Chapter I.

INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY

Overview
This chapter presents concepts of linguistic anthropology. It provides a review of the
definitions of language, culture, and society and their interrelationships. It elaborates the
significant reasons for studying language and determines the language in daily life.
It enumerates fallacies about language. It recalls the historical activities which
substantiated the practice of anthropology. It discusses the differences between
anthropology, linguistics, and linguistic anthropology.

Objectives
At the end of the unit, the students can:
a. explain what language, culture, and society are;
b. identify reasons why should a person study language, language in daily life;
c. recall modern myths concerning languages; and
d. elaborate the brief history of Anthropology;
e. define and differentiate Anthropology, Linguistics, and Linguistic Anthropology.

Lesson 1: Language, Culture, and Society

What to Expect?
At the end of the lesson, the students can:
1. define the concepts of language, culture, and society;
2. examine the various functions of language; and,
3. identify the major language families.

Pre-discussion
Imagine people growing up without language. Can they still “think” the same as
someone with language? That is, can we think without language? What about visual artists or
musicians? Do they think in language? What personal experiences might you have had
yourself use as evidence for your answers?
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Lesson Outline
Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas,
emotions, and desires employing voluntarily produced symbols (Sapir 1921). The most
significant thing about language is that it is a medium to express meaning. If it did not, it
would be meaningless to much of what humans do as birdsong or wave sounds (Macaulay,
2011).
Hence, human beings can communicate with each other. They can exchange
knowledge, beliefs, opinions, wishes, threats, commands, thanks, promises, declarations,
feelings – only our imagination sets limits. They can laugh to express amusement,
happiness, or disrespect and smile to express amusement, pleasure, approval, or bitter
feelings. They can shriek to express anger, excitement, or fear. They can clinch their fists to
express determination, anger, or a threat. They can raise our eyebrows to express surprise
or disapproval, and so on, but our system of communication before anything else is
language.
Meanwhile, natural languages function as full-fledged mother tongues for larger or
smaller groups of people. All-natural languages are spoken, while to this day, many of them
have no written form. In contrast, other forms of language are based on gestures rather than
speech, such as body language or the sign languages of the deaf.
A language family is a group of languages with a common origin. The common origin
is postulated as a single language. It is referred to as a proto-language, spoken at a
particular time in the past. Through the ages, that proto-language broke up into dialects. As
time went by, these dialects became increasingly more different, ending up as different
languages, primarily due to geographical distance. These languages developed dialectal
differences, and the whole cycle was repeated many times. The major language families in
the world are:
a. Afro-Asiatic (353 languages spoken in Africa and Asia);
b. Austronesian (1,246 languages spoken in Asia and Oceania)
c. Indo-European (430 languages spoken in Asia and Europe, and European
settlements in other parts of the world)
d. Niger-Congo (1,495 languages spoken in Africa);
 e. Sino-Tibetan (399 languages spoken in Asia); and,
f. Trans-New Guinea (561 languages spoken in New Guinea and adjacent
islands).
Culture refers to how the members of society, or classes within a community, live. It
includes how they dress, marriage customs, language and family life, working patterns,
religious ceremonies, and recreational activities (Giddens, 2005).
Hence, the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional
features characterize a society or social group. It includes the arts and letters and modes of
life, the fundamental rights of the human being, value systems, traditions, and beliefs
(UNESCO, in de Leon, n.d.).
Society is a community of people who share a common culture, inhabit a particular
territorial region, and feel like a single and distinct entity. It is the individuals 'and groups'
shared relationships and interrelations. It is a community of people interrelated by ongoing
social status, responsibilities, and social networks.
Society denotes a region's or a country's people, often even a nation, taken together.
It is used in the context of an association. A group is a community of people characterized by
the limits of functional interdependence, likely comprising features such as national or
cultural identity, social unity, language, or hierarchical organization (Kumar, 2017).

Summary
Language is a part of the culture. The linguistic-culture relationship is subordinate
because the languages are in the cultural domain. Language and culture are the two
structures to which human life is connected. If culture is a mechanism controlling human
interaction in society, then language would be a method that acts as a means of ongoing
interaction.
Languages are deeply in the culture of life. People use them to communicate,
whether in sign language, written, or oral. Therefore, they cannot do society without
languages, contrary to human nature. It may be argued that if there is no language in culture,
a person, and animals, there is also a connection between language and community.
Therefore, life in society cannot be separated from language (Alin, 2015).

Assessment/Enrichment
1. Create a Venn Diagram that would illustrate the interrelationship between language,
culture, and society. Elucidate comprehensively (20 points).
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2. Select at least five (5) major language families and provide at least 20 languages each
(100 points).
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3. What are the notable ways of living in your own family? (10 points)
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4. Describe the society where you are situated right now. (10)
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References

Alin, L. (2015, June 1). Is there any correlation between language, culture, and society?
Explain!. https://syawallina17studyyo.wordpress.com/2015/06/10/is-there-any-
correlation-between-language-culture-and-society-explain/

de Leon, F.M. (n.d.). Filipino cultural identity. http://www.pana.com.ph/fyeo/materials/Filipino

%20Cultural%20Identity.pdf

Giddens, A. (2005): Sociology (4th ed.). Cambridge: Polity Press

Jourdan, C., & Tuite, K. (Eds.). (2006). Language, culture, and society: key topics in linguistic
anthropology (Vol. 23). Cambridge University Press.
http://196.189.45.87/bitstream/123456789/29011/1/18%20pdf.pdf
Kumar, A. (2017). Concept of society and culture.
http://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/41246/1/Unit-1.pdf

Macaulay, R. K. (2011). Seven ways of looking at language. Palgrave Macmillan.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299282839_Language_as_Meaning

Salzmann, Z., Stanlaw, J., & Adachi, N. (2014). Language, culture, and society: An
introduction to linguistic anthropology. Westview Press.
https://dspace.ttu.edu.vn/bitstream/handle/123456789/3457/Language%20culture
%20and%20society.pdf?sequence=1

Stanlaw, J., Adachi, N. & Salzmann, Z. (2017). Language, culture, and society: An
introduction to linguistic anthropology. New York: Routledge. https://b-
ok.asia/s/language%20culture%20society

Sapir, E. (1921). Language. Harcourt and Brace

What is language?. (n.d.). https://www.uio.no/studier/emner/hf/ikos/EXFAC03-

AAS/h05/larestoff/linguistics/Chapter%201.(H05).pdf