Here you'll find activities in Language and Communication. We're looking to publish in this area, so please Contact the Editor, Jennifer.Jacobson@ablongman.com if you have text writing plans.

Activities

1. Explore current archaeological research projects and sites. Do any projects also involve linguistic, physical, and cultural anthropology? How? Why might it be important to study the linkages between the four fields of anthropology?

2. Visit the American Anthropological Association home page and follow links to information about research ethics in the social sciences. What provisions were contained in the 1970 standard code of ethics? What is meant by informed consent? What other ethical principles are included in the code? Today, how does the American Anthropological Association address issues of contemporary research, research standards, and issues of fieldwork safety in politically volatile regions?

3. Get more details on interaction patterns and communication systems among the nonhuman primates in the wild. Why don't chimps have language-or do they? As a cultural anthropologist, how might you study the use of gestures, facial expressions, and signs and symbols as primate paralanguage? Also listen to the audio of African Primates at Home. How might you add the use of calls and signals to your study of primate communication?

4. Meet chimps who have been taught to communicate, such as Kanzi, Washo, and Koko, and read "ver batim" transcripts of their interactions. Also check out other links on primate communication at this rich University of New Hampshire site. Then read about Panbanisha. Can chimps generate original symbolic communications? What was Panbanisha's secret and how did she communicate it to humans?

5. Follow links to hear a children's story told in Samoan and to survey an online tutorial on the Samoan language. What are some links between language and culture in this example? What values would likely be protected through language preservation?

6. Read a study on the way mothers talk to their babies. This study involved analyzing videos of hearing mothers playing with their hearing babies and deaf mothers playing with their deaf babies. To what extent did the mothers use baby talk? What paralanguage was missing from hearing mothers' interactions with their children? What other differences can you identify that relate to deaf culture? Why do you think this research report is entitled "Making Every Sign Count"?

7. Language acquisition and language learning, including learning a second language, are important clues to human cognitive functions and communication systems. To gain insight into the way the mind works, scientists study, for example, the mistakes young children make in learning language. Read a challenging paper from the Journal of Child Language on three different models (symbolic, dual route, and connectionist) for explaining how Spanish-speaking children learn the grammar of gender harmony.

8. Visit anthropologist Elinor Och's home page on the Web. Scroll down and read her tutorial, "What Is Crosslinguistic Research?" Then follow links to find out what applied linguistics is and what FLARE (Forum for Language Acquisition Exchange) does. According to Ochs, what is the anthropological significance of language acquisition?

9. Read how language is articulated and described in phonetics. How does the system of describing the sounds of a language make language comparisons possible? Then sample a clickable map of vowels to learn how vowel sounds in English are produced. What role does the tongue play in vowel sound production?

10. Take an online tutorial on the formal properties of language and other resources for language study. For example, grammar includes morphology, phonology, phonetics, semantics, and syntax. What do these terms really mean? See a collection of online grammars, including, for example, Akkadian and Sanskrit. What are the basic types of grammars in terms of which all the world's living and extinct languages can be classified?

11. Visit the Native Languages Page and sample links to Native American languages. Then read stories with translations from a range of native languages--for example, an Inwewinan story translated from Mingo, an Iroquoian language traditionally spoken by the Seneca. Notice that "Okey-doke" is a Mingo expression, borrowed into English during the colonial period. What does okey-doke mean? What are the characteristics of Iroquoian languages; that is, what are the cultural implications of having an agglutinative language centered on verbs? How could a new word for computer be formed in Mingo?

12. According to the Center for Nonverbal Studies, how should "language" be defined? How does the study of nonverbal communication enrich the field of linguistic anthropology?

13. Visit the Human Communication Laboratory at Columbia University. According to psychologists, why do humans gesture when they speak? What other aspects of human communication are studied in this lab? Then go to the Psycholinguistics page at the Max Planck Institute and read the Introduction. What is psycholinguistics? What are the six areas of study in that field? Who were the pioneers? Why do people study psycholinguistics? What are the implications of this field for cultural anthropologists?

14. Visit the International Association for Semiotic Studies. With what communication behaviors are semiotic studies concerned? Also visit the Center for Applied Semiotics, choose an area of application to explore in greater depth, and follow the links. For example, how can semiotics be applied in product advertising and promotion? What is biosemiotics?

