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.