Kurilova Olya, GF-17

Linguistic Anthropology

Seminar 5

Interplay of language and culture: specific and universal in languages

1. Theory of linguistic relativity (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis).

The questions to be answered while covering the topic listed above:

1) What is the essence of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?

The hypothesis of linguistic relativity (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) deals with the relationships between
language, thought, and culture. The strong form of the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis claims that people from
different cultures think differently because of differences in their languages.

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states that the grammatical and verbal structure of a person's language
influences how they perceive the world.

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis:

1) the language a person speaks determines how this person perceives the world;

2) the distinctions encoded in one language are all different form one another. (each society lives in its
own linguistic world)

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis :

determinism: the way one thinks is determined by the way one speaks,

relativity: differences among languages must be reflected in the differences in the worldviews of their
speakers

2) Why does the theory of linguistic relativity have the second name Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?

The Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, also known as the linguistic relativity hypothesis, refers to the
proposal that the particular language one speaks influences the way one thinks about reality (holds that
the structure of human language effects the way in which an individual conceptualizes their world).

3) What is the evidence of linguistic relativity?

Often the only evidence cited in favor of such hypotheses is to point to a difference between two
languages and assert that it adds up to a difference in modes of thought. But this simply assumes what
needs to be shown, namely that such linguistic differences give rise to cognitive differences. The Sapir-
Whorf hypothesis: 1) the language a person speaks determines how this person perceives the world; 2)
the distinctions encoded in one language are all different form one another

4) What are the two versions of the theory of linguistic relativity?

The two versions of the theory of linguistic relativity are : strong (lexical and grammatical categories
of a language completely determine how its speakers perceive the world) and weak (there is some
correlation between a language and its speakers’ worldview).

5) Criticism of the hypothesis of linguistic relativity.

The absence of a particular word does not mean that the speakers cannot comprehend some
aspect of reality. Also, сritics of Sapir-Whorf do not think that the theory adequately accounts for the
role of culture in people's worldviews. Similarly, critics argue that many of the supposedly language-
locked concepts that Sapir-Whorf proposes are actually straightforward to translate

2. Linguistic universals

The questions to be answered while covering the topic listed above:

A linguistic universal is a pattern that occurs systematically across natural languages, potentially true for
all of them. A linguistic universal is a statement that is true for all natural languages. For example, All
languages have nouns and verbs, or All spoken languages have consonants and vowels.

1) What are cognitive foundations of linguistic universals?

It can be universal grammar, semantic, morphology , phonology, syntax, letters, language

capacity of people to communicate , open up relations . (semantic primes/ primitives, mental rules for
generating sentences are the same, language is an inborn human capacity).

2) What is Noam Chomsky’s contribution to the conception of linguistic universals?

Universal Grammar (UG) is a theoretical concept proposed by Noam Chomsky (not without
criticism or controversy from scholars in the scientific community) that the human brain contains an
innate mental grammar that helps humans acquire language. Chomsky based his theory on the idea that
all languages contain similar structures and rules (a universal grammar), and the fact that children
everywhere acquire language the same way, and without much effort, seems to indicate that we're born
wired with the basics already present in our brains. So, his contribution to the conception of linguistic
universals are his researches and in the results these statements : language is an inborn human capacity
and that the grammars of all the languages show a lot of similarities

3) What does this statement mean “Language is an inborn human capacity”?

The human brain contains an innate mental grammar that helps humans acquire language. Chomsky
based his theory on the idea that all languages contain similar structures and rules (a universal
grammar), and the fact that children everywhere acquire language the same way, and without much
effort, seems to indicate that we're born wired with the basics already present in our brains.

4) What are the types of linguistic universals?

 - an absolute universal (All languages have vowels and consonants, Absolute universals apply to
every known language and are quite few in number );
- statistical universal (Subjects tend strongly to precede objects)
- implicational universal
- single universals .

5) Why are there universals in human languages?

We all speak in a particular language. In its turn All languages have a basic word order of elements,
like subject, verb, and object, with variations. All languages have similar basic grammatical categories
such as nouns and verbs. Every spoken language is made up of discrete sounds that can be categorized
as vowels or consonants . These processes were only carried out using the basic concepts of linguistic
universals. While communicating , we can distinguish words and their meanings, as well as the structure
and pronunciation of words in different languages.

