Language and Culture

Language experiment (Kohler 1929) Does the human brain attach abstract meaning to shapes in a consistent way? Select a name for each shape below between these options: bouba and kiki

What is language? Transmitted through learning – part of enculturation Evidence of genetic mutation in human brain (about 150,000 yrs. ago) Part of a larger system of communication, including nonverbal: Body language (kinesics) Facial expressions Gesture Use of physical space

What is language? Based on arbitrary, learned associations between words and the things they stand for (symbolic and abstract). It is composed of discrete elements that can be recombined in different ways (productivity). Language is intuitive and learned from context and environment.

What is language? Displacement: referring to things and events that are not immediately present Only humans have the linguistic capacity to discuss the past and future and share their experiences with others

Linguistic terminology Phonology Study of sound in language Phoneme Morphology Study of how sounds combine to form words Morpheme Syntax Lexicon Focal vocabulary Paralanguage

Phonetics

Sociolinguistics Studies relationships between social and linguistic variation and influence of factors like class, race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and nationality. Style shifting: varying speech according to the context you’re in Code-switching: shifting between dialects All dialects are equally effective for communication. Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: language creates different ways of thinking and categories of thought (ex: Hopi combine past/present tense)

Language preservation Approx. 7000 languages exist today Half of the world’s languages have gone extinct since 1500 following European contact with the New World. Half of the world’s languages are currently endangered. Globalization promotes a very small handful of languages over all others

Historical linguistics