1. Linguistic Anthropology
The Development of Structuralism

2. Wilhelm von Humboldt
Language is the medium through which humans perceive the world
There is a relationship between a nation’s language and its character
(1767 – 1835)

3. Wilhelm von Humboldt
The “outer form” of a language consists of the raw material – the sounds – used to make different languages
The “inner form” is the pattern – the structure – of the grammar and the meanings given to the raw material
It is the “inner form” that distinguishes languages from one another
Wilhelm von Humboldt
(ca. 1830)

4. Wilhelm von Humboldt Language is dynamic, not static.
Language is an activity, not a product of activity.
A language is not a set of actual utterances produced by speakers…
It is the underlying principles or rules that made it possible for speakers to produce such utterances.
A “Structural” conception of language.

5. Ferdinand de Saussure
Language is a structured system that can be viewed
synchronically (as it exists at any one time)
diachronically (as it changes over time)
(1857–1913)

6. Ferdinand de Saussure parole – the way a particular person speaks
langue – the system of rules that makes it possible for a person to know how to speak
parole
parole
parole
langue
parole
parole
parole

7. Ferdinand de Saussure on Signs
Language is a symbolic system that depends upon “signs”
“Signified” – an abstract mental concept
“Signifier” – a material "sound-image" (i.e., an utterance, a written word, a picture)
the process of signification is what gives meaning to an expression

8. Fredinand de Saussure
Wanted to counter prescriptive linguistics – as a program for telling people how they should use their language (“standard”)
His interest was in descriptive linguistics – to describe how people actually use language (nonstandard”)
Language is a “social fact” (à la Durkheim)
Language is a sequence of sounds that carry meaning

9. The Structure of Sentences
paradigmatic
syntagmatic
“The dog threw up on the rug.”
What can substitute for “dog”? For “rug”?
Animate vs. inanimate nouns
When a sign in one slot affects what happens in another slot
“The dog slept on the rug.”
“The dog marinated on the rug.”
Michael Agar, Language Shock: Understanding the Culture of Conversation, 1994

10. Franz Boas Preserve native languages before they are lost forever
Develop a comprehensive system of synchronic description
Sounds
Grammar
Dictionary
Linguistics a s a way to study culture
Franz Boas
( )

11. Leonard Bloomfield
Studied Malayo-Polynesian (Austronesian) languages, especially Tagalog
Showed that the techniques of historical linguistic techniques applied equally well to non- western languages
( )

12. Leonard Bloomfield
Language (1933) becomes the standard textbook of American linguistics
Linguistic phenomena could properly and successfully be studied when isolated from their nonlinguistic environment

13. Leonard Bloomfield Heavily influenced by behavioralism
Investigate only empirically observable phenomena
Study what people say to one another and how they respond

14. The Behaviorist Approach
Focus only on what can be observed
Stimulus
Response
in between lies
“a black box”

15. Bloomfield’s Behaviorism
The elements of language can be studied in isolation from the nonlinguistic environment – you study sound systems and grammar, not semantics
A child learns language by listening to and then repeating what others have said
No speculation about what is going on in a person’s head when they are using language