Linguistic Anthropology (Essay Sample)

Linguistic Anthropology
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Linguistic Anthropology
For this assignment, the paragraph located for this assignment is a paragraph on page 251 of the textbook. The second paragraph in that page is used.
Part One: Phonemes and the International Phonetic Alphabet
The following words of the paragraph are translated into the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet.
Text to be translated: Polygyny is particularly common in traditional food-producing societies that support themselves by herding grazing animals or growing crops and where women do the bulk of cultivation.
After translation: ɸɔɭɣɠɣɲɣ ɪ̀ʃ ɸɐʁʀɪ̀ɕʊɭɐʁɭɣ ɕɔɱɱɔɲ ɪ̀ɲ ʀʁɐɖɪ̀ʀɪ̀ɔɲɐɭ fɔɔɖ ɸʁɔɖɕɪ̀ɲɠ ʃɔɕɪ̀ɚʀɪ̀ɚʃ ʀɦɐʀ ʃʊɸɸɔʁʀ ʀɦɚɱʃɚɭʌɚʃ βʎ ɦɚʁɖɪ̀ɲɠ ɐɲɪ̀ɱɐɭʃ ɔʁ ɠʁɔʍɪ̀ɲɠ ɕʁɔɸʃ ɐɲɖ ʍɦɚɾɚ ʍɔɱɚɲ ɖɔ ʀɦɚ βʊɭk ɔf ɔʊɭʀɪ̀ʌɐʀɪ̀ɔɲ.
It is worth mentioning that when typing the words for translation, the letters K and F could not be translated since these letters are of the Latin alphabet (Szynalski, 2011). As such, to type the letters k and f – for the words bulk, food and of – the keyboard was used.
According to Kies (2010), the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is essentially the oldest and the main representative organization for phoneticians. Established in Paris in the year 1886, IPA aims at promoting the scientific study of phonetics and the different practical applications of that science. To further this aim, the IPA offers the academic community all over the world with a notational standard for the phonetic representation of every language – the International Phonetic Alphabet (Szynalski, 2011). The IPA is fundamentally an alphabetic system of phonetic association that is based largely on the Latin alphabet.
Part two: Morphemes, Bound and Free
The first 40 words of the text divided into different morphemes. The text is as follows:
Polygyny is particularly common in traditional food-producing societies that support themselves by herding grazing animals or growing crops and where women do the bulk of cultivation. Under these conditions, women are valued both as workers and as child bearers. Because
PolygynyFisFparticularF/lyBcommonFinFtraditionF/alBfoodFproducF/ingBsocietyF/iesBthatFsupportFthemF/selveB/sBbyFherdF/ingBgrazeF/ingBanimalF/sBorFgrowF/ingBcropF/sBandFwhereFwomenFdoFtheFbulkFofFcultivateF/ionB. UnderFtheseFconditionF/sB, womenFareFvalueF/dBbothFasFworkF/erB/sBandFasFchildFbearF/erB/sB. BecauseF
Morphemes comprise the smallest units of language and they have great importance in grammar – they are actually what make up words. A morpheme is essentially understood as a short segment of language which meets 3 essential criteria: first, it is a word or it is an element of a word that has a meaning. Secondly, it cannot be split into smaller meaningful parts without altering its meaning or without leaving a meaningless remainder (Reichle, 2013). The main types of morphemes are bound morphemes and fre...