Alternating Sound Analysis

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Anthropology is the study of people and is unique as a discipline because the discipline focuses on holism. Students are taught to look at an issue holistically before figuring out how to solve the problem they are seeing. The discipline is composed of several separate: Cultural, Linguistics, Archeology, Biological/Physical, and Applied Anthropology and many anthropologists often select one of the five fields to study, but they are still able to connect their own individual study to other aspects of human life (Nourse 2017, Powerpoint). Boas, in his article Alternating Sound, showcases an example of holism when he connected a study on phonetics of language and “sound blindness” to “alternating apperceptions”, and explained how it is reflective …show more content…

Although, Boas’ theory would be considered Linguistics Anthropology, his analysis and tests were able to connect the issue of “sound blindness” to the larger picture of groups or individuals having “alternating apperceptions” (Boas 1889, 53). Boas’ work shows how anthropologists take things apart to study and understand them before piecing them back together in order to see the final picture. It is a very unique perspective to have because it would allow for anthropologists and budding anthropologists to recognize trends and understand why groups interact with each other a certain way and how do people make decisions. Therefore, Anthropology is unique as a discipline because students are taught to look at information through a holistic mindset that would allow them to do cross cultural comparisons and connect information from various fields in order to paint a bigger image of humanity. It really gives you a more fulfilling view and understanding of the world. A lot of other disciplines tend to be very specific and narrow with their focus, but the world is becoming more connected as time goes on and it would require individuals to adapt a more global and holistic perspective in order to understand and connect with other groups and other cultures. The discipline puts humanity as its central focus and works to answer questions about what it means to be