The Anthropology of Language An Introduction to Linguistic

The Anthropology of Language: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology Chapter 1 Linguistic Anthropology

Linguistic Anthropology • One of the “four fields” of anthropology • Drawing on theoretical or structural linguistics • The linguistic sort of anthropology, rather than the anthropological sort of linguistics

Anthropology – the study of H. sapiens • American Anthropology and Franz Boas – Shaping Anthropology for over a century • Holistic • Comparative • Fieldwork based

Holistic • Nothing is “off limits” • Anything human beings do can be studied anthropologically • Apparently irrelevant data may prove to be central; everything the researcher experiences is worthy of attention and may be recorded

Comparative – making the strange familiar and the familiar strange • Comparing to see the diversity of what it is to be human • Comparing to see potential underlying patterns which link us as a species • Requires cultural relativity – The idea that other possible frames of reference exist, which work just as well or as poorly as our own, and which inform the behavior and perception of others

Cultural relativity and ethnocentrism • Frames of reference – – Ways of seeing an interpreting the world Necessary for us to function in human societies Comparable Diverse • Cultural relativity—acknowledging the legitimacy of different frames of reference • Ethnocentrism—refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of any frame of reference other than your own • Cultural relativity is NOT moral relativism – Personal ethical framework plays a key role in linguistic anthropological research

Fieldwork based • Doing what people are doing, when they are doing it • Closely associated with holistic nature of all anthropology • Researcher adjusts their own frames of reference • Researcher writes about their experience, with explicit first-person narration, providing what Clifford Geertz has referred to as the “I witness”

Theoretical linguistics • • Seeking universal principles Focus on form and structure Works to develop universal rules Not concerned with the effects of social and cultural behavior on linguistic behavior, nor with the effects of social and cultural behavior on linguistic behavior

Questions to consider • How did a comparative, holistic, fieldwork based approach influence Mitchell’s understanding of the populations he encountered? • What do the ethical problems which Innes and Manelis Klein describe have in common with each other? How are they different? What role does cultural relativity play in their decisions?

What you’ll gain from this class • In this class, you’ll learn to look at language (or “languaging”) the way a linguistic anthropologist does. • The tools you will learn to use in this class will help you to learn to communicate in other languages, and may help you improve your communications skills in languages you already use.