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Linguistic Anthropology

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  1. Introduction
  2.  
  3. Alternatively called linguistic anthropology or anthropological linguistics, this subfield of anthropology is dedicated to the study of the contextual impact of language on society and culture. The preference for one term or the other often reflects the theoretical leaning of the speakers or their training. The form “anthropological linguistics” is older, while the form “linguistic anthropology” was adopted in the seventies and has become the most common since then. Linguistic anthropology is one of the four subfields of anthropology and has important intersections with the other subfields, namely, sociocultural anthropology, biological anthropology, and archaeology. For example, it shares with biological anthropology an interest in the origin and evolution of human language and in the study of primate forms of communication; with archaeology it shares an interest in the study of the relationships among languages and their speakers in the past as well as in the study of past writing systems. It is, however, with sociocultural anthropology that linguistic anthropology overlaps the most, given its interest in culture and society and the use of ethnography as one of its methods of inquiry. Because of this, linguistic anthropology has been considered at times part of sociocultural anthropology rather than a separate subfield. However, linguistic anthropology also deploys distinguishable methods that allow close attention to language structure and use and focuses on discipline-specific questions, such as the intersection of language, mind, culture, and society. Its wide-ranging theoretical and methodological tool kit is necessary because linguistic anthropology is comprehensive in nature. Rather than limiting itself to the study of just one component of communication, it intends to be holistic. This means that linguistic anthropology is interested in all aspects of language, not only its use in social encounters but also its history; its structure; and its poetic, affective, and reflexive sides; as well as the study of the theories themselves that humans have created (both in the West and elsewhere) in their attempt to describe and understand language. Thus, while being part of anthropology, linguistic anthropology is at the same time a highly interdisciplinary endeavor that borrows from other disciplinary approaches. Its work partially overlaps with such fields as applied linguistics (dedicated to offering solutions to language-related issues in the wider world), linguistics (the scientific study of the structural elements that compose language), the philosophy of language (the reasoned inquiry on language), sociolinguistics (the study of the effect of society on language from a structural perspective), sociology of language (the study of the effects of language on society from a sociological perspective), and communication studies (mass-mediated forms of communication). Scholars in linguistic anthropology, accordingly, often work in departments outside of anthropology, such as linguistics, sociology, and folklore studies, as well as literature and area studies.
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  5. General Overviews
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  7. There are several general overviews of the discipline, including those that can be considered general textbooks (Duranti 1997, Foley 1997) and those that are edited collections covering basic concepts (Duranti 2001, Duranti 2004). Alessandro Duranti’s name has become associated, over the last decade, with many of these textbooks and general edited collections. The textbook Ottenheimer 2009 proposes an alternative view of the discipline closer to variationist sociolinguistics. The presence of alternative orientations reveals the holistic and inclusive nature of the discipline.
  8.  
  9. Duranti, Alessandro. 1997. Linguistic anthropology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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  11. Duranti’s now-classic textbook discusses the discipline in enough depth to be considered a general reference. Its coverage is extensive and, unlike other textbooks, leaves out topics closer to sociolinguistics, privileging instead the connections of the discipline to anthropology and ethnography. It also privileges depth over easy teachability.
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  13. Duranti, Alessandro, ed. 2001. Key terms in language and culture. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
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  15. This edited volume includes seventy-five short essays, each defining a concept central to linguistic anthropology. The authors of the essays are scholars whose work has been dedicated to the study of the topic they are discussing, making this particularly interesting and fundamental reading in understanding the discipline.
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  17. Duranti, Alessandro, ed. 2004. A companion to linguistic anthropology. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
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  19. This edited volume includes twenty essays, each discussing a concept or area of study central to the discipline. The authors are scholars whose work is dedicated to the study of the topic they are discussing, making this particularly interesting and fundamental reading in understanding the discipline.
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  21. Foley, William A. 1997. Anthropological linguistics: An introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
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  23. This is possibly the most comprehensive textbook introduction to linguistic anthropology. It is balanced and inclusive. It is written in clear style with great examples yet at the same time discusses each subject in depth. Particularly extensive is the discussion of the historical theories, including Whorf and the neo-Whorfians, ethnoscience, and cognitivism.
