ANT253H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1-2: William Labov, Wilhelm Von Humboldt, George Lakoff
ANT253 Chapter 1 & 2 Notes
Scholars
Noam Chomsky: most influential in modern debate on language acquisition, Universal Grammar etc.
Ferdinand Saussure: Swiss philologist, made significant developments in semiology (semiotics)
Francis Boas: anthropologist, first to apply structuralism to the study of indigenous languages of America. Showed
how languages developed specialized lexical and grammatical forms that reflected the experiences and
interpretations of their speakers. Laid foundations for linguistic anthropology
Benjamin Whorf: student of Edward Sapir, who reworked Boas’ hypothesis-. Linguistic relativity
Bronislaw Malinowski: wrote an ethnography called Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922). Argued that all
languages create words to make sense of situations and to solve problems that might arise from them
William Labov: often regarded as the founder of contemporary sociolinguistic methodology, with classic study of
social implications of pronunciation differences. Labov, study of New York City residents and different
pronunciation.
Berlin and Kay: argued that differences in colour terms are only superficial matters that conceal universal
principles of colour perception. Main implication of experiment, study is that colour terminology follows a
universal sequence (so colours perceived as fundamental)
George Lakoff: known for his thesis that lives of individuals are significantly influenced by the central metaphors
they use to explain complex phenomena
Jennifer Coates: made list of 4 approaches to the study of the linguistic encoding of gender roles
Wilhelm Humboldt: identify human language as a rule-governed system, rather than just a collection of words and
phrases paired with meanings. Rather than focusing on grammar as based on universal principles of construction,
he maintained that each grammar reflects the differential experience of different ppl
Terms
Chapter 1
logos
Which means both “word” and “reason or mind”, faculty that united thought
and speech
lexicon
Collection of meaning-bearing forms, the potential stock of all lexemes in a
language
-key to understanding social systems, both in their origins and in their current
constitution
language attrition
reduction, weakening or loss of a first, second, third, or more language in an
individual person or in a community
phonemes
/r/ or /k/, any of the perceptually distinct units of sound in a specified
language that distinguish one word from another, for example p, b, d, and t in
the English words pad, pat, bad, and bat.
morphemes
a meaningful morphological unit of a language that cannot be further divided
(e.g., in, come, -ing, forming incoming ).
double articulation
With a small set of sounds one can make words, sentences, and texts ad
infinitum
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Document Summary
Noam chomsky: most influential in modern debate on language acquisition, universal grammar etc. Ferdinand saussure: swiss philologist, made significant developments in semiology (semiotics) Francis boas: anthropologist, first to apply structuralism to the study of indigenous languages of america. Showed how languages developed specialized lexical and grammatical forms that reflected the experiences and interpretations of their speakers. Benjamin whorf: student of edward sapir, who reworked boas" hypothesis-. Bronislaw malinowski: wrote an ethnography called argonauts of the western pacific (1922). Argued that all languages create words to make sense of situations and to solve problems that might arise from them. William labov: often regarded as the founder of contemporary sociolinguistic methodology, with classic study of social implications of pronunciation differences. Labov, study of new york city residents and different pronunciation. Berlin and kay: argued that differences in colour terms are only superficial matters that conceal universal principles of colour perception.
