| cultural anthropology |
| Anthropology in the 21st century |
© 2009 Lolita Nikolova, PhD
Created: 4-20-09. Updated: 6-22-09.
Created: 4-20-09. Updated: 6-22-09.
Language for communication (Semiotics of culture) (posted: 04-20-
09; updated: 4-21-09)
Ferraro, Gary (2008): Cultural Anthropology. Applied perspectives. Thomson Wadsworth.
Goal: To define similarities and differences between language and other forms of human communication
(symbolic and non-symbolic), respectively between verbal and visual cultures
Special attention: Indo-European and Papua New Guinea verbal languages and cultures (comparison)
The Teacher's slide show (100 slides) includes:
1. Syntax (A group for electronic music). Why was chosen the name? What is
common between the electronic music and linguistic syntax?
External link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvuU3x9TpZM
2. Academic intelligence:
Symbol and symbolic systems for communication. - Language.- Phoneme - Phonology. -Morpheme - Morphology.
- Syntax. - Grammar. - The trees of languages in the world. - Cognition. - Cultural language (a new term).
3. Is it important who talks about language?
4. Elements of design
- Color, line, shape, space, texture (Weber, Jenette 2003, Clothes, Fabric & Construction, p. 175).
- Examples from different cultures in the world. General discussion about structure. Design is one of the best
examples together with language about structure.
5. Signs
External link: http://books.google.com/books?id=8s1Gl2X-DlgC
6. Signs and design: Comparison.
External link:
- examples for design from the Carnegie Mellon School of design
http://www.design.cmu.edu/
- examples for web design
http://www.oswd.org/design/preview/id/3698
7. Design and symbolic systems for communication in Prehistory - examples from the
Balkans
Slide show
External links:
European prehistoric art
http://www.europreart.net/preart.htm
8. Prehistory of Eurasia and Indo-European languages. Paleolithic, Neolithic, Copper Age,
Early Bronze Age, Later Bronze Age, Early Iron Age. Theories about the origin of the Indo-
European languages.
9. Language as a symbolic system of communication: Phoneme/ Phonology,
Morpheme/Morphology, Syntax and Grammar. Cultural language.
External link:
- Ancient Greek text
http://homoecumenicus.com/ioannidis_ancient_greek_texts.htm
- What a student knows about morphemes
http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/caneng/morpheme.htm
- Nature, music and language
Syntax Group
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvuU3x9TpZM
10. Language of War: Papua New Guinea
http://dotsub.com/view/4b4a3953-6569-4cdb-a8c9-d5c81dde3dc6
(Video, April 2009, abt 50 min – for home); Response to the video (If you want):
War - a cultural language or a violence, or both; How do the women respond to the war? What would you do? How
to stop the war? What can you learn about the subsistence life of the Papua New Guinea? ....
11. How do languages interact?
Case study: Motu dialect [Motuan language] (New Guinea)
Pratt (1896): “Many of the words seen to have Papuan roots, but all take the form of Eastern Polynesian”
12. Cultural language: includes all expressions related to communication (verbal, body,
symbolic, etc.] [L.N.]
13. Trees of languages in the world. Synchronic and diachronic analyses.
Case study: Indo-European languages
14. Language and social status as an aspect of semiotics of culture
External link:
Language and culture
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/semiotics_este.html
15. Cultural parameters of language in different cultures and societies
External link:
Papua New Guinea women kill males babies to end tribal war (Dec 2008)
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24732391-401,00.html?from=public_rss
16. Problems from week 2: Evolution, Diachronic, synchronic, social intelligence
How does tradition interact with innovation?
17. Language and art (teacher’s metaphor)
18. Actual minutes:
John Bell in our class (internal link)
Susan Boyle (http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/videogaga/16130/susan-boyle-hype-revitalizes-10-year-old-
cover/)
ICOM 2009 - Conference in Korea
ICOM - International Council of Museums
http://museumstudies.si.edu/ICOM-ICTOP/index.htm
Rita Levi Montalcini (Internal link)
19. Brain and social intelligence.
External links:
http://media.barnesandnoble.com/?fr_story=35f55242fc5c42dbe0a46953078c23d80205a712&rf=sitemap
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/episode5/index.html
http://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/cases/caseNA/pb9.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/illusions/index.html
http://start.trysensa.com/dms850/
20. Intellect and cognitive abilities.
External link:
http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2006/12/18/what-are-cognitive-abilities/
21. Language for communication (Review):
How does human language differ from forms of communication in other animals? How do languages change?
