1. Acquiring Language
1.1. Noam Chomsky believed we had an internal desire to learn communication. His belief contributed to the idea of language acquisition devide (LAD). LAD is the ability for a young infant to learn their mother tongue without any formal teaching/learning process.
1.2. Sociocultural theory implies there is a correlation between language and culture. In order to become a member of a society they must acquire the societies language.
1.3. Code switching is significant in communication because it helps you captivate and reach your appropriate audience. We can see the use of code switching through presidential elections. A great example is Barack Obama we can see how he changes his way of speaking to target the right audience. One example is his well known "mic drop" moment.
2. Language Through Time
2.1. Language can be examined through two different approaches. This being a synchronic approach and a diachronic approach. Both regard linguistic phenomena however the diachronic approach takes into consideration historical advancements.
2.2. Principle of Least Effort - easily articulated sound sequences replacing those that require greater effort - short words coined to supplement the original longer ones (example: prof, exam)
2.3. A language family includes all those languages that are related by virtue of having descended from a single ancestral language.
3. Language Variation
3.1. Pidgins
3.1.1. Pidgins are a form of cross cultural communication that allows individuals speak to different languages to communicate. This form of communication has restricted vocabulary and has no structure. It is typically practice on a level of necessity.
3.1.2. idiolect
3.1.2.1. An individual’s speech variety is referred to as an idiolect. Almost all speakers make use of several idiolects, depending on the circumstances of communication. For example when family members talk to each other, their speech habits typically differ from those any one of them would use in, say, an interview with a prospective employer. The concept of idiolect therefore refers to a very specific phenomenon—the speech variety used by a particular individual.
3.2. vocal tract
3.2.1. Voice quality, or timbre, is determined by the anatomy of the vocal tract (the tongue, the nasal and oral cavities, the vocal cords, the larynx, and other parts), over which the speaker has little or no control.
4. The Ethnography of Communication
4.1. Ethnography
4.1.1. the study of, writing about, and or a description of people
4.2. ethnography of speaking (EOS)
4.2.1. a method for studying culturally specific communication practices and patterns (within a certain group)
4.3. speech community
4.3.1. a group of individuals who share a common set of norms or rules for interpreting and using speech
4.4. Purpose of Communication
4.4.1. The purpose of speaking is not always to transmit information or to exchange ideas. Sometimes it is to establish an atmosphere of sociability and is the equivalent of a hug or a hearty handshake. Speech behavior with the goal of bringing about such an emotional effect is referred to as phatic communion.
5. Chapter 9 Language Variation
5.1. "The recognition of individuals by voice alone is possible because of their idiosynatric combination of voice quality, pronunciation, grammatical usage, and choice of words." (Stanlaw, eta. 179)
5.2. A persons dialect can influenced by the area they live in, their occupation, their level of education, and their economic status. In many instances, individuals in a lower economic class would mimic the way of speaking of those in the higher class to try and seem more superior and elite.
5.3. Pidgins are a form of cross cultural communication that allows individuals speak to different languages to communicate. This form of communication has restricted vocabulary and has no structure. It is typically practice on a level of necessity.
6. Chapter 12 Language and Culture
6.1. The Sapir Whorf hypothesis theorizes that language is an important factor on how individuals see the world. Each individuals lives in their own lingusitic world.
6.2. One example of how a person speech can affect how they view the world is found when observing Navajo and English speakers. English speakers associate an object primarily by using their color and size instead of their shape. While Navajo speakers associate an object primarily by the shape and material instead of their color and size.
7. Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology
7.1. Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology
7.2. Myths surrounding languages such as; Primitive language, grammar, vocabulary deficiencies.
7.3. Linguistics: The study of language to reveal its structure, (the sounds, meanings). Anthropological linguistics: The subfield of anthropology
7.4. Linguistic Anthropology is a field of anthropology, and views language in the cultural form.
7.5. holistic (ch 1)
7.5.1. concerned with seeing the whole picture, with finding all the parts of the human puzzle and putting them together in a way that makes since
8. Methods of Linguestic Anthropology
8.1. cognitive linguistic anthropology
8.1.1. Seek to explain patterns of shared knowledge.
8.2. field work
8.2.1. Practical were conducted by a researcher in the natural environment rather than the laboratory or office
8.3. micro-macro connection
8.3.1. The interest in capturing the elusive connection between the longer institutional structures and processes the textural details of daily encounters
9. Nuts and Bolts
9.1. phoneme
9.1.1. 2 constructive sound units
9.2. phonology
9.2.1. the structure of sound in language, sound of words and syllables / the study of sound systems
9.3. emics
9.3.1. emic approach involves a study that aims to relate the study of language to a unified theory of structure of human behavior
9.3.2. allophone
9.3.2.1. several varieties of the "p" sound
10. Nuts and Bolts II
10.1. Phonetic transcription
10.1.1. - Visual and neutral way of using symbols to represent sounds
10.2. Phonetic alphabet
10.2.1. - Standardized system of phonetic notation of the sounds represented in a language. - anthropologists cannot use phonetic system of their own language
10.3. Articulators
10.3.1. - produce the various amounts of sounds found in all the world's languages - ex. soft and hard palate, tongue, teeth
11. The Development and Evolution of Language: Language Birth, Language Growth, and Language Death
11.1. Language Death
11.1.1. Language death occurs when the last speaker of a language dies, and the language is no longer spoken. It is uncertain whether this refers to the full extinction and forgetting of the language or if there are no more native speakers but it is still learnable.
11.1.2. Reasons for Language Death
11.1.2.1. Languages might die if their speakers die from war, epidemics, or natural disasters. The main reasons today that languages die are because a larger dominant society makes the smaller society of a language dependent on the bigger one for sustenance, leading to the gradual fading away of the language for the speakers to survive in the new society where people all speak the dominant language.
11.1.3. Protolanguages
11.1.3.1. Postulated ancestral language from which several attested languages are believed to have descended by evolution, forming a language family.
11.1.4. Hockett's analysis of the origin of speech
11.1.4.1. -Analyzes language in terms of 13 design features -assumes that first 9 were present in protohumans -each was a response to a recurrent and biologically important situation -last 4 features (displacement, productivity, traditional transmission and duality of patterning) may have evolved
12. Chapter 10 Ethnography Linguistics
12.1. There are social rules that help navigate language. There is linguistic competence where an individual has the knowledge of the grammatical rules from the mother tongue. Secondly, there is communicative competence. This is seen when an individual has the knowledge and experience to communicate appropiately in any social context. Communicative competence is very action oriented.
12.2. The participants in communication include the sender of the message and the receiver. The receiver can be the direct person/s the message is meant for, however anyone who is the same area and hears can also be the receiver indirectly.
12.3. globalization
12.3.1. globalization the development of worldwide social and economic relationships
12.4. cognitive dissonance
12.4.1. the unpleasant or distressing feeling we experience when we hold two discrepant beliefs, or we engage in a behavior that violates our beliefs
13. Chapter 14 Language and Ideology
13.1. Speech and language can be persuaded by our gender, ethnicity, and class. Our ethnicity includes our national, religious and cultural affiliation. The class of individuals is dictated by their educational, familial, and economic affiliations. Lastly, our gender is the gender we choose to identify with.
13.2. William Labov held a study where he assessed the way individuals spoke in settings that had different social classes. Specifically in stores in New York. He found that the sales person in the department stores would change the way the spoke to depending on the class they were targetting.
13.3. Black English Vernacular (BEV)
13.3.1. rule-governed dialect spoken by some African Americans. Differs from standard English in phonology (pronunciation) and grammar
13.4. Daughter Languages
13.4.1. All descended from a common parent language; protolanguage