BALANA, RAYNIE Contrasting Linguistics and Linguistic Anthropology

DANAG, JOANA MONET V. 16th July 2018, 7:30 A.M-12 noon

PEREZ, DHAPNY

YONDER, GENEROSE B.

The Division of Labor Between Linguistics and Linguistic Anthropologist

Learning Outcomes

 Learners will be able discriminate the distinction between Anthropology, Linguistics and

Linguistic Anthropology through abstraction and generalization.

 Learners will be able to obtain enough information which could polish and refine their

prior knowledge about the distinction between Linguistics and Linguistic Anthropology.

 Leaners will be able to conceptualize the division of labor between linguist and linguist

and linguistic anthropologist, where they can generate and create new insights about it.

Contents

Main Topics

 Anthropology

 Linguistics

 Linguistic Anthropology

 Contrasting Linguistic and Linguistic Anthropology

Anthropology

According to Salzmann et. al., (1978), anthropology is the holistic study of humankind.

Because all specie of Homo Sapiens are biological organisms, the study of human beings

must try to understand their origin and nature in the appropriate context.As homonids, (that is,

the recent human and their extinct ancestors), strove to adapt to a great variety of natural and self

made condition, they engaged in a long series of innovations referred to by the term culture.

More so, in the course of their cultural evolution during the past million years, humans have been

immeasurably aided by the development of an effective means of communication, the most

remarkable and crucial component of which is human language.

Linguistics

To find the principles common to all languages that enable people to speak creatively and

freelyis Noam Chomsky's description of his goal as a linguist. Many recent works have stressed

that all children go through the same stages of language development regardless of the language

they are learning. In examining this, Chomsky gave linguistics, the study of the human speech, a

new direction.

Linguistics does not refer to the study of a particular language for the purpose to speak it;

rather it refers to the analytical study of language, any language, to reveal its structure—the

different kinds of units (its sounds, the smallest meaningful part of word and so on)—and the

rules according to which these units are put together to produce stretches of speech (Salzmann et.

al., 2012).
 According to Halliday (2006) Linguistics is the scientific study of language and involves

an analysis of language form, language meaning, and language in context. The earliest activities

in the documentation and description of language have been attributed to the 6th century

BC Indian grammarian Pāṇini, who wrote a formal description of the Sanskrit language in

his Aṣṭādhyāyī.

Linguists traditionally analyse human language by observing an interplay

between sound and meaning (Jacobson, 1937).

Phonology is a branch of linguistics concerned with the systematic organization

of sounds in languages. It has traditionally focused largely on the study of

the systems of phonemes in particular languages.

Phonetics is the study of speech and non-speech sounds, and delves into their acoustic

and articulatory properties (Chierchia &McConnell, 2000).

Morphology is the study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to other

words in the same language. It analyzes the structure of words and parts of words, such

as stems, root words, prefixes, and suffixes. Morphology also looks at parts of speech, intonation

and stress, and the ways context can change a word's pronunciation and meaning (Anderson,

2016)

In linguistics, syntax is the set of rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure

of sentences in a given language, usually including word order. The term syntax is also used to

refer to the study of such principles and processes.The goal of many syntacticians is to discover

the syntactic rules common to all languages.

Semantics is the linguistic and philosophical study of meaning, in language,

programming languages, formal logics, and semiotics. It is concerned with the relationship
between signifiers—like words, phrases, signs, and symbols—and what they stand for,

their denotation.

Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics and semioticsthat studies the ways in

which context contributes to meaning.

According to Jimoh (2008) Linguistic is the scientific study of language whose goal is to

describe and explain the unconscious knowledge the speakers have of their language.

Lyons (1968) contends that by scientific study of language is meant its investigations by means

of controlled and empirical verifiable observations and with reference to some general theory of

language structure. It is a field that deals with the scientific description and analysis of language.

Linguistics according to one of the Nigeria’s applied linguist, Dr. Olaoye is the scientific study of

grammatical system of a language and their interrelationship with the rest of human activities.

Linguistics studies the form and their meaning in social context of any language. The form in this

sense indicates the grammatical functions—- the syntax and the meaning—- the semantics.

To maintain the adequate and proper description and analysis of language, linguists divided

language into various components. These include: Phonetics, the scientific study of speech

sounds; Phonology, the study of sounds with their meanings; Syntax, the study of grammatical

functions of language; Semantics, the study of meaning of grammatical functions of a language

according to its social context; and Morphology which is the study of the internal structure of

words.

