Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology
The terms ‘emic’ and ‘etic’ were widely used in the American anthropology of the 1960s and 1970s, and the distinction between ‘emic’ and ‘etic’ levels of analysis was a commonplace in the areas of linguistic anthropology known variously as *componential analysis or *ethnoscience. ‘Emic’ and ‘etic’ (derived respectively from †‘phonemic’ and †‘phonetic’) designate two contrasting levels of data or methods of analysis. An emic model is one which explains the ideology or behaviour of members of a culture according to indigenous definitions. An etic model is one which is based on criteria from outside a particular culture. Etic models are held to be universal; emic models are culture-specific.
Just as phonetic and phonemic levels imply different methods of analysis, so too do etic and emic levels. So-called cognitive anthropologists, especially in the 1960s, were interested mainly in emic analysis (Tyler 1969).
They saw culture as possessing structures similar to those of language. In contrast, anthropologists influenced by *cultural materialism, especially in the 1970s, were more interested in etic analysis. They saw culture in terms of minimal units which defined appropriate behaviour, often in direct response to environmental circumstances (see Headland, Pike, and Harris 1990).
The terms ‘emic’ and ‘etic’ were first employed by †Kenneth L.Pike in his monumental book, Language in Relation to a Unified Theory of the Structure of Human Behavior. As this title suggests, their origin and early use reflect not only the analogy between †phonological (phonemic) and cultural (emic) data, but also Pike’s theoretical stance (which sees linguistics as closely related to behavioural psychology) and his search for a grand theory which could encompass both language and culture. The subfields of †‘cognitive anthropology’, ‘the new ethnography’ and ‘ethnoscience’ which emerged in the 1960s all stem ultimately from Pike’s original concerns. These approaches emphasized emic over etic approaches through the meticulous analysis of semantic fields and indigenous classifications, and practitioners sought to apply Pike’s distinction both as a method of ethnographic research and as an aid to the theoretical understanding of the relation between specific and universal aspects of culture.
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