Active Outline
General Information
- Course ID (CB01A and CB01B)
- ANTHD006.
- Course Title (CB02)
- Linguistic Anthropology
- Course Credit Status
- Credit - Degree Applicable
- Effective Term
- Fall 2023
- Course Description
- A cross-cultural investigation into the relationship between language and culture: language as a human attribute; language structure, historical origins, diversification, and change; gender and cultural variations in language usage; comparative analysis and classification of world languages; the origins and development of writing; microelectronics and the advent of the information age; globalization and language.
- Faculty Requirements
- Course Family
- Not Applicable
Course Justification
This course is a major preparation requirement in the discipline of anthropology for both CSU and UC. It meets a general education requirement for °®¶¹´«Ã½, CSUGE and IGETC. Anthropology has four major subfields and this course is an introduction to one of them, which is linguistic anthropology.
Foothill Equivalency
- Does the course have a Foothill equivalent?
- No
- Foothill Course ID
Formerly Statement
Course Development Options
- Basic Skill Status (CB08)
- Course is not a basic skills course.
- Grade Options
- Letter Grade
- Pass/No Pass
- Repeat Limit
- 0
Transferability & Gen. Ed. Options
- Transferability
- Transferable to both UC and CSU
| °®¶¹´«Ã½ GE | Area(s) | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2GDX | °®¶¹´«Ã½ GE Area D - Social and Behavioral Sciences | Approved |
| CSU GE | Area(s) | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| CGDY | CSU GE Area D - Social Sciences | Approved |
| IGETC | Area(s) | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| IG4X | IGETC Area 4 - Social and Behavioral Sciences | Approved |
| C-ID | Area(s) | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| ANTH | Anthropology | Approved | C-ID ANTH 130 |
Units and Hours
Summary
- Minimum Credit Units
- 4.0
- Maximum Credit Units
- 4.0
Weekly Student Hours
| Type | In Class | Out of Class |
|---|---|---|
| Lecture Hours | 4.0 | 8.0 |
| Laboratory Hours | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Course Student Hours
- Course Duration (Weeks)
- 12.0
- Hours per unit divisor
- 36.0
Course In-Class (Contact) Hours
- Lecture
- 48.0
- Laboratory
- 0.0
- Total
- 48.0
Course Out-of-Class Hours
- Lecture
- 96.0
- Laboratory
- 0.0
- NA
- 0.0
- Total
- 96.0
Prerequisite(s)
Corequisite(s)
Advisory(ies)
EWRT D001A or EWRT D01AH or ESL D005.
Limitation(s) on Enrollment
Entrance Skill(s)
General Course Statement(s)
(See general education pages for the requirements this course meets.)
Methods of Instruction
Lecture with power points and visual aids
Discussion of assigned reading
Discussion and problem solving performed in class
Quiz and examination review performed in class
Collaborative learning and small group exercises
Homework and extended projects
Lecture and visual aids
Weekly Small group discussions of critical thinking questions
Guest speakers
Collaborative projects
Assignments
- Reading
- Assigned readings from required texts and other sources
- Suggested supplemental readings and journal articles
- Writing
- A major group project in which students conducts interviews and participant observation of a given topic (example: gender and language, bilingualism or accent discrimination). Students write a proposal, compose interview questions, and produce the analysis and interpretation of linguistic data.
- Several individual papers in which the student identifies, analyzes, and evaluates everyday language traits (example: particular phones, accents, grammar and/or semantic domain).
- Several small group and/or individual exercises of the structure of languages (example: phonetics, phonemics, morphology and syntax) in various cultures (example: Korean, Hindi, English, and Shinziwani).
- A few small group discussion/writing questions designed to encourage students to think about the reading or key issues (example: English Only Movement, Gender variation in language use)
- A weekly in-class writing assignments of supplemental readings to understand the anthropological analysis of language practices around the world
- Verbal
- Individual and or small group presentations on selected topics of course material.
- Small group discussion of course material and in-class debates on topical controversies
- Fieldwork
- Students conduct interviews/participant observation to write a couple of individual papers on relevant topics (example: bilingualism, and nonverbal behavior) and produce the group project.
- Students will be informed and trained to follow the proper protocol to deal with human subjects.
- Preparation of exhibit material: Students will develop an educational exhibit to share findings with other students and communities aspects about Linguistic anthropology
Methods of Evaluation
- Midterm objective and/or essay examinations and comprehensive final, all of which are composed of concept based questions which will require the student to demonstrate the ability to integrate and summarize facts and translate them into fundamental units of knowledge
- Research paper, and working outline for such project, involving summary, synthesis, and critical analysis of data
- Short papers assess the students’ capability to identify linguistic patterns in everyday life and analyze them with anthropological concepts from the textbook and lecture discussions.
