ANTH 0780 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Universal Grammar, Phoneme, Linguistic Performance
Document Summary
Language: which may be spoken or written, is our primary means of communication: transmitted through learning, as part of enculturation, based on arbitrary, learned associations between words and the things for which they stand, must be learned. Linguistic anthropologists reconstruct ancient languages by comparing their contemporary descendants and in so doing make discoveries about history. Linguistic differences lead to discoveries of the varied worldviews and patterns of thought in a multitude of cultures. Major subjects studied: history of languages, linguistic difference among cultures, linguistic diversity related to social differences. Call systems: systems of communication among non-human primates, composed of limited number of sounds that vary in intensity and duration. Cultural transmission of communication system through learning is a fundamental attribute of language. Apes and humans share productivity (the ability to combine words and meanings to create new expressions) Apes have demonstrated linguistics displacement (the ability to speak of things and events that are not present.