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  25. Ottenheimer, Harriet Joseph. 2009. The anthropology of language: An introduction to linguistic anthropology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
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  27. This is a teaching-oriented textbook. The author gives to it a more sociolinguistic-variationist slant, while the coverage of other topics proper to linguistic anthropology is relatively limited. Writing and literacy receive extensive attention.
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  29. Journals
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  31. Articles in linguistic anthropology are published in several journals. Some of them belong to the subfield and publish mainly articles from the subfield. Others are published in journals that cover anthropological topics in general (for a list, see the article “Ethnography”). Lastly, the majority of contributions to linguistic anthropology are published in interdisciplinary journals or journals belonging to other disciplines devoted to the study of language—another sign of the deep multidisciplinarity of the study of language. This section is broken down into the following subsections: Subfield-Specific and Interdisciplinary.
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  33. Subfield-Specific
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  35. The two main journals belonging to the discipline are the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, the flagship journal published by the Society for Linguistic Anthropology, and Anthropological Linguistics. It is interesting to note that their titles reflect the two alternative ways to refer to the discipline.
  36.  
  37. Anthropological Linguistics.
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  39. Published quarterly by Indiana University (through the University of Nebraska Press), since 1959. Peer reviewed. This is one of the longest-running journals for the discipline, and it privileges the study of Native American languages and cultures.
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  41. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology.
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  43. Published twice a year by the American Anthropological Association as the journal of the Society for Linguistic Anthropology. Peer reviewed. Articles can add web enhancement to include original recorded data. This journal privileges contributions of wider theoretical impact and those of interest to a general anthropological public.
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  45. Interdisciplinary
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  47. Most contributions by linguistic anthropologists are published in interdisciplinary journals or journals belonging to other disciplines devoted to the study of language. Among the most important and renowned are Discourse and Society, oriented toward publications that highlight connections between discourse and power; Narrative Inquiry, publishing studies that include narrative analysis; Language and Communication, Language in Society, and Pragmatics, which have a wider readership and more multidisciplinary contributors; Oral Tradition, notably oriented toward studies of verbal art; and Research on Language and Social Interaction, oriented toward publications in conversation analysis and ethnomethodology. Gender and Language is also included here as the only journal completely dedicated to this area of studies.
  48.  
  49. Discourse and Society.
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  51. Published by SAGE and peer reviewed, this is one of a group of journals founded and edited by discourse analyst Teun van Dijk. Contributions are accepted from various fields, with a focus on discourse analysis, with particular interest in those stressing the influence of discourse on social and political relations of power and inequality.
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  53. Gender and Language.
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  55. Published by the International Gender and Language Association. Peer reviewed. This is a relatively young journal, founded in 2006, and the only one completely dedicated to cross-disciplinary studies of gender, sexuality, and language from a feminist perspective.
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  57. Language and Communication.
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  59. Published by Elsevier and peer reviewed, this is an interdisciplinary journal specifically interested in publishing works that challenge disciplinary boundaries in the study of communication.
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  61. Language in Society.
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  63. Peer-reviewed journal published by Cambridge University Press; this is among the top journals for the study of language and society. It publishes works in linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, and related disciplines, giving precedence to those that appeal to wider audiences and further interdisciplinary dialogue.
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  65. Narrative Inquiry.
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  67. Peer reviewed and published by John Benjamins, this journal was previously known as the Journal of Narrative and Life History (1990–1997). It publishes articles dedicated to analysis of narratives (broadly defined), unrestrictive of methods or theoretical leaning.
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  69. Oral Tradition.
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  71. Published by the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition at the University of Missouri, in 2006 it became an open-access, exclusively online journal. Peer reviewed. Focused toward contributions in ethnopoetics, the study of verbal art and folklore.
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  73. Pragmatics.
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  75. This is the quarterly publication of the International Pragmatics Association. Peer reviewed. The journal accepts contribution from all fields connected to the study of language use (excluding therefore purely structural studies). It is highly multidisciplinary and generally nonsectarian. It is also one of the most international in terms of both readership and contributors.
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  77. Research on Language and Social Interaction.
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  79. Peer-reviewed journal published by Routledge, strongly oriented toward the publication of studies of language use in interaction, based on recorded research data. In addition to linguistic anthropology, it publishes contributions from fields such as conversation analysis and discourse analysis.