Through these components of language the linguists have been able to carry the scientific

descriptions analyses of language. For instance, with phonetics component, linguists design for

many languages of the world their orthographies both in consonants and vowels. These can be
seen in many of Nigeria languages like Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba language orthographies etc. In

designing orthography for a language, linguists transcribe the vowels and represent them on a

cardinal vowels chart. Cardinal vowels chart as defined by a German phonetician, Daniel Jones

is the set reference chart used to describe the vowel sound of a language. With this the linguists

have been able to describe how the vowels sounds of a language are being articulated. And

consonants in the other hand on the consonants chart, is designed by the International Phonetics

Association (I.P.A)

Wagers and Chung (2016) stated that linguistics is the study of these knowledge systems

in all their aspects: how is such a knowledge system structured, how is it acquired, how is it used

in the production and comprehension of messages, how does it change over time? Linguists

consequently are concerned with a number of particular questions about the nature of language.

What properties do all human languages have in common? How do languages differ, and to what

extent are the differences systematic, i.e. can we find patterns in the differences? How do

children acquire such complete knowledge of a language in such a short time? What are the ways

in which languages can change over time, and are there limitations to how languages change?

What is the nature of the cognitive processes that come into play when we produce and

understand language?

The part of linguistics that is concerned with the structure of language is divided into a

number of subfields in its simpliest form:

Phonetics - the study of speech sounds in their physical aspects

Phonology - the study of speech sounds in their cognitive aspects

 Morphology - the study of the formation of words

Syntax - the study of the formation of sentences

Semantics - the study of meaning

Pragmatics - the study of language use

Linguistic Anthropology

In its simpliiest form linguistic anthropology is a branch of anthropology that studies the

role of language in the social lives of individuals and communities. Linguistic anthropology

explores how language shapes communication. Language plays a huge role in social identity,

group membership, and establishing cultural beliefs and ideologies.

In it broader sense, liinguistic anthropology was the last subfield of anthropology to be

developed and recognized and was primarily practiced by North American Anthropologists. Its

beginnings go back to the interest of 19 th century scholars and the great variety of Native

American societies and language they spoke. What linguistic anthropology is concerned with are

the consequences of the process that led to language. Thus linguistic Anthropology focuses more

on the social structures, speakers and language use. Things like use, speech community, and

characteristic of the speaker cover a lot of ground. Because linguistic anthropologist try to view

language from the very broad of anthropology (Salzmann et. al.,2012).

 Linguistic Anthropologist view language and its cultural framework and are concerned

with the rules for its social rules. The data for linguistic anthropology are for the most part

obtained in the field (Salzmann et. al., 2012).

Hymes and Gumperz (1960) cited in Salzmann et. al (2012) view language as a culturally

organized and culturally organizing domain, seeing how speech practices organize culture and

society. They argued that language must be studied within a social context or situation and go

beyond the study of grammar. The unit of interest is not the ideal speaker-listener informant but

the speech community and the speech event.

Language became not so much a way to get a cognition—which both Boas and Chomsky

believed—but a way to express social phenomena and social relationship.Linguistic

anthropology examines the relationship between language and nonlinguistic aspects of culture,

focusing on the social and cognitive processes by which language affects and is affected by

human behavior. Language is the means by which culture is learned and the means by which

ethnographers acquire knowledge of culture, and so the systematic examination of language is

crucial to students in cultural, medical, and business anthropology. The written forms of

language, no less significant than spoken ones, are highly relevant to our understanding of the

past, and so linguistic anthropology is vital to archaeologists as well. The evolved capacity for

language and the relationship between language and brain function are important subjects of

study in biological anthropology (Chrisomalis, 2018)

Contrasting Linguistics and Linguistic Anthropology

Linguistics does not refer to the study of a particular language for the purpose to speak it;

rather it refers to the analytical study of language, any language, to reveal its structure—the
different kinds of units (its sounds, the smallest meaningful part of word and so on)—and the

rules according to which these units are put together to produce stretches of speech.

The subject matter of linguistic anthropology which can be defined as the study of

language in its biological and sociocultural context. Linguistic anthropologist deals with the

aspect of both concept: when they study the communicative links between the individual

members of a group and between groups within the society, and when they study and describe

traditional learned behavior (culture), and how it relates to the values of the members of the

group, their linkage with language is sociocultural (Salzmann et. al., 2012).

The followings are concrete statements serves as an examples to illustrate the distinction

between Linguistics and Linguistic Anthropology.

The two linguistic statements:

1. In English, the nasal consonant /n/ as in sin and /ŋ/ (written as ng) as in

sing, are in contrast because they differentiate the meanings of two English words.

2. The English word woman developed over the centuries from the Old

English word wīfman.

