 Anthropological linguists Language and culture inseparable Meaning comes from  A. spoken word  B. culturally agreed upon conventions about 1. how words used and interpreted 2. how they have been used in the past within a particular culture

 Topic: What is considered appropriate to talk about with someone you just met? Politcs? Religion?  Agonism: Is it appropriate to oppose the views of someone you just met? If so, how strongly?  Amplitude, pitch, and tone of voice: How loud or soft should your voice be to convey emotions?  Intonation: What do rising and falling intonations indicate? Interest, questions, commands?

 Overlap vs. Interruption: When is talking at the same time interruption (taking the floor away) and when is it a show of interest or enthusiasm?  Turn-taking: how do speakers signal that they want to speak or that they are done speaking?  Indirectness: What should be said directly, and what should be implied?  Framing: How do speakers signal what they think they are doing, chatting, arguing, etc.

 We all use these linguistic devices when communicating  We take them for granted when our expectations are shared  They cause problems when they are not

 Bateson (1972) developed the concept of framing while observing monkeys at the zoo  He asked himself how the monkeys (and visitors) knew that they were playing in spite of there aggressive behavior- biting  “playing” and “fighting” are alternate frames to interpret the bites  In spite of the biting, the monkeys conveyed a “metamessage” to one another, “This is play.”

 In conversations between human beings every utterance is framed by a “metamessage” that signals how the what is said is to be interpreted  For example, literally, sarcastically, angrily, or teasingly  Everything in a conversation contains clues so that participants can not only understand what is “said” but what is “going on”  For example, in American English sarcasm is signaled by flat intonation and exaggerated stress

 For example, “Nice one” after a missed basketball shot, or “Thanks a lot” when the speaker does not really appreciate what has happened  Fasold & Connor-Linton (2006) argued that framing shows that language and culture are inseparable since you cannot communicate or interpret without signaling metamessages  Metamessages vary from culture to culture e.g. “How are you?” “Have you eaten” “Where are you going?”

 Gumperz (1982), the founder of interactional sociolinguistics, examined how intonation and loudness signal the frame for interpretation, and what happens when these linguistic features differ from one culture to another  He called these “contextualization clues” (similar to “framing”)  Indian and Pakistani workers in a British airport “Gravy”  British rising intonation= question; falling intonation= take it or leave it

 Lakoff (1975) indentified three Rules of Rapport for speakers: 1. Don’t impose 2. Give options 3. Maintain camaraderie Emphasizing different rules leads to different styles of politeness For example when asked, “Would you like something to drink?” A vistor who replies “No thanks.” Rule1 “I’ll have whatever your having.” Rule 2 “Yes thanks. Have you got a diet Coke?” Rule 3 Consider food offering in Greek (Rule 1) and American culture (Rule 3)

 Tannen (1984) examined framing and politeness amongst Americans of different backgrounds  “high involvement” and “high considerateness”  Overlap- avoiding overlap to not impose on another speaker - “high considerateness”  Embracing overlap to show enthusiasm- “high involvement” tend to have shorter pauses faster rate of speech, more questions  American and French Women  American and German Student  New Yorkers

 Back-channel clues- “the verbalizations that speakers make to show they are listening”  Vary from culture to culture  Japan- “aizuchi” frequent rhythmic head nods  American men use fewer and mean “I agree”  American women use more to mean “I’m listening”

 Indirectness:  Japanese place great value on indirectness “sasshi” Many native Americans do as well  Journalist who went to Japan asked to see a robot and was told “That might be possible.”

 Women tend to ask questions; whereas men tend to be more direct. “Is it hot in here?” “Are you thirsty?”  Harness and Goodwin (1990) found that girls base their relationships around talk and tend to play in small groups or pairs  Girls tend to discourage play that place one on a higher footing than another  Boys play in larger groups that tend to be hierarchically organized  Use language to assert dominance and attract attention

 Happens when two speakers with different linguistic styles don’t come to understand one another but become increasingly frustrated  A process by which two speakers drive one another to more and more extreme expressions of different ways of speaking  For example, American man inviting a Japanese women to lunch

 Agar (1994) posited that language and culture are inextricably bound coined the term “languaculture”  Sapir-Whorf hypothesis- the claim that language shapes thinking  Strong form (linguistic determinism) your language limits, controls how you think  Weak form (linguistic relativity) language makes it easier to understand ideas for which it has words or grammatical categories for