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  81. Networks and Data Resources
  82.  
  83. Many resources can be accessed through the official site of the Society for Linguistic Anthropology, which acts as a central hub with a journal, a blog, and links to other resources. The Archives of the LingAnthro LISTSERV, the largest online community of linguistic anthropologists, is a place for continuous exchange of ideas and information, and it also has an accessible archive of all past debates and conversation (unfortunately not indexed). Additional databases are oriented toward teaching and education (among them the Resource Archive for Language and Gender and the LingEducator Blog). Particularly important is the Tools for Linguistic Anthropologists site, considering of the role that recording and data analysis technology plays for the field. Databases oriented toward research are available, a main one being Language and Cognition Field Manuals and Stimulus Materials. Also important are sites presenting information on world languages and cultures, such as the World Oral Literature Project and Ethnologue.
  84.  
  85. Archives of the LingAnthro LISTSERV.
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  87. Includes contributions from linguistic anthropologists to discussions of interest to the discipline and is a great source of information. Subscription is free and open to anybody interested in the discipline.
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  89. Ethnologue: Languages of the World.
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  91. The online version of this encyclopedic reference work can be browsed. It includes listings of all known languages, spoken and dead, ordered by family or by country in which they are spoken. Readers should be warned that sources are not always up to date, especially for those countries where little research exists. Moreover, classifications are always subject to debate and revisions.
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  93. Language and Cognition Field Manuals and Stimulus Materials.
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  95. Created by the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, this site has made available to the public many volumes of the institutes annually published field manuals, instruments for the elicitation of language and for the study of multimodal interaction, and materials from research projects. Registration is free.
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  97. LingEducator Blog.
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  99. A place to find linguistic resources for those who teach. It also has links to data corpora, blogs of interest to scholars of language, and links to mass-media articles.
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  101. Resource Archive for Language and Gender.
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  103. Hosted by the University of Minnesota but updated with contributions from international scholars of gender and language, this site primarily includes teaching material, such as syllabi, assignments, and reading lists.
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  105. Society for Linguistic Anthropology.
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  107. Hosted by the American Anthropological Association, this is the official site of the Society for Linguistic Anthropology. It includes links to archives, LISTSERVs, and other resources as well as a list of program offerings and a list of conference calls for papers.
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  109. Tools for Linguistic Anthropologists.
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  111. This blog includes information on technology for audio and video recording and other fieldwork tools necessary for language analysis.
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  113. World Oral Literature Project.
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  115. A growing collection of recordings and information on endangered languages and oral literatures. It includes links to research and outreach projects.
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  117. Video Resources
  118.  
  119. While video recordings are generally used as a method of gathering data, linguistic anthropologists often do not make these data available to general audiences or publish them, due to ethical considerations and also to the fact that scholars work with unedited video. There are, however, some important films available. These include titles that are often used in teaching and that represent a good introduction to the study of language and interaction, such as American Tongues (Alvarez and Kolker 1988), focusing on dialects and varieties in the United States; Crosstalk (Twitchin 1996), very useful in teaching cross-cultural miscommunication; In a Manner of Speaking (McGreevy 2001, an introduction to language focusing on its use and performance; The Human Animal (Morris 1997), a fun-to-watch, albeit a bit old, documentary on gestures and their use across the world; and The Story of English (Cran 1986), a series covering the history of the English language and its present diffusion. Additionally, it is important to mention two sites distributing documentaries of anthropological and linguistic interest: the Documentary Educational Resources and the Media Education Foundation.
  120.  
  121. Alvarez, Louis, and Andrew Kolker, dirs. 1988. American tongues. VHS. New York: Center for New American Media.
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  123. The filmmakers travel across the United States and interview linguists and laypersons to create a panorama of ethnic, geographic, and class dialects of American English. The movie is engaging and fun and also not shy in discussing stereotypes and racism.
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  125. Cran, William, prod. 1986. The story of English. VHS. Chicago: Public Media Video.
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  127. Emmy-winning nine-part television series. Covers the history of the English language from its origins until today as well as its dialects and varieties across the globe. Of particular interest to linguistic anthropology are Part 5, discussing the emergence of African American Vernacular English in the colonial context, and Part 9, dedicated to World English in the context of globalization.