15. Read an anthropological analysis of the closing ceremonies of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. The closing ceremonies were Australia's chance to invite the world to Sydney for the 2000 Olympic Games. Through what symbols did Australia present itself in its few minutes of television air time, and what did that presentation really mean in terms of forging a new national identity?

16. Use alphabetical links to read biographies of Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf. Find out more about the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis through links at the Theory in Anthropology site. Why do researchers increasingly favor the view that thought is language, that language is simply an extension of thought? What evidence is there for the opposite view that language structures thought? How do you think this question can be resolved?

17. Read a story on a 1999 panel discussion about language origins and the brain basis of language. How do linguists, archaeologists, neuropsychologists, geneticists, and other experts try to explain language origins by pooling their information? Then visit the Linguasphere Observatory and follow the links. What is meant by a linguasphere, and what is being observed there? What is a language, and how is it different from a dialect? How can kinship and marriage patterns be inferred from dialects and languages? How do linguistic taboos suggest rules for exogamy? Why do experts think there are fewer languages in the world today than existed during the Upper Paleolithic? Then read a 1999 news article, "Last Rites for Secret Women's Language." Why did rural women in a region of China develop their own secret written language ages ago, and why is it disappearing today? As a cultural anthropologist how might you interpret relationships between language and gender? Between language and development?

18. Survey the Ethnologue Languages of the World database. What information is contained there? For example, how many native language families are there in North and Central America? On the sample map, how many separate languages are there in Guatemala alone? In this or another region, what is an example of a language isolate? Why are sign languages included? Then see an example of the reconstruction of a Proto language at this site for Sino-Tibetan. View the photos of diverse speakers of Sino-Tibetan languages, and then see the questionnaires the researchers used to gather language data. Why did they collect and compare words for body parts, animals, and natural objects? Where did Proto-Sino-Tibetan originate and who were the first speakers?

19. The Human Languages Page, and LinguaWEB are resources for studying the languages of the world and their classifications and histories. Survey links at these sites. How many human languages presently are on the endangered list? What do anthropological and historical linguists do to preserve them? Read an article that reports the death in 1996 of the very last speaker of Tuscarora, an Iroquoian language. What happens when the last speaker of a language dies?

20. Survey Scripts of the Ancient World and compare and contrast early writing systems. What are some nonalphabetic systems of writing that can be read? Then explore a fun site on the Mayan hieroglyphic syllabary, in which specific forms or designs stand for certain syllables, combinations of sounds. Follow the instructions to write (draw) your name in Mayan glyphs. Links at this site lead to more information on ancient scripts.

21. View rongorongo writing from Easter Island and study its components. Is this writing more pictographic or script-like? On what objects does this writing appear? Then read Sergei V. Rjabchikov's analysis of Polynesian cultural symbols in the writing. What Polynesian cultural symbols are prominent in rongorongo? Read an essay by Stephen Fischer on the challenges and joys of deciphering rongorongo. What was the breakthrough in decoding this writing? What are some specific examples of logograms and semasiograms?

22. Look at these exhibits of wampum made by member nations of the Iroquois League to record their treaties with Europeans. How can the wampum belts be read? Why are they more a system of communication and symbolic representation than a form of art? What was in the wampum that recorded an early 17^th century treaty with the Vatican?

23. Study the family tree and phonetics chart of the Mon language of Burma and Thailand. How is Mon related to the language family of Mon-Khmer, and where did the speakers of Mon-Khmer come from? Is Mon related to Hmong? Who are Hmong speakers? Visit a K-12 educational program for Hmong-speaking students who are learning English as a second language. What do you think are the biggest challenges for Hmong speakers in the process of learning English?

24. Investigate the U.S. Department of Education Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs. How many minority languages are there in the U.S.? What "minority language affairs" does the Office address? Survey the information for respecting, teaching, and learning languages at the National Clearinghouse on Bilingual Education. How might a cultural anthropologist interpret these sites in terms of relationships between language and culture and between language and social structure?

25. Read about pidgins and creoles as "contact languages." What is the difference between pidgins and creoles? In what contact situations do these constructed languages develop? Take a quiz on pidgins and creoles at a sociolinguistics site to see if you can identify the dominant contact language in the examples given. Then go to a word list for the numbers 1 - 10 comparing the world's known pidgin and creole languages. Are you surprised to discover that most are constructed from dominant languages other than English?

