Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Nov. 23, 2023: week 12 notes - Coggle Diagram
Nov. 23, 2023: week 12 notes
are our mindsets different (how we see the world) depending on our mother language?
sociolinguistics: study of relationship between society and language
word choice, syntax, pronunciation.... reveal us to be members of a particular "speech community"
ethnolinguistics: seeks to understand:
whether grammatical categories and structures affect people's world views...
the direct and indirect meanings of words
things it pays attention to are; how the words available in a language, influences the people's perception of their world
and the ways that the words encode and transmit cultural, emotional, and symbolic meanings and values
essentially, how words express our identity/internal, personal state
notable people in the development of ethnolinguistics
edward sapir
contribution to ethnolinguistics
argued that the vocabulary of a language may be thought of as a complex inventory of all the ideas, interests, and occupations that take up the
attention
of the
community
human experience is, to an extent, made through culture and language
objects (or forces) in the physical environment become labeled in language only if they are relevent in the cultural community
such as "sunset"
no actual "sun set", as the sun doesn't move, necessarily (it's the earth that's rotating)
but because it's relevant to the world, it's just a word to describe something you see.....
benjamin whorf
whorf argued that: the influence that language has on thinking, can be seen through both vocab and through (complex) grammatical relations
sapir-whorf hypothesis can be broken down into two basic concepts
linguistic relativity
the difference in languages demonstrates categorizing words in a unique fashion
for example: colours and others
each language has its own set of words for colours; and colour terms
they also put different boundaries among colours
language/culture influences (but not determining thought)
linguistic determinism
two versions
weak version
strong version
language and thought are one and the same
language/culture determines thought process/reality perception
the hypothesis is based around the idea of how the specific language one speaks, affects one's thoughts
and how they perceive reality
do women and men speak differently?
"women speak more correctly than men"
men use more "non-standard" forms than women
according to peter trudgill, men do it to prove masculinity
men do it because of covert prestige - like a linguistic "street credibility"
women use more of a standard form
especially formal speech
often use formal speech when they are paying attention to their speech?
associated with "official" (overt) prestige
sociolinguists say that women use overt prestige because of linguistic insecurity
in many cases, society expects women to use formal speech/forms
modeling "correct forms"
expecting to model good behavior
women are more likely to use language to build relationships; while men are more likely to use language to communicate factual info
a couple reasons why "thou" disappeared (8.3)
"thou" was more shifted to express mood and tone
that's why it has been often used in
poetry