Anthropologist Clifford Geertz defined culture as ideas based on cultural learning and symbols. For anthropologist Leslie White, culture originated when our ancestors acquired the ability to use symbols. What is a symbol?

A. a distinctive or unique cultural trait, pattern, or integration that can be translated into other cultures
B. any element within a culture that distinguishes it from other cultures, precisely because it is difficult to translate
C. something verbal or nonverbal within a particular language or culture that comes to stand for something else, with no necessary or natural connection to the thing for which it stands
D. a linguistic sign within a particular language that comes to stand for something else in another language
E. something verbal or nonverbal with a non-arbitrary association with what it symbolizes


Answer: C

Anthropology & Archaeology

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