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  129. Documentary Educational Resources.
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  131. Large distributor of documentaries of ethnographic and anthropological interests, including some that are hard to find otherwise.
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  133. Twitchin, John, prod. 1979. Crosstalk. DVD. 1996. London: BBC Active.
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  135. Based on the work by John Gumperz on cross-cultural miscommunication in language, this documentary presents various real-life conversations where things “go wrong” and then analyzes them to reveal the way unstated assumptions and different ways of talking can unconsciously sabotage communication. Distributed by Diversity Works.
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  137. McGreevy, John, dir. 1990. In a manner of speaking: The phenomenon of conversation. VHS. 2001. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities and Sciences.
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  139. This documentary is an introduction to the study of everyday language, from pragmatics to conversation analysis. It discusses, among other topics, the importance of context, nonverbal language, prosody, and conversational synchrony. Part of the series Born Talking.
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  141. Media Education Foundation.
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  143. Many of this organization’s documentaries specifically address communication and mass media, such as Constructing Public Opinion and the Killing Us Softly series.
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  145. Morris, Desmond, dir. 1994. The human animal: Language of the body. VHS. 1997. Bethesda, MD: Discovery Channel Education.
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  147. Ethologist Desmond Morris discusses human gestures and their varieties across cultures. Although at times naive from an anthropological point of view, it is a very good introduction to the study of nonverbal language, kinesics, and proxemics.
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  149. Methods
  150.  
  151. Methods for data gathering used in ethnography, such as participant observation and field notes, structured and unstructured interviews, and interviews with focus groups, are also used in linguistic anthropology (see the article “Ethnography”). In linguistic anthropology, video recording and audio recording data are often necessary to allow in-depth analysis (for a discussion, see Cameron 2001; also Goodwin 2001 for a discussion of “learning how to see”). It is, however, in the methods of data analysis that linguistic anthropology most differs from ethnography. Among the main methods used are discourse analysis (Cameron 2001; Ochs 1979; Titscher, et al. 2000), conversation analysis (Drew and Heritage 2006), narrative analysis (De Fina and Georgakopoulou 2008), and metaphor analysis (Santa Ana 2002). The SPEAKING model, first put forth in Hymes 1974 as a tool to complement ethnographic fieldwork, has since undergone various revisions and is still applied today.
  152.  
  153. Cameron, Deborah. 2001. Working with spoken discourse. London: SAGE.
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  155. Adopting a hands-on approach to general methods of discourse analysis, this book is oriented toward teaching. It includes exercises.
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  157. De Fina, Anna, and Alexandra Georgakopoulou. 2008. Introduction: Narrative analysis in the shift from texts to practices. Text and Talk 28.3: 275–281.
  158. DOI: 10.1515/TEXT.2008.013Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  159. The authors discuss the role of narrative analysis, its practice, and its application to understanding a wider social arena. This article also introduces a series of essays focusing on narrative as a social practice relevant to diverse social settings. They distance themselves from an earlier understanding of narrative analysis as purely text based.
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  161. Drew, Paul, and John Heritage, eds. 2006. Conversation analysis. 4 vols. London: SAGE.
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  163. This publication gathers the most important works in conversation analysis, previously published separately or as articles. They include analytical essays that describe in depth the analysis of everyday language and its transcription.
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  165. Goodwin, Charles. 2001. Practices of seeing: Visual analysis; An ethnomethodological approach. In Handbook of visual analysis. Edited by Theo van Leeuwen and Carey Jewitt, 157–182. London: SAGE.
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  167. The author discusses the analysis of eye gaze as well as the practices that literally teach people “how to see.” This chapter includes his famous analysis of the court case for the beating of Rodney King.
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  169. Hymes, Dell. 1974. Foundations in sociolinguistics: An ethnographic approach. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press.
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  171. In this book Hymes proposes and explains the SPEAKING model. He also defines the role and place of ethnography in the study of language and the contributions from other disciplines.
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  173. Ochs, Elinor. 1979. Transcription as theory. In Developmental pragmatics. Edited by Elinor Ochs and Bambi B. Schieffelin, 43–72. New York: Academic Press.
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  175. In this groundbreaking article, Ochs discusses the necessary limitations of transcription and the selective and interpretative processes guided by the researcher’s theory that are unavoidable part of transcription.
