Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
34 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Trend of language death
|
6700 languages in the world and by 2080 half will be extinct
For example Mary Smith Jones was the last of the Eyak. |
|
|
Why do languages die out?
|
The speakers cease to exist e.g. the Eyak
When a dominant group forces others not to speak their language e.g. American forcing natives to go to boarding schools Voluntary change- Susan Gal: rapid shift in Europe when people stopped speaking Hungarian and started speaking German because associated with upper classes |
|
|
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
|
The structure of langauge influences people's perceptions and worldviews.
Whorf: the Hopi lacked nouns to do with time, so used verbs and adverbs which meant they understoof time as a cycle rather than a continuum. |
|
|
Wade Davis
|
Ethnosphere
Analagous to the biosphere What cultures contribute to the world Most important indicator of the health of the ethnosphere is language |
|
|
Why does it matter that languages are dying out?
|
A loss of a language means losing a way of thinking about the world (Whorf hypothesis) e.g. the Himba and colour, the Quechua where language is structured around saying something then justifying how you know that. Language structured around epistemology.
Similar to science- about naming and explaining things e.g. languages contain certain information about plants etc. |
|
|
Walter Ong Orality/Literacy Thesis
|
2 types of orality:
primary: untouched by knowledge of writing or scripts Secondary orality: new orality of present day technology |
|
|
Jack Goody Literacy Thesis
|
Argued that literacy the driving force for transforming societies. Alphabetic societies facilitate empathy, abstract reasoning, critical thinking, self-reflection, rationality etc. whereas oral traditions lack these. I.e. Greeks invented reading which leads to internat self-awareness and self-consciousness.
Literacy systems ranked: alphabetic, Chinese, syllabic etc. |
|
|
Critique of Goody's Literacy Thesis
|
Presupposes a simplistic dichotomy between oral and literate cultures. What about khipus?
Non-phonetic and yet had a well-fed and organised population of 15 million people. Medicine, historians, philosophers, infrastructure, poetry. Appears to represent a kind of 19th Century ethnocentric evolutionist attitude |
|
|
E.g. of the Iroquois Thanksgiving Address
|
No phonetic writing, but recorded agreements, treaties and songs with Wampum.
Defines and expresses their worldview. Can be found in their three epic narratives: Creation, Great Law of Peace and Code of Handsome Lake Together they form their cultural systems of knowledge |
|
|
Johannes Fabian
|
Alphabetic literacy cannot be divorced from considerations of power and economics.
E.g. the printing press in Europe- motivated in part by a desire to spread Christianity to more people |
|
|
Ethnopoetics =
|
The attempt to understand and appreciate the artistic capabilities of non-Western people which used to be considered non-existent, primitive or lacking sophistication.
An ethnopoetic script takes into account not just the text but everything else: silence, props, performance etc. |
|
|
Dennis Tedlock
|
Translationist and anthropologist. Argued that translation should include everything, not just words.
Coined the term 'ethnopaleography', referring to finding ways to study older texts of NA tradition through ethnographic fieldwork just focused on studying those texts. |
|
|
Dell Hymes
|
Linguist, folklorist and anthropologist
Translation a necessarye vil, but ultimately scholars need to learn the native languages Therefore lots of Hymes' writings emphasise form and structure of the narrative- the content of the story is secondary, more about how it's told. 3 common features of NA oral narratives: - Poetic forms - Line repetition - Direct rather than reported speech E.g. story about the seal and girl's uncle's wife |
|
|
Popol Vuh
|
NA account of Creation. Written down in 1755 by Spanish Dominican priest in Guatemala. Contains imagery found on Mayan pottery in 600AD.
