Language, Culture, and Communication : The Meaning of Messages

by Bonvillain, Nancy

• ISBN13: 9780205832095
• ISBN10: 0205832091
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-12-17
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

For courses in Language and Culture, and Sociolinguistics Using data from cultures and languages throughout the world to highlight both similarities and differences in human languages,Language, Culture and Communicationexplores the many interconnections among language, culture, and communicative meaning. It examines the multi-faceted meanings and uses of language and emphasizes the ways that language encapsulates speakers'meanings and intentions.

Author Biography

Nancy Bonvillain is a professor of anthropology and linguistics at Bard College at Simon's Rock. She is author of over twenty books on language, culture, and gender, including a series on Native American peoples. In her field work she studied the Mohawk and Navajo, and she has published a grammar and dictionary of the Akwesasne dialect of Mohawk. She received her PhD from Columbia University in 1972 and has taught at Columbia University, The New School, SUNY Purchase and Stonybrook, and Sarah Lawrence College.

Table of Contents

Chapter One:  Introduction

 

Chapter Two:  The Form of the Message

          Phonology

          Morphology

          Syntax

          Semantics

          Manual Language

          Nonverbal Communication

 

Chapter Three:  Language and Cultural Meaning

          Foundations of Linguistic Anthropology

          Lexical and Cultural Categories

          Cultural Presupposition

          The Cultural Meaning of L I anguage Ideologies

          Extended and Transferred Meaning

 

Chapter Four:  Contextual Components: Outline of an Ethnography of Communication

          Ethnography of Communication

          Settings

          Participants

          Topics and Goals

          Speech Acts

          Narratives

          Routines

         

Chapter Five: Communicative Interactions

          Structural Properties of Conversation

          Conversational Postulates

          Directives

          Telephone Conversation

          Online Communication

          Sign Language Communication

          Politeness

 

Chapter Six:  Learning Language

          Acquisition of Language

          Complex Grammars

          Comparative Evidence

          Some Universal Sequences

          Instructional Strategies

 

Chapter Seven:  The  Acquisition of Communicate Competence

          Acquiring Communicative Styles

          Learning Status and Role

          Learning Discourse

 

Chapter Eight: Societal Segmentation and Linguistic Variation: Class and Race

          Social Stratification

          Stratification and Language Ideologies

          Caste

          Class

          Race

 

Chapter Nine: Language and Gender

          Pronunciation

          Grammatical Variants

          Choices of Vocabulary

          Conversational Styles

          Images of Gender in Linguistic Form

 

Chapter Ten:  Multilingual Nations

          Language Ideologies in Multilingual Nations

          India

          Canada

          The United States

 

Chapter Eleven:  Bilingual Communities

          Linguistic Change

          Language Use in Bilingual Communities

          Bilingual Conversational Strategies

          Interethnic Miscommunication

 

Chapter Twelve:  Language and Institutional Encounters

          Language Ideologies in Institutional Contexts

          Language and Status

          Institutional Contexts

          Education

          Medical Encounters

          Legal Settings

          The Media