Chapter 15 Additional Resources

Why Is Understanding Human Language Important?

Websites

  • Linguistic Hegemony in Schools, Language Education Policy Studies
    http://www.languageeducationpolicy.org/whatareleps/linguistichegemony.html
    This is one of the best websites available to understand and question the role of language in terms of the human condition. This site not only looks at the relationship between oral languages and their codification to written text, but it also extrapolates on the relationships that exist between language and power, economics, production, reproduction and the applicable ideologies that exist therein.

Videos

Borodisky, Lera 2018. “How language shapes the way we think”. TED May 2, 2018 YouTube 14:12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKK7wGAYP6k

Cognitive scientist Borodisky shares examples of different languages and how people perceive colour, direction, and the world differently because of the languages that they use. With 7,000 languages in the world, humans have created 7,000 cognitive worlds that operate in one.

Henley, Paul. 1996. “Writing Panare: Portrait of a Linguist on Fieldwork.” London: Royal Anthropological Institute. DVD, 30 min.

This film documents the linguistic fieldwork conducted by Marie-Claude Muller among an indigenous group called the Panare in Venezuela. Muller was contracted by the Venezuelan government to develop literacy programs in Panare, and this documentary discusses how she helped develop a culturally appropriate literacy initiative.

Steckley, John. 2012. “What if Aboriginal Languages Mattered?” TEDx Talk. YouTube video, 5:02. Posted February 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q50ZJWc1uyE.

In this TEDx talk, Canadian linguist John Steckley discusses the importance of reconstructing various Aboriginal languages and the significance of language revitalization for Aboriginal communities. Throughout, he draws upon the ways in which Aboriginal vocabularies are syncretized into Anglophone and Francophone speech, thereby highlighting the role of colonialism in language production.

Tannen, Deborah. 2013. “Gender-Specific Language Rituals.” YouTube video, 8:02. Posted by “CSU Fullerton HCOM,” December 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUxnBZxsfoU.

In this short video, linguist Deborah Tannen (whose work is discussed in the section on gender and language in this chapter) draws upon videos from her fieldwork on the gendered language of play among children. She argues that boys and girls make different use of vocabularies, tone of speech, and subject matter, and that their conversations ultimately have different gendered goals.

Tovares, Joseph. 1993. “Spanish-Speakers and Bilingualism.” Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities and Social Sciences. DVD, 19 min.

This film explores the ways in which the use of the Spanish language differs within the United States, the Dominican Republic, Texas, and other areas. It introduces students to the phenomenon of “code switching,” where individuals either consciously or unconsciously “switch” their accent, vocabulary, or tone of voice in different social settings or to adjust to the context of different discourses and speakers.

Books and Articles

Bloch, Maurice. 1990. “Language, Anthropology and Cognitive Science.” Man, n.s. 26: 183–198.

Bloch contends that anthropologists have developed a model of culture that is both misleading from a psychological perspective and overly linguistic in nature. He begins his argument by discussing cognitive science—the science of how we think—which relies on cognitive psychology, philosophy, neurophysiology, artificial intelligence, linguistics, and anthropology. His basic conclusion is that most cultural knowledge is not actually organized in a way that resembles the structures characteristic of language.

Boudreau, Annette, and Lise Dubois. 2007. “Français, Acadien, Acadjonne: Competing Discourse on Language Preservation along the Shores of the Baie Sainte-Marie.”
In Discourses of Endangerment, edited by Alexandre Duchette and Monica Heller, pp. 99-120. New York: Continuum Publishers.

Boudreau and Dubois conducted ethnographic fieldwork on language use among residents in Baie Sainte-Marie in Nova Scotia with the goal of understanding the meanings of English, French, and Acadjonne for native speakers. They found that the use of a local dialect, Acadjonne, is viewed as a means of preserving one’s cultural heritage in the face of a long history of colonial exploitation.

Chun, Elaine. 2001. “The Construction of White, Black, and Korean American Identities through African American Vernacular English.” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 11: 52–64.

