anthro

• Phonology


  One basic area of linguistics that includes phonetics (description of sounds) and phonemics (analysis of sounds to differentiate word meanings)
• Each language has its own phonetic inventory from among the possible human sounds, and no language contains all the sounds possible
• International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

  A system used by linguists and language experts to provide a more precise and unequivocal transcription of sounds compared to regular orthography
• English spelling (orthography) is not precise or unequivocal enough for linguistic purposes
• The IPA uses single symbols to represent sounds that English spelling represents with multiple letters
• Phoneme


  A minimal unit of sound that functions to differentiate the meanings of words
• Phonological rules differ between languages and language variants
• Grammar


  The whole system and structure of a language, consisting of syntax and morphology
• Morphology


  The analysis of word structure
• Morpheme


  The smallest unit of meaning
• English is a language with fusional word morphology, combining morphemes to modify meanings
• Morphological typology


  • Fusional languages
  • Agglutinative languages
  • Isolating languages
  • Polysynthetic languages
• Agglutinative languages


  Combine morphemes into words, where the morphemes remain individually identifiable
• Fusional languages


  Combine morphemes into words, but the combined morphemes fuse together
• Polysynthetic languages


  Have lots of morphemes per word, such that often one word is equivalent to an entire sentence in another language
• Isolating languages


  Build up sentences with many independent root morphemes, expressing grammatical relations with separate words
• Inflectional languages


  Change the form of words to express grammatical functions or attributes like tense, mood, person, number, case, and gender
• Syntax


  The rules that describe the order of elements in phrases or sentences
• Linguistic Relativity (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) suggests that language influences thought and perception
• Linguistic Relativity


  • Spatial reasoning: Languages with different spatial orientation systems (e.g. egocentric vs. cardinal directions) can affect speakers' spatial reasoning and perception of space
  • Temporal concepts: Languages encode time differently, influencing speakers' perception of past, present, and future
  • Color perception: The number and naming of colors in a language can impact speakers' ability to distinguish and remember colors
  • Social relationships and morality: Language can shape understanding of social hierarchies and moral values
• Studying diverse languages and cultures provides insights into how language shapes thought and cognition across societies
• Language is a vital, integral part of human social life
• Without language, you would be unable to relate intelligibly with others, as human beings
• Without language, arguably, you couldn't even be yourself
• We should problematize the picture of language as a bunch of labels for things that already exist
• Number of languages spoken in the world today

  • Between 6000 and 7000
• Many languages are dying (or 'slumbering') with very few speakers left
• Languages are not bounded, internally homogenous entities, but fuzzy ones
• Languages can be studied at several levels, and in each one, there is much diversity
• Phonology


  One basic area of linguistics, including phonetics and phonemics
• Each language has its phonetic inventory from among the possible human sounds, and no language contains all the sounds possible
• Languages also vary in the number of sounds they use
• International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

  Used by linguists and other language experts for more rigorous description and transcription of sounds
• English spelling (or orthography) isn't precise or unequivocal enough
• In English spelling, the same sounds may be represented by different letters, and the same letters may represent different sounds
• The IPA signs are supposed to be unequivocal, with one sign representing one sound every time
• The human ability to produce sounds of different qualities is essential for speakers to make distinctions among numerous sounds so that meanings of words can be differentiated
• Distinctions in the sounds we make

  • According to place of articulation
  • According to manner of articulation
• In English, whether the consonant is voiced or not will make a difference in the meaning of the word
• In English, whether certain consonants are nasal or oral will make a difference in the meaning of the word