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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
The BIG Questions
How do humans communicate? What are the links between
communication, cultural diversity, and inequality?
How does language change?
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Communication
Communication is the process of sending and receiving messages
Most humans are in almost constant communication! With other people, with supernatural beings, or
with pets
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How Do Humans Communicate? Language and verbal communication
Language is a systematic set of symbols and signs with learned and shared meanings
Probably developed in humans about 100,000 years ago – when had both the anatomical and mental capacity to do so
Nonverbal language and embodied communication
Communicating with media and technology
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Key Characteristics of Human Language Human language has productivity
The ability to create an infinite range of understandable expressions from a finite set of rules
Human language emphasizes the feature of displacement The ability to refer to events and issues
beyond the immediate present Humans have the physiological capacity
for speech
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Properties of Human Verbal Language
Has distinctive sounds (or phonemes) Meaningful sounds
Has a vocabulary (or lexicon) Meaningful words Focal vocabularies – clusters of words that
refer to important features of a particular culture
Has a syntax (or grammar) Rules and patterns for making words
meaningful
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Verbal Languages around the World Use Different Sounds to Convey Meaning
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Example of a Focal Vocabulary – Saami are indigenous people of Scandinavia and Russia
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Human Verbal Language
Key Characteristics
Productivity
Displacement
Formal Properties
Sounds
Grammar
Vocabulary
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Nonverbal Language and Embodied Communication
Sign language and gestures Gestures are movements, usually of the hands,
that convey meanings Some gestures may be universally meaningful, but most
are culturally specific and must be understood in its cultural context
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Sign language is a form of communication that uses mainly hand movements to convey messages
May be used by the hearing impaired as their main form of communication
May be used in situations where verbal communication is forbidden or undesirable
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Nonverbal Language and Embodied Communication Silence
Is an important component of communication
Can be associated with power or lack of power
Can be associated with respect, or may use silence in situations of ambiguity May be misinterpreted as ignorance
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Nonverbal Language and Embodied Communication Body language
Involves the body sending and receiving messages
Including dress, hair styles, postures, eye contact, walking style
Convey messages about age, gender, sexual interest or availability, profession, wealth, and emotions Give boys blue baby blankets and girls pink
baby blankets
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Communicating with Media and Technology
Media anthropology is the cross-cultural study of communication through electronic media and print media Looks at the messages conveyed, the
audience response, and the social effects of this
Critical media anthropology asks to what degree access to its messages is liberating or controlling, and whose interests the media serves
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Communicating with Media and Technology
The politics of journalism News stories are packaged differently by
journalists depending on the intended audience
How “accurate” is “the news”? Culture and advertising
Advertising to Latinos Promotes a monolithic image of Latino culture Effects – identity change, missed opportunities
to tap into specialized Latino markets
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Communicating with Media and Technology
Communication technology and inequality The digital divide refers to social inequality in access
to new and emerging information technology, especially access to up-to-date computers, the Internet, and training regarding their use
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-thu_cheappcnov01,0,2887350,full.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout
Knowledge is power! Computers with Internet provide a lot of knowledge
and networking opportunities, so provide power Help people preserve and learn ancestral
languages, record agricultural and medicinal knowledge, protect culture, improve lives
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Culture and Mass MediaJournalists in war zones write a story about the same event differently, depending on whether it’s for a US or European newspaper
Media anthropologists study the media process and content, the audience response and the social effects of media presentations
Critical media anthropologists ask to what degree access to media messages is liberating or controlling, and whose interests the media serve
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Human Communication Fieldwork Research on human communication involves
fieldwork and participant observation Often very detailed analysis of tape recordings
and video recordings – sometimes even frame by frame!
