A Basic Course in Anthropological Linguistics (Studies in Linguistic ...

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LANGUAGE AND REALITY 151 Arizona. All the parts of the automobile are named in that language as if they were body parts, as shown below (Basso 1990: 15-24): Apache Term English Meaning Auto Part &a d=> wos gan kai ZE ke Yan indi ni Ci ta Ebiyi’ tS3S ztk pit 6 s jisole fat chin and jaw shoulder hand and am thigh and buttock mouth foot back eye face nose forehead entrails vein liver stomach intestine heart lung grease front bumper front fender front wheel rear fender gas pipe opening rear wheel bed of truck headlight area from top of windshield to bumper hood top, front of cab machinery under hood electrical wiring battery gas tank radiator hose distributor radiator Basso explains the use of such body metaphors in two ways. First, there is the fact that cars have replaced horses in Apache life and, thus, the terms used to describe the horse have been reapplied to describe the car. Second, since vehicles can generate and sustain locomotion by themselves, they are likely to be perceived as extensions of bodily locomotion. Root metaphors and anthropomorphic metaphors have, as mentioned above, “cultural consequences.” Take, for instance, the [love is a sweet taste] conceptual metaphor in English, which can be seen in such common expressions as “She’s my sweetheart,” “They went on a honeymoon,” etc. The fact that sweets are given to a loved one on St. Valentine’s day, that matrimonial love is symbolized at a wedding ceremony by the eating of a cake, that we sweeten our breath with candy before lussing our loved ones, etc., are all “consequences” of this conceptual metaphor. Incidentally, in Chagga, a
152 A BASIC COURSE IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS Bantu language of Tanzania, similar cultural practices exist because the language possesses the same [love is a sweet taste] concept. In Chagga the man is perceived to be the eater and the woman his sweet food, as can be detected in expressions that mean, in translated form, “Does she taste sweet?” “She tastes sweet as sugar honey” (Emantian 1995: 168). This type of reification of something imagined metaphorically into something real is extensive across cultures. Take, as another example, the symbolism associated with Ijustice] in our culture: (1) the ljustice is blind] conceptual metaphor is rendered palpable, for example, in the practice of sculpting statues of “Justice” with blindfolds; (2) the [the scales of justice] conceptual metaphor is commonly symbolized by corresponding sculptures of scales near or inside justice buildings. Metaphor is also at the root of a culture’s storehouse of proverbial wisdom. A common expression hke He has fallenfrom grace would have been recognized instantly in a previous era as referring to the Adam and Eve story in the Bible. Today we continue to use it with only a dim awareness (if any) of its Biblical origins. Expressions that portray life as a journey-“I’m still a long way from my goal,” “There is no end in sight,” etc.-are similarly rooted in Biblical narrative. As the literary critic Northrop Frye (1981) pointed out, one cannot penetrate such expressions without having been exposed, directly or indirectly, to the original Biblical stories. These are the source domains for many of the conceptual metaphors we use today for judging human actions and offering advice, bestowing upon everyday life an unconscious metaphysical meaning and value. When we say An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth we are invoking imagery that reverberates with religious meaning in a largely unconscious way. Every culture has s dar proverbs, aphorisms, and sayings. They constitute a remarkable code of ethics and of practical knowledge that anthropologists call “folk wisdom.” Indeed, the very concept of wisdom implies the ability to apply proverbial language insightfully to a situation. Scientific reasoning too is largely based on metaphorical imagery. Science often involves things that cannot be seen-atoms, waves, gravitational forces, magnetic fields, etc. So, scientists use their metaphorical know-how to envision this hidden matter. That is why waves are said to undulate through empty space, atoms to leap from one quantum state to another, electrons to travel in circles around an atomic nucleus, and so on. Metaphors are evidence of the human ability to see the universe as a coherent structure. As physicist Robert Jones (1982: 4) aptly puts it, for the scientist metaphor serves as “an evocation of the inner connection among things.” When a metaphor is accepted as fact,
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A Basic Course in Anthropological L
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A Basic Course in Anthropological L
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Table of Contents Preface .........
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Metaphor ..........................