The two linguistic anthropology statements:

1. In Javanese, the choice of words is determined by such characteristics of

the speaker and the addressee as their age, gender, wealth, education and occupation; and
 the more refined level of speech, the slower, softer and more even the presentation will

be.

2. The remarkable cave-wall painting and carvings of the Upper Paleolithic

Cro-Magnons served as an indirect proof that these prehistoric people had a full-fledge

language.

Therefore, the division of labor exists between linguistics and linguistic

anthropologists. The interest of the linguists is primarily in the language structure and less

often in languages changes over time; the interest of the linguistic anthropologist is in speech

use and the relation between the language and its users (Salzmann et. al., 2012).

I. Proponents

Zdenek “Denny” Salzmann

Zdenek Salzmann Born: 18 October 1925 (age 92 years), Prague, Czech Republic a

native of Prague, is professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Massachusetts,

Amherst . A specialist in Native American languages and folklore, he has held guest

professorships at Yale University and the University of Freiburg in Germany. He has been

visiting professor at several universities in the Czech Republic. At present, he is adjunct

professor at Northern Arizona University .

Dell Hathaway Hymess

Dell Hathaway Hymes (June 7, 1927 in Portland, Oregon – November 13, 2009

in Charlottesville, Virginia) was a linguist, sociolinguist, anthropologist, and folklorist who

established disciplinary foundations for the comparative, ethnographic study of language use.

His research focused upon the languages of the Pacific Northwest. He was one of the first to call

the fourth subfield of anthropology "linguistic anthropology" instead of "anthropological

linguistics". The terminological shift draws attention to the field's grounding in anthropology
rather than in what, by that time, had already become an autonomous discipline (linguistics). In

1972 Hymes founded the journal Language in Society and served as its editor for 22 years.

Alessandro Duranti

Alessandro Duranti (born September 17, 1950 in Rome, Italy[1]) is Distinguished

Professor of Anthropology and served as Dean of Social Sciences at UCLA from 2009-2016.

[2] He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Avram Noam Chomsky

 Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive

scientist, historian, social critic and political activist. Sometimes described as "the father of modern linguistics",

Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophyand one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He

holds a joint appointment as Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and

laureate professor at the University of Arizona,[22][23] and is the author of over 100 books on topics such

as linguistics, war, politics, and mass media. Ideologically, he aligns with anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian

socialism.

II. Assumption to Teaching and Learning

 To learners, they are able to discriminate the importance of linguistics and linguistic

anthropology in accordance to the resources that was provided, thus, it enhances their

retention and transfer of knowledge.

 To learners, they are able to discern the distinction between anthropology, linguistics and

linguistic anthropoly, as well as the contrast between linguistics and linguistic

anthropology.
III. References

•Belletti, A. & Rizzi, . (2002). Noam Chomsky: On Nature and Language. New York: Cambridge

University Press. Retrieved from http://anthropology.iresearchnet.com/linguistic-anthropology/

•Chrisomalis, S. (2018). Linguistic Anthropology and Anthropology. Retrieved from

http://www.clas.wayne.edu/Anthropology/Linguistic-Anthropology

•Duranti, A. (2004). Companion to Linguistic Anthropology. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Retrieved

from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_anthropology

•Halliday, M. & Webster J. (2006).On Language and Linguistics. Continuum International

Publishing Group. Retrieved from

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8264-8824-2
•Ito, J. (2016) Linguistics. Retrieved from https://linguistics.ucsc.edu/about/what-is-

linguistics.html

•Jimoh, A. (2008). Linguistics: Scientific Study of Language. Retrieved from

https://abujimoh.wordpress.com/tag/linguistics-scientific-study-of-language-chomsky-ferdinand-

de-saussure-language-science-phonetics-phonology-syntax/

•Koenker, R. (2001). Linguistic Anthropology. Elsevier Science Ltd. Retrieved from

https://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/duranti/reprints/02ling_anth.pdf

•Springer, J. (2010) Linguistic Anthropology. Retrieved from

https://www.unr.edu/anthropology/understanding-anthropology/linguistic-anthropology

•Salzmann, Z. (1998). Language, Culture and Society: An Introduction to Linguistic

Anthropology (2nd ed.). Colorado, USA: Westview Press. Retrieved from

https://yammeringon.wordpress.com/2015/12/16/anthropological-linguistics-vs-sociolinguistics-

vs-linguistic-anthropology-argh/

•Salzmann, Z. et. al. (2012) Language Culture and Society: An Introduction to Linguistic

Anthropology. Westview Press. Retrieved from

https://dspace.ttu.edu.vn/bitstream/handle/123456789/3457/Language culture and society.pdf?

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