- A Group Project based on fieldwork experience, application of anthropological perspectives and collaborative learning
- Participation in and contribution toward classroom discussions and in-class collaborative work
- Individual or group presentations that demonstrate ability to present data and data analysis in a logical engaging oral and visual format.
- Reading responses that demonstrate basic comprehension, critique and synthesis of course reading.
- Display and exhibit material: Students will develop an educational exhibit to share with fellow students and other communities their learning and understanding of Linguistic anthropology. Exhibits will be assessed using questionnaires, surveys, interviews, and or informal conversations.
Essential Student Materials/Essential College Facilities
Essential Student Materials:Â
- None.
- Posters and charts on linguistic structure and Maps
Examples of Primary Texts and References
| Author | Title | Publisher | Date/Edition | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahearn, Laura M. Living Language: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology. 2nd ed. Wiley-Blackwell, 2017. | ||||
| Blum, Susan D. Making Sense of Language: Readings in Culture and Communication. 3rd ed. Oxford University Press.2016 | ||||
| Bonvillain Nancy. Ed. The Routledge Handbook of Linguistic Anthropology. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group. 2016 | ||||
| Rowe, Bruce M. and Levine, Diane P. 5th ed. A Concise Introduction to Linguistics. Routledge. 2016 | ||||
| Ottenheimer, Harriet Joseph. The Anthropology of Language: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology. 4th ed. Cengage Learning, 2019. |
Examples of Supporting Texts and References
| Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Boellstorff, Tom. Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human. Princeton, NJ.: Princeton University Press, 2008. | ||
| Bonvillain, Nancy. Language, Culture, and Communication: The Meaning of Messages. 6th ed. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2013. | ||
| Bourdieu, Pierre. Language and Symbolic Power, Edited by John Thompson and Translated by Gino Raymond, Matthew Adamson. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1991. | ||
| Cameron, Deborah. Good to Talk? Living and Working in a Communication Culture. Sage Publication Ltd.; 1 edition, 2000 | ||
| Crystal, David. English as a Global Language; Cambridge University Press; 2nd edition; 2003 | ||
| Duranti, Alessandro, ed. Linguistic Anthropology: A Reader. West Sussex, UK.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009 | ||
| Egbokhare, F. & C. Kolawole (eds.) Globalization and the Future of African Languages; Ibadan Cultural Studies Group; 2006 | ||
| Heller, Monica Linguistic Minorities and Modernity: A Sociolinguistic Ethnography; Continuum International Publishing Group; 2nd. Edition 2007 | ||
| Heritage, John and Douglas W. Maynard. Communication in Medical Care: Interaction between Primary Care Physicians and Patients. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. | ||
| Ibrahim, Zeinab. Linguistics in an Age of Globalization: Perspectives on Arabic Language Teaching; American University of Cairo; 2008 | ||
| Lakoff, Robin "The Language War" Berkeley: University of California, 2000 | ||
| Mar-Molinero, Clare & Miranda Stewart (eds.) Globalization and Language in the Spanish Speaking World: Macro and Micro Perspectives (Language and Globalization). Palgrave Macmillan; 2006 | ||
| Marsh, Jackie. Popular Culture, New Media and Digital Literacy in Early Childhood. New York: RoutledgeFalmer, 2005. | ||
| Morgan, Marcyliena. "'Nuthin' but a G Thang': Grammar and Language Ideology in Hip Hop Identity" Sociocultural and Historical Contexts of African American English. Ed. S.L. Lanehart. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2001. | ||
| Nettle, d. & s. Romaine. Vanishing Voices: the Extinction of World's Languages; Oxford University Press 2002 | ||
| Poster, Mark. Information Please: Culture and Politics in the Age of Digital Machines. Duke University Press, 2006 | ||
| Reyes, Angela and Adrienne Lo. Beyond Yellow English: Toward a Linguistic Anthropology of Asian Pacific America. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2009 | ||
| Sakel, Jeanette and Daniel L. Everett. Linguistic Fieldwork: A Student Guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. | ||
| Wallman, Joel. Aping Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. | ||
| Wardhaugh, Ronald. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 6thed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2010. | ||
| Wharry, Cheryl. "Amen and Hallelujah Preaching: Discourse Functions in African American Sermons." Language in Society Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. | ||
| Zentella, Ana Celia. "Latin@ Languages and Identities" Latinos: Remaking America. Ed. M.M. Suarez-Orozco and M. M. Paez. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2009 | ||
| Anthropological Linguistics | ||
| American Anthropologist | ||
| International Journal of American Linguistics |
Learning Outcomes and Objectives
Course Objectives
- Recognize the immense scope of the multi-faceted discipline of anthropology and explain the relationships between its basic areas of inquiry: physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, archeology/prehistory, and linguistic anthropology.
