ANTH 493: Linguistic Anthropology http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth Just another Western Carolina University Blog weblog Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:23:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5.2 en hourly 1 © hfrancis@email.wcu.edu () hfrancis@email.wcu.edu() Just another Western Carolina University Blog weblog hfrancis@email.wcu.edu No no http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg ANTH 493: Linguistic Anthropology http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth 144 144 Human Communication – Acquiring intonation http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/11/06/human-communication-acquiring-intonation/ http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/11/06/human-communication-acquiring-intonation/#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:23:49 +0000 hfrancis http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/?p=135 Here, NPR reports on the intonation of the cries of infants:  Babies May Pick Up Language Cues in Womb.

]]> http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/11/06/human-communication-acquiring-intonation/feed/ 0 Animal Communication http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/11/06/animal-communication/ http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/11/06/animal-communication/#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:55:24 +0000 hfrancis http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/?p=133 Here’s an example of Hocket’s design feature interchangeabiliy – only male crickets chirp.  Slo-mo Cricket Chirps Reveal Secret Seranades discusses the chirp patterns of different species of crickets.  Overall, NPR’s Wild Sounds series is pretty interesting.

And, monkeys lie:  White Face Capuchin lies 

Here, crows crack nuts:  Wild crows in the city;  Here, a crow makes a tool:  Tool-making crow;  And crows teach each other to recognize danger:  Crows recognize faces

]]> http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/11/06/animal-communication/feed/ 0 Presentation for Anth 190: Cherokee World http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/28/presentation-for-anth-190-cherokee-world/ http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/28/presentation-for-anth-190-cherokee-world/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:09:50 +0000 hfrancis http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/?p=122 Here are a couple of references.  Our WCU Cherokee Language Program blog is blog.wcu.edu/cherokee.  Our website is paws.wcu.edu/cherokeelanguage.  We have an itunes university site.  It is at itunes.wcu.edu (public login).

Our partners, Kituwah Preservation and Education Program of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in Cherokee, North Carolina, have the website Fluent1.com.

Cherokee is a language that is in danger.  National Geographic’s Enduring Voices project is a good introduction to the problem.

]]> http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/28/presentation-for-anth-190-cherokee-world/feed/ 0 Sounds of Languages http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/28/sounds-of-languages/ http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/28/sounds-of-languages/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:00:54 +0000 hfrancis http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/?p=120 We want to consider a few kinds of sounds.  First, Wikipedia has a decent International Phonetic Alphabet for reference.

We want to listen to some Xhosa Click sounds on the UCLA Phonetics Lab site.  After consideration of these sounds, we want to listen to Miriam Makeba’s song in Xhosa.

We are interested in Hmong tones.  And also in Polish consonant clusters.

Finally, we’re interested in the English vowels.

]]> http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/28/sounds-of-languages/feed/ 0 Sounds of Dialects Assignment http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/28/sounds-of-dialects-assignment/ http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/28/sounds-of-dialects-assignment/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:51:59 +0000 hfrancis http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/?p=115 Here is the Sounds of Dialects assignment as a pdf:  DialectAssignment102809

Here is the sound clip mp3 from Mountain Talk:  MountTalkMedley102809

I will post your sound clips here.

Teacher0539 mp3

Student0540 mp3

Student0541 mp3

Student0542 mp3

Student0543 mp3

]]> http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/28/sounds-of-dialects-assignment/feed/ 0 Mid Term Exam (due Monday Oct 19) http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/07/mid-term-exam-due-monday-oct-19/ http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/07/mid-term-exam-due-monday-oct-19/#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:49:43 +0000 hfrancis http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/?p=111 I have attached the pdf for the exam.  Mid-term exam pdf:  Mid Term Take Home Short Essay Exam

]]> http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/07/mid-term-exam-due-monday-oct-19/feed/ 0 ASL, Plains Indian Sign Language – Independent of spoken language http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/07/asl-plains-indian-sign-language-independent-of-spoken-language/ http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/07/asl-plains-indian-sign-language-independent-of-spoken-language/#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:36:18 +0000 hfrancis http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/?p=106 Both American Sign Language and Plains Indian Sign Language are independent of spoken language.  But ASL is a complete language equal in power to spoken language.  Plains Indian Sign Language is probably a trade language – reduced in scope, more iconic than abstract.

Very interesting set of videos on Plains Indian Sign Language:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JST8l3ilsSQ

I’m a big fan now of b storm – the repetition of signs in his Marilyn Manson cover is interesting and I like the way pitch is represented in the ‘0h, 0h, 0h’ section of Pump It:  http://www.youtube.com/user/st0rmfx

I’m a big fan of myhappyhands:  http://www.youtube.com/user/MyHappyHands

]]> http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/07/asl-plains-indian-sign-language-independent-of-spoken-language/feed/ 0 Whistle, Drum Languages – Dependent on Spoken Language http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/07/whistle-drum-languages-dependent-on-spoken-language/ http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/07/whistle-drum-languages-dependent-on-spoken-language/#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:28:50 +0000 hfrancis http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/?p=104 Listen to the Whistle Spanish of La Gomera of the Canary Islands http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFPY60UceJQ

Compare it to the Whistle Mazateco of Oaxaca, Mexico http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfl-NJTgUzI

Note that in addition to being based on different languages, the whistles themselves  sound different.

Here is a bit of Twi (Akan) drum language:  http://www.philtulga.com/Drum%20Language.html

]]> http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/10/07/whistle-drum-languages-dependent-on-spoken-language/feed/ 0 M. Albright’s Read My Pins http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/09/30/m-albrights-read-my-pins/ http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/09/30/m-albrights-read-my-pins/#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:12:37 +0000 hfrancis http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/?p=102 Madeleine Albright has just come out with a book titled Read My Pins.  How is ‘reading’ Albright’s pins different from actual reading?  How is interpretation of the pins different from language?

National Public Radio interview with Allbright:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113278807

]]> http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/09/30/m-albrights-read-my-pins/feed/ 0 Bowerbirds communicate by nest building http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/09/28/bowerbirds-communicate-by-nest-building/ http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/2009/09/28/bowerbirds-communicate-by-nest-building/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:41:01 +0000 hfrancis http://blog.wcu.edu/linganth/?p=99 Here is a short clip of the Australian bowerbird building a nest to impress a mate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPbWJPsBPdA

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