26. Read a paper on the post-contact languages of Western Australia from earliest times to the present. What non-aboriginal languages influenced Aborigine pidgins and creoles? Compare and contrast this story to a brief online history of the Konkani language. What patterns do you see in language change? How does language change reflect social and cultural change?

27. Visit the Language Policy Research Center in Israel. What is Israel's language policy? What minority languages are involved? Compare and contrast Israel's language policy with the United States'. Read, for example, Robert Underwood's 1995 statement to Congress opposing the English-only movement in its bid to allow only English as the official language of the United States. In what ways do you think pluralistic societies deal with multilingualism? At SIL International's online literacy education project, follow the lingualinks to read the report on local history and its relationship to national history in relation to language use. How is language an instrument of assimilation, socialization, and information control in pluralistic societies?

28. Compare and contrast three programs for language preservation. Start with the Potawatomi Web and the Comanche Language and Culture Preservation Committee. Then read "Did You Know?" at the web page of 'Aha Punana Leo, an indigenous language revitalization program for the native Hawaiian language. What have these three programs done effectively to preserve their native languages? What language policy has permitted this attention to preservation?

29. Visit the African Immigrant Folklife Study Project in Washington, D.C. This study focuses on cross-cultural communication and the preservation of NigerianYoruba language and culture. See and hear a Yoruba naming ceremony at this site.

30. Read abstracts of articles in the journal Anthropological Linguistics. Then visit the American Association of Applied Linguistics. What are some hot topics in anthropological linguistics today? In what ways can the study of linguistics be applied to the human experience and problems of change? Finally, survey this links site for anthropological linguistics, and choose a topic to explore in more depth. What links can you find that might relate to your major or present career plans?

31. Read a biography of Noam Chomsky and a summary of his contributions to the study of language and communication. Chomsky also became an activist for social and political change. Read online excerpts from his 1988 book, Manufacturing Consent. According to Chomsky, what is the primary function of the mass media? Why must we be critical of this function?

32. How might an anthropologist study the use of semantics in communication? As an example, read articles by war correspondents on cultural and political problems in news reporting. For a historical view, read Kristian Kahrs' study on Journalism early in the Vietnam War in 1962-1966. Then read Tom Gjelten's 1997 report on "Professionalism in War Reporting" and Kate Adie's speech on the "Ethics of War Reporting." What communication issues are involved, and why are they important? Visit NYU's Center for War, Peace and the News Media and the Institute of War and Peace Reporting. How do these organizations define journalism's role in peace and war? What guidelines do they offer for greater objectivity in reporting?

33. How might an anthropologist study the use of special language codes? For example, according to this business news article, how is guanxi in China both similar to and different from networking in the United States? What are some Asian business code words? For example, what are ojigi, ki, and shinyo, and why are they important in the conduct of business and business relationships?

34. View an online exhibit of body adornment among the Canela Indians of Brazil at the National Museum of Natural History. What are the social and cultural contexts of body modification in Canela culture? What factors of age, sex, group identity, social status, symbolic communication, and ritualism are involved? Then visit the Jade Dragon tattoo and body piercing parlor online in Chicago, and view the examples of body modifications offered there. What are the social and cultural contexts of body modification in American culture? What factors of age, sex, group identity, social status, symbolic communication, and ritualism are involved?

35. Read a 1996 paper by anthropologist Theresa Wall on "Body Modification and Ornamentation." Wall studied two Polynesian cultures, Maori and Samoan, and two Amazonian cultures, Kayapo and Mehinaku and compared their bodily adornment practices as art and as complex symbol systems. How do these symbol systems also relate to understanding social structure and social organization in these societies?

36. Survey this site for the collection of Indigenous People's Literature. What kinds of documents and translations are collected here? What indigenous people are represented? Which of these people are hunters and foragers?

37. Go to the National Museum of the American Indian and view the exhibits. Undertake an online study of a virtual totem pole. Where is this totem pole and who was the artist? What is the story of Thunderbird? How can each crest on the totem pole be interpreted? In what ways do totem poles as an art form overlap with the kinship systems of peoples of the Pacific Northwest?

