Lecture Terms and Definitions
The subfield of anthropology that studies communication, symbols, and human language (and sometimes non-human primate language!)
What is linguistics/linguistic anthropology?
Briefly describe language in the US--is there a dominant one? What langauges are commonly used? How does this compare to other nations?
No wrong answers!
A system of communication consisting of sounds, words, and grammar.
What is language?
How does language relate to social power and inequality?
Group of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania who are fighting for ownership of their land as it's being sold to farmers/taken over by the government? (Hint: we watched a video about them in class with that British guy)
These are words that are used in almost every language to express one's gender identity, and is rapidly evolving in the English language to accomodate more than the binary female/male identity.
What are gendered pronouns/pronouns?
A school board decides that using AAVE/Spanglish/variations of American English is "improper" and mandates that only "standard English" be spoken at school.
What is language ideology?
Will also accept "ethnocentrism" with proper justification.
Elaborations of signs--a sign that takes on a much wider range of meanings or connotations.
What is a symbol/what are symbols?
Language that combines French, Spanish, Taino, African languages, and English.
What is Creole?
A population of French-speaking people in Canada trying to maintain their rights to be bilingual/protect their language from becoming anglicized.
Who are the Quebecois?
Credit also for what is Quebec?
Partial credit for French Canada.
This phenomenon is an issue that many Indigenous communities face. It is largely due to assimilation and forcing Indigenous populations to abandon their native languages to adopt English.
What is language loss?
Give a personal example of how language impacts your social identity or how you view the world?
No wrong answers!
Changing how one speaks (what words, intonation, slang, etc.) depending on their audience, often seen/ regarding Black Americans.
What is code-switching?
This country used national language policy to change spelling of words to keep up with the changing spoken language.
What is the Netherlands?
Will give half credit for what is Dutch?
A ceremonia exchange system in Papua New Guinea, studied/documented by Bronislaw Malinowski.
What is the Kula Ring?
This may vary by region within the same language.
What is dialect?
Accurately describe the difference between phonology, morphology, and syntax.
Anything along the lines of:
a) phonology = structures of speech sounds
b) morphology = how words are formed into meaningful units
c) syntax = how words are strung together to form sentences and more complex structures like paragraphs.
Gestures, sounds, and movements of the body used to communicate, mostly by animals.
What are call systems?
Hybrid languages in Asia and the Pacific.
What is pidgin/what are pidgin languages?
People with a language lacking in tenses like those we have in English (ie: past, future, and present tense differentiation).
Who are the Hopi?
What Do You Call Someone Who Speaks Two Languages? Bilingual. What Do You Call Someone Who Only Speaks One Language? (From the lecture!)
What is American?
Accurately describe the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
Language inclines its speakers to think about the world in certain ways because of its specific grammatical categories--people interpret the world differently based on what language they speak.
Ideologies people have about the superiority of one dialect or langiage and the inferiority of others.
What is language ideology?
True or false: speaking Pidgin in Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea holds positive social status.
True
This group can be taught to communicate and understand sign language despite not possessing verbal language themselves.
(Hint: not quite a people?)
(Will also accept chimpanzees, bonobos, or orangutans)
(Also--can you name a famous sign language-using gorilla?)