Anth 114- Language, Culture And Communication: Glossary

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Course's basic goals

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1. Improve ability to read, write and think
2. Introduce you to (linguistic) anthropology
3. Present you with a set of concepts and principles that will provide knowledge about how language, culture and communication operate in your own experiences

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Representation

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An explicit linguistic statement, description or theory about some object or phenomena, defined ultimately in terms of discrete signs defined by oppositional features.

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Knowledge

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Defined, in this class, as a representation that provides us with information about some object of study that has a use value. That is, it allows us to gain the ability to either predict or explain something about that object or it presents it in new ways that has implications for both it and/or other objects of interest.

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General Theory of Learning

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Three basic components to explicit (non-natural) learning:
1. Theory
2. Demonstration
3. Practice

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Behavior

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A human behavior includes any physical gesture, social action or explicit thought, whether they are conscious/intentional or not.

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Communication

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All human behaviors are types of communcation. Refined to also include the idea that it emerges from experience of culture because it forms part of a presupposed background which serves to coherently support entailing functions (which are its most conscious aspects).

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Culture

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Several refinements in this class.
1. Type of communication with increasing levels of general inclusion, and then most generaly as a type of human behavior.
2. Include all regular forms and functions of behavior and the ideologies that inform (or talk about) those regularities.

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Language

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Several refinements in this class:
1. Type of culture, with increasing levels of general inclusion.
2. 3 basic functions of language forms:
a. Referential
b. indexical
c. semantic- displays functional overlap in actual use

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Form

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A description of the way in which a particular behavior is performed; it can be thought of as the "how" of human behavior.

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Function (or Meaning)

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Statement about the meaning of a particular behavior in the contexts in which it is performed; it can be thought of as the 'what' of human behavior in the sense that it represents 'what' the form of a behavior does once it has been performed in some context of social interaction.

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(Formal-Functional) Regularity

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A regularity is a recurring link between form and a function.

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Empirical Accountability

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A value used to evaluate claims about regularities between forms and functions; a regularity is empirically true if it occurs more often than not a cross a representative set of instances.

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Ethnographic Accountability

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A Value used to evaluate claims about regulaities between forms and functions; it states that a regularity is ethnographically true if it is justified by referring to ideas in some sense 'generally' found among the people(s) for whom the regularities are said to operate.

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Use Value

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A use value is a characteristic of a representation of some object which provides us with knowledge.

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Ideology

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All linguistic representations that state or explain the link between behavioral forms and functions.

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(Ideological) Scope

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An ideological regularity can be said to have relatively greater scope if it is shared by a large number of people across a wide variety of types of people across a long period of time. In comparison with other ideologival regularities it reaches out 'further'

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(Ideological) Strength

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An ideological regularity can be said to have relatively greater strenght if, at some point in time, it is known to a large proportion of some target population. In comparison with other ideological regularities, larger proportion of some target population shares it.

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Statistical Regularity

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One of the three types of regularties that we have set up as a general theoretical expectation. It is defined by a statistical type of support and unconscious relative awareness.

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Normative Regularity

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One of the three types of regularities that we have set up as a general theoretical expectation. It is defined by a normative (and perhaps statistical) type of support and conscious but typically obvious or given, relative awareness.

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Ideological regularity

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One of the three types of regularities are set up as general theoretical expectation. Defined by an ideological (possibly normative and/or statistical) form of support and highly conscious, important relative awareness.

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Naturalization

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Naturalization is one of the two basic types of ideological process. Like all ideology, it represents and often comments on human behavioral patterns. It is defined as the attempt to erase the fac tand influence of culture by simply claiming that a particular form and function are linked outside and prior to culture--in 'nature.'

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Institutional Rationalization

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Institutional rationalization is one of the two basic tpes of ideological process. Like all ideology, it represents and often comments on human behavioral patterns. Defined as an ideoogy that attemts to justify the link between a form and function by appealing to an argument that makes the relationship necessary and unavoidable in some way. Institutional rationalizations can typically be traced back to important, official 'voices' of particular institutions in a particular society.