Are some languages superior to others? Do people from different cultures have different styles of linguistic
discourse? What is the relationship between language and culture? How do people communicate without using
words?
Quiz
22. Discussion on the research projects
Books that I had researched especially for this lecture:
Armstrong, David F. & Wilcox, Sherman E. (2007). The Gestural origin of languages. Oxford: University Press.
Cochran, Gregory & Harpending, Henry. (2009). The 10,000 year explosion. How civilization accelerated human evolution. New York:
A Member of the Perseus Books Group. [Henry Harpending is a distinguished Professor at the University of Utah and a member of
the National Academy of Sciences].
Dessalles, Jean-Louis (2000). Why we talk. The evolutionary origins of language. Oxford: University Press.
Deutscher, Guy (2005). The unfolding of language. An evolutionary tour of mankind's greatest invention.
Fukui, Naoki (2006). Theoretical comparative syntax. Studies in macroparameters. London & New York: Routledge.
Givón, T. (2009). The genesis of syntactic complexity. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Lyon, Caroline, Nehaniv, Chrystopher L. and Cangelosi, Angelo. (Eds.). (2007). Emergence of communication of language. London:
Springer.
Pintzuk, Susan, Tsoulas, George, Warner, Anthony. (Eds.). (2000). Diachronic syntax. Models and mechanisms. Oxford: University
Press.
09; updated: 4-21-09)
Ferraro, Gary (2008): Cultural Anthropology. Applied perspectives. Thomson Wadsworth.
Goal: To define similarities and differences between language and other forms of human communication
(symbolic and non-symbolic), respectively between verbal and visual cultures
Special attention: Indo-European and Papua New Guinea verbal languages and cultures (comparison)
The Teacher's slide show (100 slides) includes:
1. Syntax (A group for electronic music). Why was chosen the name? What is
common between the electronic music and linguistic syntax?
External link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvuU3x9TpZM
2. Academic intelligence:
Symbol and symbolic systems for communication. - Language.- Phoneme - Phonology. -Morpheme - Morphology.
- Syntax. - Grammar. - The trees of languages in the world. - Cognition. - Cultural language (a new term).
3. Is it important who talks about language?
4. Elements of design
- Color, line, shape, space, texture (Weber, Jenette 2003, Clothes, Fabric & Construction, p. 175).
- Examples from different cultures in the world. General discussion about structure. Design is one of the best
examples together with language about structure.
5. Signs
External link: http://books.google.com/books?id=8s1Gl2X-DlgC
6. Signs and design: Comparison.
External link:
- examples for design from the Carnegie Mellon School of design
http://www.design.cmu.edu/
- examples for web design
http://www.oswd.org/design/preview/id/3698
7. Design and symbolic systems for communication in Prehistory - examples from the
Balkans
Slide show
External links:
European prehistoric art
http://www.europreart.net/preart.htm
8. Prehistory of Eurasia and Indo-European languages. Paleolithic, Neolithic, Copper Age,
Early Bronze Age, Later Bronze Age, Early Iron Age. Theories about the origin of the Indo-
European languages.
9. Language as a symbolic system of communication: Phoneme/ Phonology,
Morpheme/Morphology, Syntax and Grammar. Cultural language.
External link:
- Ancient Greek text
http://homoecumenicus.com/ioannidis_ancient_greek_texts.htm
- What a student knows about morphemes
http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/caneng/morpheme.htm
- Nature, music and language
Syntax Group
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvuU3x9TpZM
10. Language of War: Papua New Guinea
http://dotsub.com/view/4b4a3953-6569-4cdb-a8c9-d5c81dde3dc6
(Video, April 2009, abt 50 min – for home); Response to the video (If you want):
War - a cultural language or a violence, or both; How do the women respond to the war? What would you do? How
to stop the war? What can you learn about the subsistence life of the Papua New Guinea? ....