38. Visit the Tanami Network Videoconferencing Project online. What are noted as the three main benefits of videoconferencing for the Walpiri and Pentubi and other Australian Aborigine groups? Check the Conference Schedule. What questions might you ask about it? Now visit the 20000 Cows Restaurant in Lismore, one site where videoconferences in the outback are conducted. How does the name of this restaurant reflect Aboriginal philosophy, humor, and resilience?

39. What is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's commitment to indigenous radio and television programming? According to Mark Hodges in "Online in the Outback," why is Internet videoconferencing better for the Aborigines than just telephone or radio? Read an article on the Kintore Aboriginal Community Satellite Trial. What Telehealth services are being provided via videoconferencing? According to the source, what one medical specialty is not needed?

40. Visit Aborigine-owned web sites, such as WARU. What self-government and community-building resources are offered there? What does the Women's Council do? What is in the Walpiri links bibliography? Also visit Kam Yan (Message Stick). How is the name of this site an apt extension of traditional modes of intracultural communication among the Aborigines? Check out the "Proper Way." Who is the audience for this information? How else are the Aborigines using their radio, television, and web site content to mediate their relations with nonaboriginal peoples?

41. Read abstracts of the articles of CASTAC (Community of Anthropologists of Science, Technology and Computing. For example, read articles by Amy Bruckman, Finding One's Own Space in Cyberspace; Chris Chesher, Colonizing Virtual Reality; Mark Dery, Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs; Gordon Meyer and Jim Thomas, The Baudy World of the Byte: A Postmodernist Interpretation of the Computer Underground; and Mark Postner, Cyberocracy, Cyberspace, and Cyberology: Political Effects of the Information Revolution.

42. Read the Gang Intervention Handbook for parents and teachers. What does it tell you about the group identities and symbols of youth gangs? What are the 17 concepts of a gang that define the behavior of members and their relationships with each other and with outsiders? Then view examples of American Gang Graffiti and their meaning. How do gang members identify themselves in art, gestures, and dress?

43. Read about language as the basis of national identity for the Bangla of Bengal (Bangladesh). What role did Sanskritization play in the preservation of caste differences between the Bangla and other groups in Indian society?

44. Take this interactive online tutorial in kinship and social organization. What type of kinship system are you in? How can you diagram it using the anthropological notational system? Use the Nature of Kinship Glossary of Terms to check definitions of kin terms. For example, what are the definitions of matrilocal, patrilocal, bilocal, and neolocal? Which residence rule best describes your family? Another excellent site for kin terms exists under the auspices of the University of Connecticut.

45. Claude Levi-Strauss was best known for his structural studies of myths. Follow links at these sites to learn more about his contributions to anthropology. How does his work on myths relate to his analysis of the structure of kinship systems? How did Levi-Strauss contribute to our understanding of marriage as a system of exchange?

46. Visit the American Families web page for ethnographic information about reckoning kinship in the United States. What are some variations and areas of confusion in reckoning kinship? Use Brian Schwimmer's tutorial site on "Systems of Measuring Kinship Degree" to determine your own kindred in a bilineal/bilateral kinship system. Can you diagram your closest kin? According to Schwimmer, what are some group dynamics typical in bilaterial kinship systems?

47. Read a general description of Chinese names and naming practices. What beliefs and values underlie these practices? Explore links at this site to learn the history of Tang/Teng/Deng. Who are the "Hundred Families" in Han history? How does the Chinese system of surnames and generation names work? How has the splitting off of clans over thousands of years reflected the history of Chinese expansion?

48. Find out how language relates to kinship through systematic kinship terminologies. How many terminological systems are there in the world? Study the diagrams at this site. Which system of kin terms is yours and how do you know?

49. Bulfinch's Age of Fable is a classic work on myths and folklore of the world that can be read online. Sample this text. For example, what was the religion of the ancient Celts? Read a student's paper on the use of animal symbolism in Celtic Mythology. What did a horse represent? A boar? A dog? How were these animals abstracted and symbolized in Celtic art?

50. What roles do images and symbols of power and identity play in political systems? View chiefly artifacts of the Kayapo. How did feathers figure in politics? At the National Museum of African Art online, use country links to view exhibits of symbols of power in Cameroon and in other African nations. Then visit the Akan Cultural Symbols Project. Click on the linked terms in picture captions to learn the meaning of symbols. What were some traditional symbols of political power of Ghanaian chiefdoms? In Akan belief, where does legitimate power come from?