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  177. Santa Ana, Otto. 2002. Brown tide rising: Metaphors of Latinos in contemporary American public discourse. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
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  179. The author applies conceptual metaphor analysis to the study of images of Latino immigrants in the United States, especially those used in the mass media. The result is a strikingly insightful book revealing how everyday discourses and the mass media contribute to racism and discrimination.
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  181. Titscher, Stefan, Michael Meyer, Ruth Wodak, and Eva Vetter. 2000. Methods of text and discourse analysis. London: SAGE.
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  183. This is an exhaustive overview of the methods for data gathering and analysis used in discourse analysis, which also considers the different methods used in the different branches of the discipline.
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  185. Historical and Theoretical Background
  186.  
  187. It is hard to separate history from theory in linguistic anthropology, since ideas and concepts, rather than being abandoned over time, have been redeveloped and further engaged. An example is the major theory developed in the field, namely, the linguistic relativity principle (also referred to as the Sapir-Whorf relativity hypothesis), which underwent, over time, a series of developments, abandonments, and redevelopments. Other important theoretical frameworks that developed inside the discipline are ethnoscience, with its subsequent cognitivist turn, and the ethnography of communication framework. Important theoretical influences have come over time from the work of scholars in other disciplines. Theoretical frameworks originated in sister disciplines also have a fundamental importance. Particularly relevant among them are ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, originally developed in sociology, and critical discourse analysis. This section is broken down into the following subsections: Whorf and the Linguistic Relativity Principle, Ethnoscience and the Cognitivist Turn, Ethnography of Communication, The Peircean Semiotic Approach, Other Theoretical Influences, Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis, and Critical Discourse Analysis.
  188.  
  189. Whorf and the Linguistic Relativity Principle
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  191. The main idea in the linguistic relativity principle (also known as relativity hypothesis or the Sapir-Whorf relativity hypothesis) is that language has an influence on the way people think, behave, and see the world. Originally articulated by Benjamin Whorf in the 1930s, the hypothesis immediately received great attention and led to a flourishing of studies (Whorf 1956). Exemplary among them was Lee 1944, a study of Wintu language and thought. Whorf was a student of Edward Sapir, and he both influenced and was influenced by Sapir’s views of language (Sapir 1949). In the following decades the relativity principle found followers especially among those scholars who constituted the field called ethnoscience (see Ethnoscience and the Cognitivist Turn). A renewed interest in Whorf’s ideas in the 1980s gave rise to the school of research generally referred to as neo-Whorfian. Spearheaded by Lucy 1992, Levinson and Brown 1994, and Haviland 1993, this current proposed an in-depth scientific and experimental study of the relativity hypothesis through a consistent control of linguistic variables and extensive cross-linguistic comparison. Other scholars, especially since the 1990s, have reconsidered the Whorfian theory not as a hypothesis but rather as a heuristic principle (for an overview of the relativity principle and later theoretical developments, see Gumperz and Levinson 1996 and Lucy 1992). The work on Language Ideologies has undoubtedly been influenced by the relativity principle, as has the discussion of poetic language and indeterminacy in Friedrich 1986.
  192.  
  193. Friedrich, Paul. 1986. The language parallax: Linguistic relativism and poetic indeterminacy. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
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  195. Starting from a reconsideration of Whorf’s idea, the author gives preeminence to poetic language in understanding human thought. At the same time, he furnishes a critique of views of language as purely referential or meaning as determined and permanent.
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  197. Gumperz, John J., and Stephen C. Levinson, eds. 1996. Rethinking linguistic relativity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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  199. A reexamination of Whorf’s ideas, from a neo-Whorfian but also critical perspective. The relativity principle is developed in several directions by the contributors, who add a consideration of the role of context in understanding the link between language and thought.
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  201. Haviland, John. 1993. Anchoring, iconicity, and orientation in Guugu Yimithirr pointing gestures. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 3.1: 3–45.
  202. DOI: 10.1525/jlin.1993.3.1.3Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  203. Following a Whorfian approach, Haviland compares the pointing gestures of the Guugu Yimithirr of Queensland, Australia, with the European way of directionally anchoring gestures to space. The author shows differences in the conceptualization of space.
