ANTH 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Linguistics, Phoneme, Bipedalism

• School: University of Victoria
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTH 100
• Professor: Mc Guire

Document Summary

Language: a symbolic system expressing meaning through sounds or gestures. Speech is influenced by biological, cultural, social, and political factors. Biological because we use our mouth and throat to produce sound. Socio-cultural factors include gender, socioeconomic status, level of education, and geographic region. Political because it is bound up in relationships in which power is constantly negotiated. Language shapes culture - it reflects the changes in society. Nonhuman primates have similar lingual areas in the brain, but they are not as developed as they are in humans. Primate brains lack the strong neural connections that the human brain has, linking the areas to one another. Nonhuman primates" mouths and throats lack the intricate musculature that humans have. Before 50,000 years ago, our tongue descended, our mouth got smaller, our larynx dropped, and our neck elongated. This allows us great control over our breath and our ability to produce sound.