Fieldwork Challenges Translation
Literal translation Communication always occurs in a cultural context
Observer’s paradox The research process alters people’s normal behavior
Especially when being video taped! People want to act “correctly” and more formally
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Language, Thought, and Society: Two Theories
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis Argues that language
determines how we see the world and our behavior
People who speak different languages inhabit different “thought worlds”
e.g. If a language has many different words for different kinds of snow, someone who speaks that language can “think” about snow in more ways than someone can whose language has fewer “snow” terms
Language shapes culture and thought
Sociolinguistic model Study of how cultural and
social context shapes language
Argues that social position determines the content, meaning, and form of language
Culture shapes language
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Critical Discourse Analysis Critical discourse analysis focuses on
the relations of power and in equality in language Looks at the linkages between social
inequality, power, and language
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Critical Discourse Analysis Various classes, genders, ethnicities,
other subcultures have their own distinctive communication styles (or registers) Include variations in vocabulary, grammar,
and intonation
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Critical Discourse Analysis Gender in Euro-American Conversations
Characteristics of female speech include… Politeness Rising intonation at the end of sentences Tag questions
Male speech Less polite Assertive tone Rarely use tag questions Interrupt women in speech more than women
interrupt them Both genders use indirect responses
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Critical Discourse Analysis Txt talk
g2g pos :’( Got to go, parents over shoulder, crying face
jj lmao :D Just joking, laughing my ass off, laughing face
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Critical Discourse Analysis African American English (AAE) /
Ebonics Debate on whether ebonics should be
embraced in the classroom Or whether African American students are
expected to shed their culture and language at the door while conforming their language to American Mainstream English
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Language Change
Language, like culture, is always changing! Adding new words in changing times Borrowing words from other languages Languages may be destroyed
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Historical Linguistics Historical linguistics is the study of
language change through time Often compare lists of words and grammatical
forms in different languages Can sometimes tell where people migrated to
and which cultures had contact with each other in various points in time based on language similarities and difference
Can determine language families – languages descended from a parent language Example: the Indo-European Language Family
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Language change through migration: the spread of Bantu languages in Africa
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Writing Earliest written languages – about 4000 BCE Were made up of logographs
Signs that indicate a word, syllable, or sound Writing and the rise of the state
Writing is often associated with state-level political organization
Recordkeeping is an essential task of a state Writing for ceremonial purposes / tombs Writing for artistic expression / poetry
An empire without writing: khipu among the Inca of the Peruvian Andes in the 14th century Cords of knotted strings of different colors, for
keeping accounts and recording events
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Colonialism and Nationalism Beginning in the 15th century, colonialism
was a major force of language change Colonial powers declaring their own language
as the language of government, business, and education
Often suppressed indigenous languages and literatures Indigenous languages were viewed as being
“uncivilized” Led to discrimination against those who spoke
these languages and the extinction of many languages
Led to increase in bilingualism – competence in a language other than one’s birth language
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Colonialism and Nationalism Pidgin
Is a language that blends elements of at least two parent languages that emerges when two different cultures with different languages come in contact and need to communicate
Is a secondary, rudimentary language in addition to the speakers’ own native language
Usually limited to functional domains, for example, trade and basic social interactions
e.g. – owners needing to communicate with slaves, slaves needing to communicate with other slaves
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Colonialism and Nationalism Creole
Is a language descended from a pidgin with its own native speakers, richer vocabularies, and more developed grammar
Is a primary language
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Colonialism and Nationalism National policies of language assimilation
Soviet Union English-only movement in the U.S.
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Example of nationalism and linguistic assimilation in Russia of the Komi language
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Globalization and Language Change Global languages
96% of the world’s population speaks 4% of the world’s languages
English is the most globalized language in history British colonial expansion influenced this – the
British made English the official language of the colonies
Takes on regional variations – Spanglish, Japlish, and Tex-Mex
Pros – ease of communication, more economic opportunities
Cons – linguistic imperialism
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Endangered Languages Documenting declining languages is still a
key part of what linguistic anthropologists do Degrees of language loss
Language decay – language shift, when speakers have limited vocabulary in their native language and more often use a new language in which they may be semi-fluent or fluent
Language endangerment – when a language has fewer than 10,000 speakers
Language extinction – language death, occurs when the language no longer has any competent users
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Endangered Languages
There are about 7,000 languages in the world today Over half are endangered (less than
10,000 native speakers) A quarter have less than 1,000 speakers
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Endangered Languages Why bother trying to maintain or
revitalize linguistic diversity? Why should we care?
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Endangered Languages Why bother trying to maintain or
revitalize linguistic diversity? Diversity is a good thing in and of itself
Diversity (biological, cultural, and linguistic diversity) is a sign of a healthy planet
Certain aspects of a culture and a culture’s history and identity are lost when a culture’s language is lost Important knowledge of different ways of life and
different ways of thinking about and dealing with life’s challenges may be lost when a language is lost
Stories which teach important life lessons, knowledge of plants and their medicinal uses, etc.
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Endangered Languages Efforts to revive or maintain local
languages face many challenges Political opposition from governments that
fear local identity movements Limited financial resources to support
minority language programs Deciding on which language or which
version of a language to maintain or revive is difficult and always a political decision Who will decide? How will the decision be made?