Language, Culture, &

Society
Summary of Chapter I & II

I. Introducing Linguistic Anthropology

II. Methods of Linguistic Anthropology

Jasper John Roque

Jasper John M. Roque
AB English - II
LESSON 1
INTRODUCING LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY

WHY WE STUDY LANUAGE? LANGUAGE IN DAILY LIFE

 Why should I study language? Most people never study language and they seem to get along fine. But
do they? For example, a communication between a patient and physician. The doctor often has to take
a general phrase, such as ‘a dull ache in my side’ and formulate a diagnosis based on this description.
When responding to patient, the doctor must choose words carefully.
 Some language problems are obvious, and some are not. Why do I have to say, ‘you and I’ instead of
‘me and you’? Problems of ethnicity and community-identity can be seen in such controversial issues
as bilingual education or the teaching of Ebonics.
 Language is involved in a wide variety of human situations. When something arises and is so complex
that we cannot grasps the meaning, we should study it.

MODERN MYTHS CONCERNING LANGUAGES

 Every human being speaks a language, but what one think of language particularly those know little or
nothing – is quite another matter.
 The most common misconception we can refer to as myth is the belief that unwritten languages are
“primitive”. But why certain languages mistakenly thought to be primitive? There are several reasons.
1. Some consider other language “primitive sounding” if a language makes use of sounds or
combination of sounds, they find indistinct or different from the language they speak
themselves.
2. Another has to do with grammar. People from not urbanized or industrialized society have little
grammar than others. But the degree of this grammatical complexity is not a measure of how
effective a language is.
3. Some supposes vocabularies of so-called primitive languages. Whether the vocabularies of a
languages are too small or insufficient compare to the language of a complex society.

 According to Hymes, no known languages are primitive, and all languages are potentially equal. Hence,
capable of adaptation to the needs of a complex industrial civilization, only certain languages have
done so. Languages are more successful than others not because of advanced structure but because
they happen to be associated with societies in which literature, science, education, and e-commerce
are basis of language.
 However, success of some languages must not be taken as linguistic profiling – judging the worth of
persons based on their speech. In other words, languages, dialects, choice of words, and accents
become the means of classifying people leading to language and/or racial prejudice.

BRIEF HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY

 What is Anthropology?
A very simple definition of anthropology is “the holistic study of humankind,” but this may not be
especially enlightening.

The following insightful summarizes the overall scope of anthropology:

1. Homo sapiens are biological organism, thus, human study should understand their origin and
nature in the appropriate context.

Language, Culture, & Society

Jasper John M. Roque
AB English - II

2. Recent humans adapt to natural and self-made conditions and engaged in innovations referred to
by the term culture.
3. During the past million years of cultural evolution, humans developed an effective means of
communication which is the so-called human language.

 A Greek historian of 5th century B.C. Herodotus, wrote about the ethnic origin of Carians and Caunians
of southwestern Asia Minor and considered the dialects they spoke, that later paved way to linguistic
anthropology. However, in the modern sense this is relatively recent field of study.
 Thomas Jefferson published his Notes on the State of Virginia containing collected vocabularies of
native American languages
 John Wesley Powell – the first person to run the Colorado River throughout the entire length of the
Grand Canyon. He also published the classification of American Indian languages north of Mexico.
 Franz Boas a German-born who held the first academic position in anthropology in the United States
(at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts). He authored, coauthored, or edited more than seven
hundred publications ranging from articles on Native American music, art, folklore, and languages to
studies in culture theory, human biology, and archeology.
 By World War II, anthropology was well established as an academic field and taught at major
universities.
 One characteristic that sets anthropology apart from other social sciences is a strong fieldwork
component, sometimes augmented by work in the laboratory.

ANTHROPOLOGY, LINGUISTICS, AND LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY

 Linguistics is another discipline that also focuses on uniquely human attributes. The scientific study of
language not for the purpose of learning to speak it but refers to analytical study of language to reveal
its structure – different kinds of language units (sounds, smallest meaningful parts of words, and so on)
and the rules to which units are put together to produce speech.
 Linguist is primarily interested in language structure, while linguistic anthropologist is in speech use
and the relations that exist between language on the one hand and society and culture on the other.
 The term linguistic anthropology according to Karl V. Teeter’s argument, if anthropology is the study
of humanity, and language is one of the most characteristic features of humankind, then the study of
language is an obvious and necessary aspect of anthropology as a whole. To modify the noun
linguistics by the adjective anthropological is clearly redundant because, even though members of
all animal species communicate, so far as is known no other species uses anything comparable to
human language.

Language, Culture, & Society

Jasper John M. Roque
AB English - II
LESSON 2

METHODS OF LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY

CONTRASTING LINGUISTICS AND LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY

 Linguistics is the scientific study of language not for the sole learning to speak them but to reveal its
structures, while linguistic anthropology is the study of language in its biological and sociocultural
contexts.

THE FIELDWORK COMPONENT

 Participant observation – the immersion of anthropological fieldworkers for an extended day-to-day

activity of the people whom they study.
 Fieldwork – is the exposure of anthropologists to societies or communities they study and is usually
lasting several months, and frequently a full year.
 Handbook of American Indian Languages – Boas first volume of fieldwork where he insisted that “a
command of the language is an indispensable means of obtaining accurate and thorough knowledge
(of the culture that is being studied), because much information can be gained by listening to
conversations of the natives and by taking part in their daily life, which, to the observer who has no
command of the language, will remain entirely inaccessible.
 Linguistic anthropologists view language in its cultural framework and are concerned with the rules for
its social use; the analysis of its structure is therefor only a means to an end. By contrast, linguists in
their study of languages emphasize linguistic structure and the historical development of languages.
 Just as in the rest of anthropology, the data for linguistic anthropology are for the most part obtained in
the field. Over the decades, fieldworkers have developed techniques and methods to the point that
some anthropology departments with a sizable program in linguistic anthropology now offer courses in
linguistic field methods.

Language, Culture, & Society