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Preface Language is a truly fascina
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Without words to objectify and cate
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LINGUISTIC METHOD 3 languages the s
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LINGUISTIC METHOD 5 Saussure’s ap
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LINGUISTIC METHOD 7 as computationa
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LINGUISTIC METHOD 9 language utiliz
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LINGUISTIC METHOD 11 making the wor
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LINGUISTIC METHOD 13 Although there
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LINGUISTIC METHOD 15 chairrnan, spo
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LINGUISTIC METHOD 17 for example, s
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LINGUISTIC METHOD 19 they are unabl
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LINGUISTIC METHOD 21 who had suffer
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Language is a part of our organism
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THE OFUGIN AND EVOLUTION OF LANGUAG
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THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF LANGUAG
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THE ORTGIN AND EVOLUTION OF LANGUAG
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A linguistic system is a series of
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SOUNDS 49 Sounds made by touching t
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Main Points of Articulation: SOUNDS
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SOUNDS 53 English living in Alabama
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SOUNDS 55 If a phoneme has variants
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SOUNDS 57 other by means of a compl
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SOUNDS 59 Distinctive features also
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~ ~ SOUNDS 61 Syllables with Primar
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SOUNDS 63 In some languages, such a
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SOUNDS 65 that we hardly ever notic
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flee float fly SOUNDS 67 On the oth
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Give the people a new word and they
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WORDS 71 inflected classes (such as
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THE MORPHEME WORDS 73 The bits and
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WORDS 75 There are two other types
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WORDS 77 This suggests, of course,
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ZIPF’S LAW AGAIN WORDS 79 Recall
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WORDS 81 Abbreviations save effort.
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WORDS 83 The American linguist Jose
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The words of the world want to make
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SENTENCES 87 The hierarchical struc
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SENTENCES 89 complement (or object)
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SENTENCES 91 For example, uttering
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SENTENCES 93 As a follow-up study,
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SENTENCES 95 The . . ./-ingl . . ./
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SENTENCES 97 timeline on which spec
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For a large class of cases-though n
Page 112 and 113: MEANINGS 101 The three referents to
Page 114 and 115: MEANINGS 103 a legislative assembly
Page 116 and 117: or [-canine] - [+canine] dog (male)
Page 118 and 119: MEANINGS 107 connotations, namely t
Page 120 and 121: MEANINGS 109 We do not detect the p
Page 122 and 123: MEANINGS 111 thnlung] was rendered
Page 124 and 125: (3) We don’t hire crew cuts. MEAN
Page 126 and 127: MEANINGS 115 ~~ Evil Good Appropria
Page 128 and 129: MEANINGS 117 he called gesticulants
Page 130 and 131: MEANINGS 119 given names come from
Page 132 and 133: You can stroke people with words. E
Page 134 and 135: DISCOURSE AND VARIATION 123 other k
Page 136 and 137: explicating family relations explic
Page 138 and 139: DISCOURSE AND VARIATION 127 (4) a c
Page 140 and 141: DISCOURSE AND VARIATION 129 or she
Page 142 and 143: DISCOURSE AND VA€”TION 131 Gend
Page 144 and 145: DISCOURSE AND VARLATION 133 Today,
Page 146 and 147: DISCOURSE AND VAFUATION 135 English
Page 148 and 149: All objects, all phases of culture
Page 150 and 151: LANGUAGE AND REALITY 139 0-0 1. 2 .
Page 152 and 153: LANGUAGE AND REALlTY 141 relations
Page 154 and 155: c English Salisb Sahaptit Chinook S
Page 156 and 157: LANGUAGE AND REALITY 145 brown, pur
Page 158 and 159: METAPHOR LANGUAGE AND REALITY 147 T
Page 160 and 161: LANGUAGE AND REALITY 149 In Modern
Page 164 and 165: LANGUAGE AND REALITY 153 it enters
Page 166 and 167: 9 8 LANGUAGE AND REALITY Side Grow
Page 168 and 169: LANGUAGE AND REALITY 157 The Greeks
Page 170 and 171: CONCLUDING REMARKS LANGUAGE AND REA
Page 172 and 173: CHAPTER 1 Activities and Topics for
Page 174 and 175: CHAPTER 2 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. ACTI
Page 176 and 177: ACTIVITIES AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSIO
Page 190 and 191: A addressee addresser affii allopho
Page 192 and 193: cohesive gesture communicative comp
Page 194 and 195: G gambit generative grammar GLOSSAR
Page 196 and 197: locutionary act logograph M manner
Page 198 and 199: eferential function register repair
Page 200 and 201: vocalization voicing vowel GLOSSARY
Page 202 and 203: Cited Works and General Bibliograph
Page 204 and 205: CITED WORKS AND GENERAL, BIBLIOGRAP
Page 206 and 207: CITEiD WORKS AND GENERAL BIBLIOGRAP
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CITED WORKS AND GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPH
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A abbreviations, 79-8 1 acronyms, 7
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metaphor, role of, 147-153 proverbi
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illocutionary act, 184 image schema
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emotional meaning, 1 18 figurative,
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eality, and language color terminol
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gesture theory, 26-28 La-La theory,
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