APG 203 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Linguistic Anthropology, Vocal Tract, Historical Linguistics
Document Summary
Call systems cannot be combined when multiple stimuli are present. Contrasts between language and call systems include displacement, productivity, and cultural transmission. Over time, ancestral call systems became too complex for genetic transmission and hominid communication began to rely on learning. Humans still learn non-verbal communication such as facial expressions, gestures, and body stance. But language is the main form of communication. No language uses all the sounds the human vocal tract can make. Linguistic anthropologists share anthropologys general interest in time and space. Sociolinguistics investigates relationships between social and linguistic variation by focusing on the actual use of language. Linguistics of a low status group are negatively evaluated. Reflect association of features with low social status. Historical linguistics is useful for anthropologists interested in historical relationships among populations. Members of the same language family all descend from the same protolanguage. Cultural transmission- transmission through learning, basic to language. Daughter langauges- languages that share a common parent language.