- Assess the historical development of anthropology as a western academic discipline, giving particular attention to the significant contributions and perspectives of women, minority, and non-Western linguistic anthropologists
- Examine the conceptual framework of an anthropological study, identifying the crucial distinction between ethnocentrism and the practice of cultural relativism, particularly as applied to the study of language and culture
- Evaluate language and language assisted systems of thought as unique human attributes by examining the physiological basis of language and by contrasting the nature of human communication to that of other primates
- Assess the importance of culture both in the acquisition of language and in the shaping of the mind and thought by studying the stages of early childhood language learning and the development of self-awareness
- Analyze the structure of language as a distinctive system of symbolic communication and compare its phonemic, morphemic, and syntactical components from a cross-cultural perspective
- Analyze the socio-cultural inequality in stratified societies as evidenced by the variation in the societal evaluation of different language-use patterns based on gender, class, race, and ethnicity
- Examine the origin and evolution of a variety of language families through the method of glottochronlogy utilizing historical linguistic data to obtain clues to culture history
- Understand the essential variance between non-written and written languages by comparing their different learning styles, cognitive emphases, and degree of cultural conservatism
- Examine the historical origins and development of writing, literacy as a marker of civilization, and the importance of writing in the hierarchy of state societies
- Evaluate the revolutionary economic, political, and social impact of computer technology as it relates language use in the information age
- Examine the impact of globalization on world languages: whether globalization means Englishization, or, whether it is more likely to lead to an increase in individual and societal multilingualism, and the preservation/revival of currently endangered languages.
CSLOs
- Evaluate value of each different language and dialect, and its relationship to different cultural backgrounds, in which social conflicts and stereotypes are often originated from misunderstanding different rules of language practice even when using the same language.
- Analyze different sound systems of different languages which make non-native speakers speak foreign languages with accents.
- Analyze patterns of linguistic change by investigating historical changes in different languages.
- Demonstrate the ability to analyze languages in social and cultural contexts, to build a lot of verbal and nonverbal characteristics to illustrate cultural uniqueness.
- Demonstrate the similarities and differences in various linguistic practices and its relevance to anthropological concepts.
Outline
- Recognize the immense scope of the multi-faceted discipline of anthropology and explain the relationships between its basic areas of inquiry: physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, archeology/prehistory, and linguistic anthropology.
- Evaluate anthropology as both a scientific and a humanistic discipline.
- Examine the five major branches of anthropology with their respective subfields.
- Learn how to become an anthropologist through the technique of participant observation.
- Assess the historical development of anthropology as a western academic discipline, giving particular attention to the significant contributions and perspectives of women, minority, and non-Western linguistic anthropologists
- Examine the discipline as part of the western academic tradition, and identify the contributions of early male, female, and African American anthropologists
- Evaluate the work of anthropologists such as Boas, Sapir, and Whorf in establishing the close connection between language and culture
- Examine the perspective of women linguistic anthropologists
- Recognize the increasing contributions by linguistic anthropologists who are people of color and/or are from the non-western world
- Examine the conceptual framework of an anthropological study, identifying the crucial distinction between ethnocentrism and the practice of cultural relativism, particularly as applied to the study of language and culture
- Examine anthropology as a way of thinking, with a world view that is cognizant of the validity of all cultures
- Recognize the realities of ethnocentrism leading to racism and intolerance, and as a political weapon for discrimination
- Adopt the practice of cultural relativism as a hallmark of anthropological perspective
- Study languages and cultures holistically, evaluating each component in the context of the whole
- Evaluate language and language assisted systems of thought as unique human attributes by examining the physiological basis of language and by contrasting the nature of human communication to that of other primates
- Identify the physiological basis of symbolic communication (oral cavity, larynx, and brain structure)
- Examine the 15 unique features of human speech such as arbitrariness, productivity, displacement, multi modality, etc.
- Compare non-human primate communication in nature and in laboratory conditions to human communication patterns
- Assess the importance of culture both in the acquisition of language and in the shaping of the mind and thought by studying the stages of early childhood language learning and the development of self-awareness
- Identify the processes of language acquisition in early childhood including babbling, holophrastic phase, intonation, and two-word sentences
- Analyze the development of self-awareness as well as of societal awareness
- Examine the effects of social and cultural isolation upon the learning of language in case studies on feral children
- Evaluate the effects of immigration, dislocation, and cultural dynamics in becoming bilingual or multilingual
- Analyze the structure of language as a distinctive system of symbolic communication and compare its phonemic, morphemic, and syntactical components from a cross-cultural perspective
- Examine the basics of phonology: understanding language as sound by comparing phonemic systems cross-culturally (examples: Assyrian, Navajo, Mandarin, French)
- Examine the basics of morphology: understanding language as meaningful units of sound sequences by comparing morphemic systems cross-culturally (examples: Arabic, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Ethiopian)
- Examine how languages are organized through sentences and their transformations by comparing syntactical systems cross-culturally (examples: Russian, Semitic, Hopi, Maori)
- Analyze the socio-cultural inequality in stratified societies as evidenced by the variation in the societal evaluation of different language-use patterns based on gender, class, race, and ethnicity
- Discuss variation in speech patterns and non-verbal communication between men and women, as seen both within a given society (examples: USA, Iran) and between societies (examples: Iroquois, Zimbabwe, India)
- Examine dialect variations in speech communities as a result of class and/or race distinctions and inter-class and/or race relationships (examples: upper-class British English compared to Cockney English, standard American English compared to African American Vernacular English)
- Analyze the ethnography of communication, that is, the ways people use language in real situations to achieve communicative goals with people of different gender, race, and ethnic affiliation.
