ANT 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Morris Swadesh, Austronesian Languages, Lexicostatistics
10 Dec 2020
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Document Summary
Schieffelin and ochs (from the previous slide) make it clear that language socialization is the key to cultural socialization, and that language is central to culture and is fed by culture. In anthropology, the debate is whether language is the motor of culture or a mirror of it. Languages change (like culture): passage of time: each generation influences language in the ways they use it. Expressions change, along with grammar: cultural contact and borrowing from other languages (sometimes this is forgotten through history), migration and subsequent isolation and development of local culture (quebec french vs. Dramatic changes can lead a language to be unrecognizable to its relatives over time. Historical linguists help us to understand how languages are related though lexicostatistics: comparing patterns of sound changes between languages. Morris swadesh: lexicostatistics has been criticized, but has allowed historical linguists to group languages into large families. Austronesian language tree and full tree figure of austronesian languages.
