiencing Linguistic Determinism
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Shinzwani: mezajuu = at/on the table
Shinzwani lending and borrowing
Ukrainian liubov v. kokhannia
Clock time in Czech and English
Hijri v. Gregorian calendars.
Language, Culture, and Thought
• Categories and Metaphors
– Hopi and English ways of talking about time
• Time in cycles
– Life is a journey
– Arriving at a stopping place
• Time in units
– Time is money
– Running out of time.
Examples of Linguistic
Determinism: SAE
• time = matter
Units of time = objects
Passage of time = endless line of identical objects
Examples of Linguistic
Determinism: Hopi
• time = a process
• units of time = cycles
• passage of time = endless repetition
of same cycle.
Metaphors and Frames
• Using words within frames
– Viewing the world through frames
• Founding Fathers v. Founding Mothers
• Tax relief v. community support
• Looting v. finding
• Job creators v. The 1%
The ACA Supreme Court decision was based on
framing – Tax v. Mandate
Summary
• Language is a window into culture (Boas)
• Language is a cultural map (Conklin, Frake…)
• Language is a guide to social reality (Sapir/Whorf)
– Linguistic relativity: grammar influences thought
• A well-accepted idea
– Linguistic determinism: grammar determines world view
• Still controversial
• Language is a framing device (Lakoff)
– Helps us to organize and frame our experience of the world
– And to express our experience of the world