Linguistic Anthropology
What this domain tests
Linguistic anthropology examines language structure, use, and variation in social life. Expect phoneme/allophone distinctions, morphology, code-switching, linguistic relativity, pidgins and creoles, language endangerment, and ethnographic approaches to speech.
Core rules and concepts
- Phoneme = contrastive sound unit in a language; allophone = non-contrastive variant. Minimal pairs such as pin/bin establish phonemes.
- Morpheme = smallest meaningful unit; free versus bound.
- Descriptive linguistics analyzes sound, form, and syntax without judging correctness; grammar is not a synonym for proper usage.
- Linguistic relativity (Sapir–Whorf): language may influence habitual thought. Strong determinism is not supported; weaker effects, such as spatial frames, have empirical support.
- Pidgin = contact language with no native speakers; creole = pidgin that has acquired native speakers and full grammar.
- Code-switching is rule-governed and meaningful, not confusion.
- Indexicality: linguistic forms point to social identities and contexts.
Worked example
A community uses absolute cardinal directions (the cup is north of the plate) rather than left/right. Speakers perform better on spatial tasks requiring cardinal orientation. Reasoning: the lexicon and habitual speech pattern make certain distinctions salient, illustrating weak relativity. It does not show that speakers cannot understand relative terms - they can - so the strong Whorfian claim fails.
Traps that cost marks
Confusing phonemes with letters; equating a dialect with bad grammar; presenting Whorf as proven determinism; mixing up pidgin and creole; treating code-switching as linguistic deficit.