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Circle of Ideological Discourse

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Circle of ideological discourse is found in every culture. These are ideologies that more or less repeat the same basic claims and explanations bout the meanings of behaior even though they presumably emanate from different social institutions. That overlap helps give culture additional strength by naturalizing elements within it.

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Positive Reinforcement

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Positive reinforcement is a way in which regular patterns of behavior maintain themselves over time and space; it is one of the answers to 'how' culture works. It referes to the continuous web of positive rewards attached to behaviors that are positively valued in a society.

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Negative Reinforcement

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Way in which regular patterns of behavior maintain themselves over time and space; it is one of the answers to 'how' culture works. It refers to the continuous web of negative punishments attached to behaviors that are negatively valued in a society.

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Human culture is relative

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A general principles for the study of human cultures. They are relative because the reulgarities and ideologies that constitute human cultures are not necessary, given definitions, but rather social values which develop over time. There are an infinite number possible frames for the meanings of human behaviors.

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Broad politics of meaning

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All cultures are characterized by a brod politics of meaning in the sense that regularities and ideologies that constitute them are relative and thus non-necessary; the process of reduction from among an infinite set of value choices is thus inherently political (in the broadest sense)

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Referential Function

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One of 3 general functions attributed to language. it takes place when some aspect of linguistic form picks out, or points to, an object in ongiong social interaction (i.e., the context of language use).

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Indexical function

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One of the three functions that we attribute to language. Takes place when some aspect of a linguistic form points to some aspect of the context of the use itself. That is, the function or meaning of the sign is somehow about the very context in which the sign is used.

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Semantic Function

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One of the Three general functions attributed to language. Takes place when some aspect of a linguistic form characterizes an object without referring to the context of use itself.

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Functional overlap

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The fact of functional overlap is that same linguistic forms typically carry distinct and thus overlapping functions.

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Marked Regularity

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With some general behavior (or function held as a constant for comparing two different forms, the marked form for carrying it out is used is less frequently and has more specific indexical associations.

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Unmarked Regularity

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With some general behavior (or functio) held as a constant for comparing two differnt forms, the unmarked form for carrying it out is used more frequently and lacks specific indexical associations.

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Foregrounded Use

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A foregrounded form/ use of language takes lace when linguistic forms are used in a context in which they aren't appropriate or coherent with some co-occuring aspects of the ongoing situations.

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Automatized Use

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An automatized form/use of language takes place when language forms and the surrounding aspects of the context in which they are uttered cooperate together coherently such that communication seems effortless, uproblematic and automatic.

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Coherence

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Coherence is a general principle that informs the interpretation of cultural (and linguistic) behaviors. It is present when the cultural forms performed, or the linguistic forms uttered, are unproblematically related to aspects of the surrounding context.

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Presupposed (Indexical) function

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These are formal-functional regularities that individuals remain largely unaware of in a particular situation constitute the basic, overall and final meaning or function of some particular formal stretch of interaction.

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Entailing (indexical) function

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These are formal-functional regularities that individuals are more conscious of in a particular situation because they constitute the basic, overall and final meaning or function of some particular formal stretch of interaction.

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Reality is Infinite

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States that the number of characteristics or traits 'out there' to be described for any object or phenomenon can't be completely listed because they form an infinite, unending set of possibilities.

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Continuous signs

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These signs are sense-based and thus are not represented by discrete signs; they exist thus as continuous, or unbroken, signs in consciousness that are react to (rather than analyzed)

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Discrete signs

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Discrete signs are linguistic represntations that create distinct, conscious objects, these objects are pulled out of the continuous flow of experience and 'named.'

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All representation is (thus) necessarily reductive

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Given the principle that reality is infinite, linguistic representation, in order to work at all, must necessarily reduce that infinity in actually naming any particular discrete sign; that is, it must reduce the infinite set of possibilities to the actual features that mater for that particular concept.

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All meanings are based on oppositions

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For any sign to have a positive, discrete meaning, it must be opposed to other similar and different signs; that is, it must be framed by some implicit or explicit set of oppositions.

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Feature

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A feature is the relevant trait or characteristic that defines a concept or word based on internal oppositions with other comparable concepts.

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Problem of consciousness

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The individuals who enact the culture that we want to study simply do not agree on the forms, functions and ideologies that constitute their culture.