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  205. Lee, D. Demetracopoulou. 1944. Linguistic reflection of Wintu•‘ thought. International Journal of American Linguistics 10:181–187.
  206. DOI: 10.1086/463840Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  207. In this engaging article, Lee presents a compelling vision of the complexity of the Wintu view of the universe and of the place of humans in it, showing its striking difference from Western views. Through an analysis of word usage and grammatical categories, she explores the reflection of the Wintus’ worldview in their language.
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  209. Levinson, Stephen C., and Penelope Brown. 1994. Immanuel Kant among the Tenejapans: Anthropology as empirical philosophy. Ethos 22.1: 3–41.
  210. DOI: 10.1525/eth.1994.22.1.02a00010Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  211. In this fascinating article the authors demonstrate that the concept of right and left, and the connected egocentric understanding of space, are culturally based and reflected in language. Using various experimental techniques side by side with an ethnographic and linguistic study, they compare the Western and Tenejapan understanding of space.
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  213. Lucy, John A. 1992. Language diversity and thought: A reformulation of the linguistic relativity hypothesis. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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  215. In this important volume, Lucy proposes his neo-Whorfian approach, namely, a comparative and cross-linguistic approach intended to empirically test the relativity hypothesis. The book also includes a historical overview of the theoretical lines derived from the Whorfian hypothesis, from semiotics to psycholinguistics and cognitive psychology.
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  217. Sapir, Edward. 1949. Selected writings of Edward Sapir in language, culture, and personality. Edited by David G. Mandelbaum. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
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  219. A comprehensive volume of Sapir’s published and previously unpublished essays. Includes his theoretical work.
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  221. Whorf, Benjamin Lee. 1956. Language, thought, and reality: Selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. Edited by John B. Carroll. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
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  223. While this volume does not include all the works by Whorf, it is the best selection published.
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  225. Ethnoscience and the Cognitivist Turn
  226.  
  227. Deeply influenced at its emergence by the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, ethnoscience proposed to understand differences in cultural worldviews through a systematic study of their semantic systems (see Whorf and the Linguistic Relativity Principle). Its main focus, therefore, was on words and their categorization in native domains of meaning. Ethnoscience gave origin to much research between the 1950s and 1960s. Major examples include Goodenough 1956 and Basso 1972. However, toward the end of the 1960s there was a growing dissatisfaction with it among scholars. Under the influence of emerging formal linguistics, as well as cognitivism, there was an inversion of this tendency through the seventies that led to the disavowal of the relativity principle and to the embrace of universalism. Ethnoscientists then turned to the study of linguistic universals, including again in semantic domains. This turn is easily seen in works like Berlin and Kay 1969, on color categorizations across cultures. In the same period, a diverging cognitivistic approach influenced by phenomenology, and rejecting universalism, led George Lakoff (Lakoff and Johnson 1980) to the development of the theory of conceptual metaphors.
  228.  
  229. Basso, Keith H. 1972. Ice travel among the Fort Norman Slave: Folk taxonomies and cultural rules. Language in Society 1.1: 31–49.
  230. DOI: 10.1017/S0047404500006539Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  231. A classic example of ethnoscientific inquiry; in this article Basso discusses the names for different kinds of “snowice” among the Slavey of northwestern Canada and their connection to Slavey culture and life experiences.
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  233. Berlin, Brent, and Paul Kay. 1969. Basic color terms: Their universality and evolution. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
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  235. Berlin and Kay’s work nicely represents the universalistic and cognitivistic turn of the seventies. Through a comparative study of basic color terms across cultures and languages, the authors attempt to demonstrate universal restrictions on the number of basic color terms a culture can have and consequently categorize cultures.
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  237. Goodenough, Ward H. 1956. Componential analysis and the study of meaning. Language 32.1: 195–216.
  238. DOI: 10.2307/410665Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  239. The author presents componential analysis, a central method in ethnoscience, and illustrates its application from the study of semantic categories to the study of cultural categories such as kinship and kinship terminology.
  240. Find this resource:
  241. Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. 1980. Metaphors we live by. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
  242. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  243. The authors present conceptual metaphors and theorize their influence on thought and action in a highly engaging book. Their approach is phenomenological, privileging physical and social experience. Their analysis of the metaphorical structuring of truth is also beautiful.
