by Author Name Withheld 161

Created on: November 13, 2009

Linguistic study is a significant branch of anthropology. While there are different approaches to the process of studying language, in regards to the technical breakdown of language (descriptive linguistics) and the chronological breakdown (historical linguistics) a third approach delves into the societal and cultural contexts. While sociolinguistics studies language and its use in a society in terms of age, gender, religion, occupation, and other social categories, ethnolinguistics focuses on the language of a particular culture and its interrelation with the culture itself.

In sociolinguistics, studies show that a given society may have differences in speech patterns, or syntax, that depend on a person's gender. For example, Native Americans found in South Dakota that speak Lakota have certain gender-specific methods. While it is not difficult for a child to learn, the syntax may be difficult for those whom have no knowledge of the language. This is evident in the filming of the acclaimed film, Dances with Wolves. As director, Kevin Costner wanted the film to be authentic as possible and hired a Lakota woman to teach him and most of the other actors how to properly speak Lakota. However, as to not confuse everyone, the language coach only taught them all the female syntax, which was humorously observed by native Lakota speakers when watching the film after its release.
While a particular language may vary in gender syntax, it may also vary in other ways, such as by region or occupation. A dialect is a variation of a language that is fully understandable by a group in another region; there are certain words that differ. A strong example of this is Ebonics, or AAVE. African American Vernacular English has been misconstrued to be viewed as an inferior dialect, inevitably due to the social context of those who speak it. Primarily spoken in the inner-cities, it is heavily associated with poverty, crime, and illiteracy; however, Ebonics is just as complex as other languages, with set rules of grammar, syntax, and syllable emphasis. Ebonics is an example of how a particular group in a given society can speak a different dialect while still fully understanding what is being spoken elsewhere in the same society.
When individuals begin to learn how to speak both dialects and switch back and forth when necessary, they are engaging in what is known as code switching. Code switching may also apply to two or more different languages. An example of code switching dialects

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