Chun discusses recent attention paid to the ideological construction of “whiteness,” including the ways that dominant racial categories are reflected in what is considered appropriate speech. Previous studies have examined vernacular English spoken or attributed to Hispanic (Mock Spanish) and African American (Cross-Racial African American Vernacular English) speakers. Racialized language has not been considered in the linguistic practices of Asian Americans, who are viewed as “non-white” but are assigned a surrogate “white” status.

Colls, Tom. “The Death of Language?” 2009. BBC Radio 4.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8311000/8311069.stm.

This article discusses the importance of language to the sustainability of a culture.

Duff, Patricia A., and Duanduan Li. 2009. “Indigenous, Minority and Heritage Language Education in Canada: Policies, Contexts and Issues.” The Canadian Modern Language Review 66(1): 1–8.

Duff and Li explore the various policies adopted by the Canadian government regarding the teaching of Indigenous and other minority languages throughout Canada. Given the implementation of Canada’s official policy of multiculturalism and the nation’s commitment to the teaching of the French language, it is not surprising that “minority” languages are prioritized by the Canadian government.

Edwards, John, and Joan Chisholm. 2010. “Language, Multiculturalism and Identity: A Canadian Study.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 8(5): 391–408.

Edwards and Chisholm conducted qualitative research (in the form of surveys) with 401 respondents to discover their attitudes toward language, multiculturalism, and language use. They discovered that, while there exists a great deal of ethnic and linguistic variability among the respondents, they did not feel that language was necessarily a key defining feature of one’s sense of national identity.

Fordham, Signithia. 1999. “Dissin’ ‘the Standard’: Ebonics as Guerilla Warfare at Capital High.”
Anthropology and Education Quarterly 30: 272–293.

Fordham examined linguistic practices of a group of African American high school students from Washington, DC. Ebonics, or African American Vernacular English (AAVE), is considered by the students as the “proper” way to speak. Other forms of speech are evaluated in terms of AAVE. Standard English dialect is viewed by these students as representing a vernacular form of speaking. Using AAVE is a form of resisting the state-improved and imposed curriculum.

Goddard, Ives. 2004. “Endangered Knowledge: What Can We Learn from Native American Languages.” AnthroNotes 25(2): 1–8. https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/22408/anthronotes_25_2_1.pdf

Goddard notes that, prior to European contact, there may have been as many as 400 distinct languages in North America. A reflection of this diversity is that these languages can be grouped into at least sixty language families. American Indians apparently navigated these diverse languages by becoming multilingual. Goddard explores the nature and structure of American Indian languages and some of the transformations that occurred after Europeans began to colonize North America.

Gumperz, John J., and Jenny Cook-Gumperz. 2008. “Studying Language, Culture, and Society: Sociolinguistics or Linguistic Anthropology.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 12: 532–545.

The authors note that the study of language, culture, and society has long drawn on a wide variety of scholarly disciplines. They argue that sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology are closely intertwined approaches—and perhaps should not be seen as two separate fields. Gumperz and Cook-Gumperz explore the historic reasons why sociolinguistics was separated from the broader approaches of anthropological linguistics and formal linguistics.

Johnston, Aviaq. 2013. My mother tongue. Northern Public Affairs 1 (3):42-44.

Johnston recounts what it is like to be Qallunaaq (white/southerner) —she is Inuk but not seen as Inuk, and she realizes that how the language was taught to her—as well as the hostility from others—made it difficult for her to learn Inuktitut. She reveals how learning the language meant incorporating everyday life into it, making the “boot camp” of Nunavut Sivuniksavut critical for restoring her pride and sense of self in the rewriting the story of her people.

Meek, B.A. 2010. We Are Our Language: An Ethnography of Language Revitalization in a Northern Yukon Community. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

In this ethnography, Meek explores the phenomenon of Aboriginal language revitalization in the Yukon. In many Indigenous communities throughout the world, language revitalization represents a post-colonial response to years of marginalization on the part of the Canadian government or other majority cultures. Meek discusses the ways in which language use is closely interwoven with notions of personal, familial, and group identity in the face of both discrimination and change.

Monaghan, Leila. 1998. “Linguistic Anthropology and the Ebonics Debate.” Teaching Anthropology: Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges Notes 5: 24–33.

