I Introduction A Regional patterns influence the way we all speak Some dialects like that of Midwestern Americans have few stigmatized linguistic variants In fact far from having no accents midwesterners exhibit linguistic diversity II Language A Language is our primary means of communication Language like culture in general is transmitted through learning Language is based on arbitrary learned associations between words and the things they stand for Only humans have the linguistic capacity to discuss the past and future share their experiences with others and benefit from their experiences B Anthropologists study language in its social and cultural context Linguistic anthropologists also explore the role of language in colonization and globalization III Nonhuman Primate Communication A Call Systems Only humans can speak No other animal has anything approaching the complexity of language The natural communication systems of other primates monkeys and apes are call systems a b These vocal systems consist of a limited number of sounds calls that are produced only when particular environmental stimuli are encountered Although wild primates use call systems the vocal tract of apes is not suitable for speech B Sign Language 1 More recent experiments have shown that apes can learn to use if not speak true language Several apes have learned to converse with people through means other than speech such as American Sign Language Cultural transmission of a communication system through learning is a fundamental attribute of language Nonhuman primates trained in the laboratory have been shown to have the capacity for cultural transmission Apes also seem to share the linguistic ability of productivity which refers to speakers capacity to use the rules of their language to create new expressions that are comprehensible to other native speakers Apes also have demonstrated the capacity for linguistic displacement Absent in call systems this is a key ingredient in language Displacement means that humans can talk about things that are not present Although the capacity to remember and combine linguistic symbols may be latent in the apes human evolution was needed for this seed to flower into language A mutated gene known as FOXP2 helps explain why humans speak and chimps don t C The Origin of Language 1 1 2 3 1 1 2 2 3 4 1 2 a b This mutation was identified in individuals with severe deficit in speech The same variant of this gene that is found in chimps causes this disorder Comparing chimp and human genomes it appears that the speech friendly form of FOXP2 took hold in humans around 150 000 years ago thus conferring selective advantages that allowed those who had it to spread at the expense of those who did not IV Nonverbal Communication A Kinesics is the study of communication through body movements stances gestures and expressions B A V The Structure of Language 1 3 4 3 4 1 2 3 4 Although our gestures expressions and body stance have roots in our primate heritage and can be seen in the monkeys and the apes they have not escaped the influence of culture 2 Much of what we communicate is nonverbal and reflects our emotional states and intentions This can create problems when we use contemporary means of communication such as texting or online messaging The prevalence and meaning of body movements expressions and gestures vary cross culturally Body movements communicate social differences Language which is highly symbolic is the domain of communication in which culture plays the strongest role The scientific study of a spoken language descriptive linguistics involves several interrelated areas of analysis phonology morphology lexicon and syntax Phonology the study of speech sounds considers which sounds are present and significant in a given language 1 2 Morphology studies the forms in which sounds combine to form morphemes words and their meaningful parts A language s lexicon is a dictionary containing all of its morphemes and their meanings Syntax refers to the arrangement and order of words in phrases and sentences A phoneme is a sound contrast that makes a difference that differentiates meaning The number of phonemes varies from language to language as well as between dialects of a given language Phonetics is the study of speech sounds in general what people actually say in various languages Phonemics studies only the significant sound contrasts phonemes of a given language B Speech Sounds VI Language Thought and Culture A Linguist Noam Chomsky has argued that the human brain contains a limited set of rules universal grammar for organizing language so that all languages have a common structural basis B The Sapir Whorf Hypothesis Chomsky s argument that all humans have similar linguistic abilities and thought processes is supported by the facts that people can learn foreign languages and that words and ideas translate from one language to another The fact that all creole languages share certain features further supports the idea that these languages are based on universal grammar Anthropologists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf argued that the grammatical categories of particular languages lead their speakers to think about things in different ways Language may shape thought but it does not tightly restrict it because cultural changes can produce changes in thought and in language C Focal Vocabulary 1 2 Lexicon or vocabulary influences perception Focal vocabulary is a specialized set of terms and distinctions that are particularly important to certain groups those with particular foci of experience or activity Vocabulary is the area of language that changes most readily 3 4 While language culture and thought are interrelated it might be more accurate to argue contrary to the Sapir Whorf hypothesis that changes in culture produce changes in language and thought than to argue the reverse Cultural contrasts and changes affect lexical distinctions e g teal versus mauve within semantic domains e g color terminology Semantics refers to a language s meaning system The ways in which people divide up the world the lexical contrasts they perceive as meaningful or significant reflect their experiences Unlike grammarians linguists and anthropologists are interested in what people do say rather than what they should say Speech differences are associated with and tell us a lot about social variation such as region education ethnic background and gender Sociolinguistics investigates relationships between social