ANT 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Evolution, De Facto, Linguistic Imperialism
Document Summary
Other species communicate, but none close to simplest form of human language. Some languages are more technical or have more words. 650k non technical words, as it evolved it gained words from 250 other languages. 1/3 of people understand or speak to some degree (52 official countries) But has been thought to have been surpassed by chinese. Relativity hypothesis that says that language through grammar (not words) determines thought and how people behave in it. Thought and action are linguistically and socially mediated. Culture through language designates how we see and categorize color spectrum. Most of canada"s nw indians have at least 13 different words for snow. But we have a lot more in english that we don"t use. Meme is encoded in a vector (like a spoken message, text, image, etc. ) When host decodes meme, the meme becomes active and infects the person, who becomes a new host. Ecology impacts phenotypic expression and selects among the best phenotypes.
