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Anthropology Is A Study Of Humankind

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Anthropology is a study of humankind in all places at all times as one may say it is an observer of human mind. This essay will critically discuss the following keys. Firstly, it will start by defining the term holistic than it will critically discuss the statement which says why anthropology has been describe as holistic study of humankind. Secondly, it will concisely discuss four subfields which are linguistic anthropology, socio-cultural anthropology, physical or biological anthropology, and archaeological anthropology by linking them with the above statement explaining their role in making the discipline holistic. Lastly, it will conclude by refreezing the important aspects that this essay has captured in the discussion.
One might describe …show more content…

Firstly, linguistic is as the dictionary may put it, it is the scientific study of language. To continue, linguistics is an older discipline than anthropology, in way that when anthropologist did field work they discovered places that language haven’t been invented yet and they created a dictionary and grammar so they could study the structure and history of language and it share same similarities with biological anthropologist because it too seek to in cover the changes which has taken place over time in the language universe (Nzozo, 2013 text). Language and communication are keys to how the society and culture is made for example, the six blind men defining an elephant. Each man feels a part of the elephant and describes his take on what it is like. The first man feels the side of the elephant and calls it a wall. The second feels the elephant’s tusks and compares it to a spear. The third man feels the trunk and then calls it a snake; the 4th feels the legs, says it’s a tree. The 5th man touches the ears and calls it a fan and the 6th man grabs the tail and proclaims ‘I see (tho blind) it’s very like a rope’. Despite of what their subfields are anthropologist share many assumptions about humanity the first is human universalism this is the view that all people today are fully and equally human and an implication is that people from all societies of the world are …show more content…

Firstly, historical linguistics deals with the arrival of language and how languages have altered and diverged overtime (Nzozo, 2013). Secondly, descriptive linguistic studies the sounds (phones) sound systems, grammar, syntax, and the meaning that are attached to words in specific languages (Nzozo, 2013). One might also describe it as an analytic and descriptive branch of how language was used in the past by a collective of people. Thirdly, ethno linguistic inspects the relationship between culture and language and how the two interact and influence each other (Nzozo, 2013). In addition, one could say it is the way different ethnic groups view the world and it is the mixture of ethnology and linguistics. Lastly, Sociolinguistics search relationships between language and social relations for example, a social linguist might want to study how one’s social standing affects his or her language usage (Nzozo,

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