6) What is the difference between absolute universals and statistical universals?

Absolute universals refer to properties found in all languages, while statistical universals reflect
important trends that are found in a predominant part of the languages of the world, but not necessarily
in all. It is often difficult to ascertain what constitutes absolute universals, since we do not have access
to reliable information about all languages in the world. For instance, while it is very likely that all
languages of the world make a distinction between vowels and consonants, we cannot a priori rule out
the possibility of a language with only vowels or only consonants. On the other hand, we know for
certain that some universals are only statistical. For instance, in the vast majority of languages, the
subject usually precedes the object, but there are also languages where this is not the case, and even
languages where the distinction between subject and object does not apply.

Absolute universals can then be defined as those that are necessarily true, statistical universals as those
that are extrapolated from samples.Absolute universals can then be defined as those that are
necessarily true, statistical universals as those that are extrapolated from samples.

7) What kind of universals are called implicational universals( implicational universals: if a

language possess a certain feature, it then possess another feature) Provide examples.

Language universals may also be generalizations about properties of just a small selection of
languages, so-called implicational universals, which state that if a language has property A, then it also
has property B, but not necessarily the other way round. For instance, if a language has voiced fricatives
like [v] and [z] (property A), it also has unvoiced fricatives like [f] and [s] (property B). The reverse is not
true, since many languages have unvoiced fricatives, but not voiced fricatives. For an implicational
universal to make sense, there must also exist languages that have neither property A nor property B.

An implicational universal applies to languages with a particular feature that is always accompanied by
another feature, such as If a language has trial grammatical number, it also has dual grammatical
number, while non-implicational universals just state the existence (or non-existence) of one particular
feature.

8) What kind of universals are called semantic primes? Provide examples of semantic primes.
 Semantic primes or semantic primitives are a set of semantic concepts that are argued to be
innately understood by all people but impossible to express in simpler terms. They represent words or
phrases that are learned through practice but cannot be defined concretely.

9) What is the difference between semantic primes and exponents of semantic primes?

Exponents of semantic primes can have language-specific variant forms (allolexes or allomorphs,
indicated by ~ in the table above). For example, in English the word 'else' is an alloex of OTHER; likewise,
the word 'thing' functions as an allolex of SOMETHING when it is combined with a determiner or
quantifier (i.e. this something = this thing, one something = one thing). Exponents of semantic primes
may have different morphosyntactic characteristics, and hence belong to different "parts of speech", in
different languages, without this necessarily disturbing their essential combinatorial properties.

10) What are the similarities and differences between semantic primes and communicative
universals?

Semantic primes are mostly connected with the meaning and structure of the word, while
communicative universals are the delivery, both real time and non real time, of
communications that move around the recipient's location and the chosen method of delivery.
CU include the ways of communicative, rules of it while semantic primes reveal the meaning and
structure of the word.

11) Describe maxims (a well-known phrase that expresses a general truth about life or a rule about
behavior) of conversation (maxims of Grice).

Grice's maxims of conversation are a collection of maxims proposed by linguist Paul Grice to
describe principles that people intuitively follow in order to guide their conversations, in order
to make their communicative efforts effective.
The four types of maxims suggested by Grice were:
Maxims of Quality. Be truthful. Only say that for which you have adequate evidence.
Maxims of Quantity. Provide as much information as required. Do not provide more information
than is required.
Maxim of Relation. Be relevant.
Maxims of Manner. Avoid ambiguity (двозначність).

The task:

Individual Project “Analysis of the conversation in terms of the maxims of Grice”.

Find an episode in your favorite movie when a communication went wrong.

Describe this episode. Explain what the problem was from the point of view of what maxims of Grice
were violated.

Make a PowerPoint presentation with your findings. This presentation should have the following
structure: 1) brief information about the movie, 2) description of the context of the conversation
which is analyzed, 3) description of the problem in the conversation, 4) analysis of the problem in the
conversation in terms of maxims of Grice.