Monaghan considers the 1996 proposal by the Oakland (California) School Board to recognize “Ebonics” as a separate language. This is an important historical event in the history of linguistic anthropology related to the study of “Ebonics,” also known as African American Vernacular English (AAVE) or Black English Vernacular. The author considers why the school board’s proposal generated hostile reactions, as well as how linguistic anthropologists viewed the conflict. One of the strengths of this article is that the author contextualizes “Ebonics” in terms of how languages facilitate written and verbal communication.

Munroe, Elizabeth Ann, Lisa Lunney Borden, Anne Murray Orr, Denise Toney, and Jane Meader. 2013. Decolonizing Aboriginal Education in the 21st century. McGill Journal of Education 48 (2):317-338.

The authors argue for the integration of Indigenous approaches to education into Western pedagogies to emphasize practical skills but also the use of Indigenous languages for instruction. Both Western and Indigenous learning systems call for education of context and interconnection of all things and to emphasize creativity, innovation, and holistic approaches to learning embodied in web of relationships. They cite two examples from Mi’kmaw community-based education systems to illustrate the effectiveness of the approach.

Ottenheimer, Harriet Joseph. 2009. The Anthropology of Language: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Ottenheimer provides a basic but engaging text discussing linguistic anthropology and situates the sub-discipline in the wider field of anthropology. She points out that linguistic anthropologists do not simply analyze the structure and patterning of language (linguistics) but examine the contexts and social situations in which language is used. Linguistic anthropologists also consider the possible origins of language, and how languages have changed over time. They also look at how people learn languages and evaluate others based on how they speak. A central question of whether how we speak reflects the way we think is also explored.

Roberson, Debi, Ian R.L. Davies, Jules Davidoff, and Laura R. Shapiro. 2004. The Development of Color Categories in Two Languages: A Longitudinal Study. Journal of Experimental Psychology:General 133 (4):554-571.

Process of colour term acquisition by children shapes how well they perceive colour, and the authors demonstrate this with an experiment taking 32 three year olds, 36 four year olds (English) and 42 three year old and 27 four year olds (Himba of Northern Namibia) and tested them for colour recognition. They found that Himba children were exposed to more muted colours in natural environment and adult names consistent for focal colours, and English speakers would see certain colours faster, but, when taught, Himba children would pick up the terms in English and see the colours more readily.

Seyfarth, Robert, Dorothy Cheney, Thore Bergman, Julia Fischer, Klaus Zuberbuhler, and Kurt Hammerschmidt. 2010. “The Central Importance of Information in Studies of Animal Communication.” Animal Behavior 80: 3–8.

Animal communication studies examine the ways in which information is conveyed to other animals, as well as the types of information being communicated. The authors consider how animals respond to the calls of different individuals, such as food or alarm calls. Two forms of well-known vocal forms of communication are the songs of birds and the alarm calls of primates. The authors note that animal communication is not simply vocal, but also includes dance languages (honeybees) and claw waiving (crustaceans). This article provides key data that will allow students to evaluate human language against other forms of animal communication.

Torres-Rivera, Edil, Cirecie West-Olatunji, William Conwill, Michael T. Garrett, and Loan T. Phan. 2008. “Language as a Form of Subtle Oppression among Linguistically Different People in the United States of America.” Revista Perspectivas Sociales/Social Perspectives 10(1): 11–28. dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/2964202.pdf 

This article is a must-read for individuals trying to understand the significance of language to cultural ideologies as well as the broader implications of linguistic oppression relative to the sustainability of particular societies.

Wortham, Stanton. 2003. “Linguistic Anthropology of Education: An Introduction.” In Linguistic Anthropology of Education, edited by Stanton Wortham and Betsy Rymes, pp. 1–30. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Wortham discusses how linguistic anthropology can help educational research, and considered the fact that the converse is true as well. How societies use and view language as symbols of difference, assimilation, and nationalism are articulated and challenged in educational settings. Linguistic anthropologists are well-suited to examining the ideologies of language that are generated in formal and informal educational settings.

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