Speech & Communication

From Encyclopedia of International Media and Communications
The technological advances that govern our travel, business, and communication patterns today require cross-cultural communication. When decisions are made in a global marketplace, it is not possible to operate effectively only within the cultural premises of the communicator.

In anthropology, the integrated system of socially acquired values, beliefs, and rules of conduct which delimit the range of accepted behaviors in any given society. Cultural differences distinguish societies from one another.

Process by which different parts of the globe become interconnected by economic, social, cultural, and political means. Globalization has become increasingly rapid since the 1970s and 1980s as a result of developments in technology, communications, and trade liberalization.

Sign representing something that has an independent existence. The most important use of symbols is in language. To say so, however, does not solve the perennial philosophical questions as to the nature of the linguistic sign.

From Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology
The formation of anthropology as a subject of intellectual study was closely associated with the establishment of distinctive institutions.

The study of humankind. It investigates the cultural, social, and physical diversity of the human species, both past and present.

From Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology
As a written account, an ethnography focuses on a particular population, place and time with the deliberate goal of describing it to others.