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Modules

Terms in this set (32)

grammar
set of rules that aim to describe fully the pattern of linguistic usage observed by speakers of a particular language
phonology
study of the sounds of a language
morphology
study of the minimal units of meaning in a language
syntax
study of sentence structure
semantics
study of meaning
metaphor
a form of figurative or nonliteral language that violates the formal rules of denotation by linking expressions from unrelated scientific domains
myths
stories that count how various aspects of the world came to be the way they are; power of these comes from their ability to make life meaningful for those who accept them; the truth of these seems self-evident because they effectively integrate personal experiences with a wider see of assumptions about the way society or the world in general, must operate
science
the invention of explanations about what things are, how they work, and how they came to be that can be tested against evidence in the world itself
assumptions
basic, unquestioned understandings about the way the world works
evidence
what is seen when a particular part of the world is examined with great care; scientists use two different kinds of this: material and inferred
hypotheses
statements that assert a particular connection between fact and interpretation
testability
the ability of scientific hypotheses to be match against nature to see whether they are confirmed or refuted
scientific theory
a coherently organized series of testable hypotheses used to explain a body of material evidence
objectivity
the separation of observation and reporting from the researcher's wishes
science studies
research that explores the interconnections among the sociocultural, political, economic, and historic conditions that make scientific research possible and successful
relative dating methods
dating methods that arrange material evidence in a linear sequence, each object in the sequence being identified as older or younger than another object
numerical (or "absolute") dating
dating methods based on laboratory techniques the assign age in years to material evidence
stratum
layer; a layer of rocks and soil
law of superposition
a principle of geological interpretation stating that layers lower down in a sequence of strata must be older than the layers above them and, therefore, that objects embedded in lower layers must be older than objects embedded in upper layers
law of crosscutting relationships
a principle of geological interpretation stating that where old rocks are crosscut by other geological features, the intruding features must be younger than the layers of rock they cut across
biostratigraphic dating
a relative dating method that relies on patterns of fossil distribution in different rock layers
seriation
a relative dating method based on the assumption that artifacts that look alike must have been made at the same time
assemblage
artifacts and structures from a particular time and place in an archaeological site
isotopic dating
dating methods based on scientific knowledge about the rate at which various radioactive isotopes of naturally occurring elements transform themselves into other elements by losing subatomic particles
non isotopic dating
dating methods that assign age in years to material evidence but not by using rates of nuclear decay
fieldwork
an extended period of close involvement with the people in whose language or way of life an anthropologist is interested, during which anthropologists ordinarily collect most of their data
participant observation
the method anthropologists use to gather information by living as closely as possible to the people whose culture they are studying while participating in their lives as much as possible
multisited fieldwork
ethnographic research on cultural processes that are not contained by social, ethnic, religious, or national boundaries, in which the ethnographer follows the process from site to site, often doing fieldwork at sites and with persons who traditionally were never subjected to ethnographic analysis
dialectic of fieldwork
the process of building a bridge of understanding between anthropologists and informants so that each can begin to understand the other
reflexivity
critically thinking about the way one thinks, reflecting on one's own experience
culture shock
the feeling, akin to panic, that develops in people living in an unfamiliar society when they cannot understand what is happening around them
fact
a widely accepted observation, a taken-for-granted item of common knowledge; do not speak for themselves but only when they are interpreted and placed in a context of meaning that makes the intelligible
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