- Understand linguistic hierarchy in a speech community and how each varied speech pattern serves as a social privilege (example: British accent in USA) or stigma (example: southern accent in USA).
- Examine the origin and evolution of a variety of language families through the method of glottochronology utilizing historical linguistic data to obtain clues to culture history
- Discuss the origin and diversification of languages as revealed through the method of glottochronology (examples: Indo-European, Algonkian, and Bantu language families)
- Assess the contemporary classification of world languages as based on glottochronology (example: the controversy over the relationship of Native American languages to the other world language families)
- Examine linguistic change due to culture contact and cross-cultural borrowing (examples: French, German, and English; Native American languages and English)
- Understand the creation of pidgin and Creole languages under the impact of trade and colonialism (examples: South Pacific, Southern US)
- Understand the essential variance between non-written and written languages by comparing their different learning styles, cognitive emphases, and degree of cultural conservatism
- Examine learning styles and cognitive emphases in non-written languages, with their focus on oral facility, memory skills, and the importance of memorization in generating and maintaining knowledge (examples: Aborigine, Polynesian, Yanomamo)
- Examine learning styles and cognitive emphases in languages which have a written form, with their focus on writing facility, reading skills, and the importance of literacy in generating and maintaining knowledge (example: Maya, China, USA)
- Assess the contrast in degree of cultural conservatism vs. rate of cultural change in societies with non-written languages (example Mbuti, Haida) and those with written languages (example: Mesopotamia, Japan)
- Examine the historical origins and development of writing, literacy as a marker of civilization, and the importance of writing in the hierarchy of state societies
- Recognize paleolithic origins of writing in pictographs, including drawings and the use of marks for counts and tallies.
- Understand the invention and development of writing systems, such as the logographic tradition (example: China); syllabic writing (example: Hittite); and alphabetic script (example: Greek and Latin)
- Analyze writing as a product of politically complex centralized societies, serving commercial interests first, and intimately associated with the hierarchies of both religious and political institutions.
- Evaluate literacy as a marker of civilization and a forerunner of social change.
- Evaluate the revolutionary economic, political, and social impact of computer technology as it relates language use in the information age
- Evaluate the role of the computer industry in a global economy.
- Examine the impact of high tech on international politics: cyber warfare and its implications
- Analyze the social impact of the microelectronic industry: the virtual reality of the Net (example: virtual playgrounds for children); computerized entertainment (example: video games, porn sites); interpersonal relations via the Net (example: chat rooms, computer dating)
- Assess the impact of the cyber space upon the individual: how one learns, works, and how one lives
- Examine the impact of globalization on world languages: whether globalization means Englishization, or, whether it is more likely to lead to an increase in individual and societal multilingualism, and the preservation/revival of currently endangered languages.
- Examine the impact of English as an international lingua franca, marginalization of national languages, and coping with the dilemma of language as a symbol of national identity.
- Assess the rise of global languages and their impact on minority and endangered languages
- Evaluate the role of global languages in redefining social relations (class, gender, and power): increasing the gap in a society between those who have access to global communication networks and those who do not
- Examine the interaction between language and worldview, example, Englishization and the export of western worldview encoded in English language, its modes of expression and grammatical constructs
- Discuss the development of medialects via chat rooms, text messaging, and so forth
- Appreciate linguistic hybridization as a new form of communication such as Spanglish, Chinglish (Chinese English), and so forth
- Critically examine the interaction between language, globalization, and diaspora. Global communication providing a nexus of connectivity between Diaspora and homeland via satellite access to national media as well as local community ethnic channels. Use of internet for personal and family networking
- Assess media as an instrument of standardization and Englishization: World Wide Web (WWW, where in the year 2000, 68.4% of all websites were in English)
- Analyze the intrusion on native language use by the development of mediated communication where turn taking, linguistic markers of time, space, actors and sentence structure are dictated by metalanguages
