Language, Culture, and Society: Linguistic Anthropology

1. Chapter 1: Intro to Lingustic Anthropology

1.1. There are four field approaches to study humanity: 1) Physical Anthropology 2) Archeology 3) Lingustic Anthropology 4) Cultural Anthropology Lingustic Anthropology is the study of human language in the past and present we learn the importance of how langauge and the way in which we learn language are influenced by culture. How does culture and language relate to one another.

1.2. "The interest of the linguist is primarily in language and structure, whereas the interest of the lingustic anthroplogist is in speech use and the relations that exist betweent language, on the one hand, and society and culture, on the other." (Stanlaw et al., 10)

2. Chapter 2: Methods of Lingusitic Anthropology

2.1. Deeper dive into the differences between Lingustics and Linguistic Anthropologists. Lingustic Anthropologists used two major themes 1) Structuralism: saw language as consisting of rules and patterns that governed grammar, vocabulary, morphology and phonology. 2) Generative Grammar: the belief that identifying tactic rules allowed speakers to create langauges An emphasis on fieldwork components that allowed lingustic anthropologies to conduct their studies: participant observation and establishing a relationship with a knowledgable consultant can lead to a more successful study of the language.

2.2. "The goals of the theory, its views of language, its units of analysis, outstanding issues, and method of obtaining data are provided in thumbnail sketches in subsequent columns.' (Stanlaw et al., 19)

3. Chapter 3: The "Nuts and Bolts" of Lingustic Anthropology I: Language is Sound

3.1. Introuduction to Phonology is the structure of sound in language. Every culture has their own set of rules when it comes to phonology. Phonemes is the smallest distinctive sound unit of a language then comes the allophone which is a variation of a phoneme in other words all the different ways a phoneme can be used. The difference and importance between etic and emic: Etic is used to establish data on sound and emic is used to extablish the meaning behind the sound cross culturally.

3.2. "Each language represents a particular variety of the general language code- in other words, no two languages are alike; although some are structurally similiar, others are quite different." (Stanlaw et al., 36)

4. Chapter 4: The "Nuts and Bolts" of Lingustic Anthropology II: Structure of Words and Sentences

4.1. Every language has its own syntax and semantics. Morpheme is the smallest unit of grammar establishing a morpheme in a language helps us identify the pattern in which the language uses the morpheme. Once you establish the morpheme of a language you can then start to decode the meaning the speaker is trying to convey.

4.2. "A good transcription is essential for an analysis because only witha reliable text in hand can the lingustic anthropologist determine a language's grammatical structure and exact meaning." (Stanlaw et al., 70)

5. Chapter 5 Communicating Nonverbally

5.1. Highlights the importance nonverbal communication plays in understanding different cultures and their languages. Nonverbal communication methods include: facial expressions, kinesics, and haptics. This methods of communication are for the most part universal and therefore gives a deeper insight to language and the meaning the speaker is trying to convey.

5.2. "The basic assumption that underlies kinesics is that no body movement or facial expression is likely to lack meaning because, just like other aspects of voluntary human behavior, body movements, posture, and facial expressions are patterned and occur together." (Stanlaw et al., 91)