Glossolalia or “speaking in tongues” is known primarily from charismatic Christian churches. In that setting it has been studied extensively with some remarkable findings. In Tower of Linguistic Babel, I examined one of those studies and noted some curious features of “tongues” or glossas:
They are always derivative of the speakers’ native language. In other words, [...]
Tags:charismatic Christianity·dissociative speech acts·ermeneglossia·glossolalia·linguistics·Pentecostals·Phonation Frustes·shamanic speech·speaking in tongues·supernatural languages·Tower of Babel·xenoglossia
The holy grail of archaeology is to discover the earliest evidence of symbolic thought in humans. Generally speaking, symbolism means that one thing represents or stands for another. In its most basic form, symbolic thought is iconic: an object in the world (e.g., rock) is related to an idea in the mind (e.g., person).
Because this [...]
Tags:Acheulian·April Nowell·arbitrary·art·Berekhat Ram·Fancesco d'Errico·figurines·geofact·icon·iconicity·incisions·Israel·language·linguistics·Morocco·ocher·pigment·ritual·Robert Bednarik·rock art·Saussure·semiotics·symbolic behavior·symbolic thought·symbols·Tan-Tan·Venus·words
Anthropologists are at it again: engaged in fruitless and unproductive arguments about whether the discipline is a “science.” The furor revolves around proposed changes to the American Anthropological Association’s mission statement:
The purposes of the Association shall be to advance anthropology as the science that studies public understanding of humankind in all its aspects, through This [...]
Tags:AAA·American Anthropological Association·anthropology·archaeology·biological anthropology·cultural anthropology·four field anthropology·holistic anthropology·humanities·linguistics·science
The irony is deep but not delicious: the world’s most important database for dead and dying languages — Ethnologue — began as a missionary project and continues to pursue (Christian) religious goals. Despite the religious colonialism and imperialism inherent in missionary projects, academic linguists concede that Ethnologue is one positive that has emerged from the [...]
Tags:colonialism·culturcide·dead languages·dying languages·Ethnologue·imperialism·language database·language extinction·languages·Laura Spinney·linguicide·linguistics·linguists·missionaries·missions·Summer Institute of Linguistics
The Guardian has posted an encouraging story about studying anthropology and what people do with anthropology degrees.
Assuming that one is truly dedicated to four-field anthropology, the following certainly rings of truth: “Anthropology has been described as the most scientific of the humanities and the most humanistic of the sciences.”
Unfortunately for most anthropology graduate students, the [...]
Tags:anthropology degree·archaeology·biological anthropology·cultural anthropology·four field anthropology·holistic anthropology·humanities·linguistics·science
Not long ago, I discussed an article on Islam by Cynthia Boaz. In her article, Boaz attempted to correct several misconceptions regarding Islam and presented us with a progressive, liberal, and tolerant interpretation of Islam. While there are Muslims outside of the US who interpret Islam in the way Boaz does, there are also Muslims [...]
Tags:Afghanistan·Aisha·authenticity·Cynthia Boaz·Hindu·Huffington Post·intepretation·interpretive communities·Is There a Text In This Class·Islam·Islamist·liberal·linguistics·Literary Theory·manufacturing consent·Missives from Marx·Muslim·Muslim women·Muslims·oppression of women·progressive·sharia·Sharia law·Stanley Fish·Taliban·Terry Eagleton·Time Magazine·tolerant·Vedic faiths
