ANTH 260 - Word, Sound, Power: Language and the Human Experience

3 Credit(s)

While virtually all animals communicate with one another, humans are the only species on earth with the capacity to create and use language. As a means of building and sharing knowledge, language has enabled mankind to survive and thrive in virtually every environment on this planet. This course introduces students to the field of linguistic anthropology in order to address the following questions: What is language? How do humans acquire language? Where and when did written and spoken languages first originate? What can language tell us about the way people see themselves and the world? What is the difference between “standard” dialects and “slang”? How can language both empower and disempower? How do languages change over time?