Tedlock decided the best way to study it would be to apprentice with a Mayan daykeeper (person who understands Mayan rituals). She would say if you could understand the text then you could understand everything in the world. |
|
|
Popol Vuh story
|
There was nothing in the world, only sky. Only the Creator and the Maker were there. They decided to make humans. First made out of mud, but they cracked, so Gods washed them away (1st Humiliation) so made them out of monkeys, but they didn't talk to the Gods so they were destroyed (2nd Humiliation). Then wood but wood didn't give to the Gods . Then 'revolt of the objects' because people's everyday objects killed them. Then made out of corn but too perfect so Gods fear that they will become Gods themselves. So Gods make humans to blind them to the Gods- 4th humilitation. But in mercy they leave the Popol Vuh.
|
|
|
Semasiographic literacy systems
|
Signs that refer not to speech sounds but the objects they name e.g. I saw my aunt Rose- pictures of 'eye' 'saw' 'ant' 'rose'
|
|
|
Elizabeth Boone
|
Argument that Native American graphic systems are semasiographic.
Analysing their ways of writing helps us understand their system right at the core, because it's using their system of communication. You can only understand their history with all its nuance, contexts and value systems if you read their history books. |
|
|
E.g.s of semasiographic systems
|
Lakota Winter Count- produced on hides. Each year, an image that represents the most important thing that happened that year.
Ojibwa signatures Menominee birch bark scroll- passed down within families along gender lines and records information about medicine ritual Khipus |
|
|
Wampum
|
Traditional sacred beads of the Iroquois made from either white or purple shells.
Made with bone tools. Used to mark exchanges between people e.g. an engagement, marriage, for girls when they are ready for marriage etc. |
|
|
Hiawatha Belt
|
Represents the Iroquois constitution
Understanding it gives one an understanding of their history and makeup. Story: Hiawatha created the first belt, as well as part of their confederacy. The 5 nations were constantly at war with each other and life was held cheaply. The Peacemaker was born and sought to make peace amongst the nations. But had a stutter so needed Hiawatha who was a famous orator. But Hiawatha had 7 daughters (matrilineal system) so did not want to go. The medicine men in his community therefore killed his daughters. Hiawatha wanders the wilderness in his grief. Makes 7 wampum belts to recover his reason. Works with the peacemaker to get the nations to agree. Peacemaker institutes the law of peace, which the Hiawatha Belt represents. The Onondaga have the tree of peace on the belt, so they host the annual council in Upstate-NY. Seneca and Mohawks are the older brothers Oneida and Cayuga are the younger brothers. So when the Iroquois wish to make a policy change, has to go through the older brothers, then younger brothers then the Onondaga |
|
|
Khipus
|
Semasiographic.
Made of natural cotton or wool and dyed. Most in museums are cotton, most in Andes are wool. Scholars have notices numbers, colours, direction of knots etc. Think they were used to record supplies but also to record poetry. Gary Urton: - Khipu Database Project- recording info about every khipu. - 900 in existence, but only 600 can be recorded. - 2/3 contain numerical info, the rest do not |
|
|
How did knowledge of the khipus die out?
|
In early imperial era, the Spanish used khipus to determine tribute levels
From 1580s, the Church condemned khipus as being idolatrous so the Spanish stopped consulting them. Therefore assumed khipus use stopped after that. But some Incas used them to record their sins, and in the early 20th Century, khipus used by herdsmen to keep track of their flocks. Now in use ritually, but no known exactly how to read them all. Frank Salomon's hypothesis: stopped being used when people became exposed to charts and spreadsheets |
|
|
Who were the Maya?
|
200AD-800AD
Millions of inhabitants and densely populated cities. Intensive agriculture-raised field. Well developed trade network. Great scientific knowledge, especially astronomy. During the Classic period, many monuments with inscriptions with the hieroglyphic system, and these stopped after the end of this period. 3 types of text: written on paper that was made from the inner bark of the fig tree, then books folded like accordions. Most of their books burnt by Diego de Landa, but that was illegal under Spanish law so sent back to Spain in disgrace. |
|
|
Mayan Codices- Dresden Codex
|
Oldest book in the Americas- 700AD.