11. How do languages interact?
Case study: Motu dialect [Motuan language] (New Guinea)
Pratt (1896): “Many of the words seen to have Papuan roots, but all take the form of Eastern Polynesian”
12. Cultural language: includes all expressions related to communication (verbal, body,
symbolic, etc.] [L.N.]
13. Trees of languages in the world. Synchronic and diachronic analyses.
Case study: Indo-European languages
14. Language and social status as an aspect of semiotics of culture
External link:
Language and culture
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/semiotics_este.html
15. Cultural parameters of language in different cultures and societies
External link:
Papua New Guinea women kill males babies to end tribal war (Dec 2008)
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24732391-401,00.html?from=public_rss
16. Problems from week 2: Evolution, Diachronic, synchronic, social intelligence
How does tradition interact with innovation?
17. Language and art (teacher’s metaphor)
18. Actual minutes:
John Bell in our class (internal link)
Susan Boyle (http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/videogaga/16130/susan-boyle-hype-revitalizes-10-year-old-
cover/)
ICOM 2009 - Conference in Korea
ICOM - International Council of Museums
http://museumstudies.si.edu/ICOM-ICTOP/index.htm
Rita Levi Montalcini (Internal link)
19. Brain and social intelligence.
External links:
http://media.barnesandnoble.com/?fr_story=35f55242fc5c42dbe0a46953078c23d80205a712&rf=sitemap
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/episode5/index.html
http://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/cases/caseNA/pb9.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/illusions/index.html
http://start.trysensa.com/dms850/
20. Intellect and cognitive abilities.
External link:
http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2006/12/18/what-are-cognitive-abilities/
21. Language for communication (Review):
How does human language differ from forms of communication in other animals? How do languages change?
Are some languages superior to others? Do people from different cultures have different styles of linguistic
discourse? What is the relationship between language and culture? How do people communicate without using
words?
Quiz
22. Discussion on the research projects
Books that I had researched especially for this lecture:
Armstrong, David F. & Wilcox, Sherman E. (2007). The Gestural origin of languages. Oxford: University Press.
Cochran, Gregory & Harpending, Henry. (2009). The 10,000 year explosion. How civilization accelerated human evolution. New York:
A Member of the Perseus Books Group. [Henry Harpending is a distinguished Professor at the University of Utah and a member of
the National Academy of Sciences].
Dessalles, Jean-Louis (2000). Why we talk. The evolutionary origins of language. Oxford: University Press.
Deutscher, Guy (2005). The unfolding of language. An evolutionary tour of mankind's greatest invention.
Fukui, Naoki (2006). Theoretical comparative syntax. Studies in macroparameters. London & New York: Routledge.
Givón, T. (2009). The genesis of syntactic complexity. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Lyon, Caroline, Nehaniv, Chrystopher L. and Cangelosi, Angelo. (Eds.). (2007). Emergence of communication of language. London:
Springer.
Pintzuk, Susan, Tsoulas, George, Warner, Anthony. (Eds.). (2000). Diachronic syntax. Models and mechanisms. Oxford: University
Press.
Student's essay. Cultural anthropology.
Spring 2009. Art Institute of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Teacher: Lolita Nikolova, PhD
Spring 2009. Art Institute of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Teacher: Lolita Nikolova, PhD
Links:
The Art Institutes
International Institute of Anthropology
Mitopencourseware (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
The Art Institutes
International Institute of Anthropology
Mitopencourseware (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
The renowned artist John Bell
- a guest in the Cultural
Anthropology class on May
19th, 2009.
- a guest in the Cultural
Anthropology class on May
19th, 2009.
| Teacher-lectures' notes. Spring 2009, Art Institute of Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City, Utah Cultural Anthropology Class. Spring 2009 |
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Salvadore Dali - a Spanish artist and self
styled genius
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4534
558119794068280
(Spanish and English)
styled genius
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4534
558119794068280
(Spanish and English)
| The pictures below are from different Internet sources (Links in the text to the right): One of the languages of war in the 21st century |
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Week 3
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