Most about the ritual count and how days are associated with the Gods Lots of astronomy because Mayans obsessed with calculating Venus Venus the planet of war, so most military actions undertaken when it moved. Torture and execution of prisoners based on Venus. |
|
|
Mayan Codices- Madrid Codex
|
Longest codex
Mainly horoscopes Long tables of fortune: whether it is good to go hunting on a certain day, whether to get a tattoo |
|
|
Mayan codices- Grolier codex
|
1250AD
20 page table concerning the movements of venus |
|
|
Mayan Codices and what their deciphering tells us about their history
|
Was assumed they were made by priests and that they referred to the cycles of time
But they were actually images of rulers with names and dates etc. so now we can say with exact certainty the dates and days certain things happened Due to deciphering the glyphs we now understand there was never any central authority but rather a state of constant warfare and hostility in which each city state would form alliances through marriages Highest goal of a king would be to capture the king of another city. Captured rulers would be tortured until a day Venus was favourable. 800-900AD collapse of northern Mayan civilisation. Therefore we no longer think of them as peace-loving stargazers, women were very high up and there was never any central authority |
|
|
How were the Mayan hieroglyphs deciphered?
Beginnings. |
2 friends: Stephens and Catherwood go on holiday and discover many Mayan cities. Illustrated by Catherwood's sketches.
They realise the glyphs are the same as the Dresden Codex People then discover that de landa tried to redeem himself by writing a detailed ethnography of the people whose books he burnt including a semi-accurate decipherment of the glyphs. |
|
|
How were the Mayan hieroglyphics deciphered?
Modern developments |
Sir Eric Thompson:
- Thought he could look at the glyphs and intuitively figure out what they meant - Used his academic position as a knight to ridicule and mock the work of people who disagreed with him Yuri Knorosov: - Early decipherment of the glyphs - Ridiculed by Thompson as a Marxist plot Turning point in summer 1973: - Polenke Round Table Linda Schele, David Stewart and Mike Coe - In the space of several afternoons they used their research as well as Knorosov's to decipher hundreds of years of text. - Took the world about a decade to recognise it |
|
|
What is the nature of the Mayan glyphs?
|
Mixed system- some represent words, others represent sounds and syllables.
Problems with deciphering: there are lots of different ways of writing names e,g, 6 ways of writing 'paca' (ruler). Some semasiographic, others not. Perhaps different types of writing intentional so that only available to the elite. |
|
|
Differences between language and writing
|
Difference in scale- 6700 languages, 100 writing systems
Language is a human biological necessity, writing is not Writing needs instruction, language does not Writing needs fewer practitioners to survive than language |
|
|
Similarities between language and writing
|
Both disappear when stigmatised
When both are dying out there is a wide difference in proficiency among users Disappearance may be rapid or slow for both e.g. 7th Century BC Greek alphabet introduced to Cyprus who had a syllabic system. Cypriot writing system associated with a particular Goddess, so the writing only died out once the religion had. Preservation of both elicits strong emotional reactions. E.g. Mary Smith Jones 'like losing a child' |
|
|
Collapse of Easter Island
|
Script: rongo rongo
2 dozen texts found in inscriptions on wood Where did the writing system come from? An internal development, not imported. Tabooed to commoners- only for elite. But after social collapse, wood inscriptions used for random things like starting fires. |
|
|
Will texting destroy writing?
|
Some argue it is a whole new exciting era for speech
When we write, we never replicate speech entirely because it is slower. Therefore we miss out certain words we would say in conversation But texting has created a sphere where you write what you would speak- usually has 7-10 words, like a conversation. E.g. 'lol' more of a filler word, associated with empathy for another person. The sentiment that students cannot spell because of technological development has been happening for millennia- even teachers in Rome were moaning! Considerable evidence that being bilingual increases your cognitive capacities- maybe true of texting too? |