  244. Find this resource:
  245. Ethnography of Communication
  246.  
  247. First put forth in Hymes 1964, this was initially called “ethnography of speaking,” which later became “ethnography of communication” to better represent its inclusivity. Starting from the assumption that meaning is contextual, scholars foregrounded extensive ethnographic fieldwork as necessary to the study of language. At the same time, the SPEAKING model was devised (and revised at various times) as a heuristic method for the analysis of speech events. Early examples of these studies can be seen in Bauman and Sherzer 1974. Notable examples of ethnographic monographs are Briggs 1988 on the author’s work with the Mexicano, Graham 1995 on the Xavante, and Urban 1991 on South American mythologies. The ethnography of communication continues to occupy a central place in the discipline today (see Duranti 2004 for a more recent summarization).
  248.  
  249. Bauman, Richard, and Joel Sherzer, eds. 1974. Explorations in the ethnography of speaking. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  250. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  251. This important volume includes eighteen essays, of which most are the classics that helped define this theoretical school and synthesize its early results. Important focuses are the study of performance, speech acts, political language, and verbal art.
  252. Find this resource:
  253. Briggs, Charles L. 1988. Competence in performance: The creativity of tradition in Mexicano verbal art. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press.
  254. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  255. In this study of rural Mexicano communities of Northern New Mexico, Briggs focuses on their performance of traditional verbal art genres, from proverbs to legends and prayers, reflecting on the connections between texts and context while unveiling at the same time their cultural worldview.
  256. Find this resource:
  257. Duranti, Alessandro. 2004. Ethnography of speaking: Toward a linguistics of the praxis. In Intercultural discourse and communication: The essential readings. Edited by Scott F. Kiesling and Christina Bratt Paulston, 17–32. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
  258. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  259. Forty years after its beginning as a theoretical field, Duranti synthesizes the ethnography of speaking, its main results, and its changing methods and interests.
  260. Find this resource:
  261. Graham, Laura R. 1995. Performing dreams: Discourses of immortality among the Xavante of Central Brazil. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
  262. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  263. A beautifully written example of the application of ethnography of communication to understanding a culture, Graham’s book looks at the Xavante religion, mythology, and identity through songs and dance performances.
  264. Find this resource:
  265. Hymes, Dell. 1964. Introduction: Toward ethnographies of communication. American Anthropologist 66.6: 1–34.
  266. DOI: 10.1525/aa.1964.66.suppl_3.02a00010Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  267. Here Hymes proposes the original SPEAKING model of analysis and defines the goals and methods of ethnography of communication. This article also introduces the seminal volume that first presented this subfield of inquiry.
  268. Find this resource:
  269. Urban, Greg. 1991. A discourse-centered approach to culture: Native South American myths and rituals. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
  270. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  271. Rejecting the idea that culture is necessarily shared, the author follows native South Americans as they tell and perform their myths. He proposes a discourse-centered approach, looking at culture as “circulating” unfolding discourse that is localized in publicly accessible signs.
  272. Find this resource:
  273. The Peircean Semiotic Approach
  274.  
  275. Peirce’s theorization of signs (Peirce 1955) influenced linguistic anthropology through the mediation of Jakobson’s work (see Other Theoretical Influences) and that of Jakobson’s student Michael Silverstein (see Silverstein 1976). Silverstein in particular pointed to the relevance of Peircean theory in understanding the connection among language, culture, and society. This perspective has enabled scholars to go beyond classic antinomies (such as langue versus parole) found in Saussurean semiotic theory (see Other Theoretical Influences). For an eloquent discussion of the importance of semiotics in linguistic and cultural anthropology see Mertz 2007. The power of semiotic analysis in understanding colonialism is well shown in Irvine and Gal 2000 on the authors’ work in Africa and Macedonia as well as in Keane 2007, a study of the role of religion in the colonial encounter. Important in this school of thought is also Agha 2007, which connects indexicality to enregisterment. Among the more recent works in the field, Hoffmann-Dilloway 2008 applies the insight of semiotics to the study of deaf languages and their standardization. The semiotic approach has had a wide influence on the study of language ideologies, stance, and indexicality and deixis.
  276.  
  277. Agha, Asif. 2007. Language and social relations. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  278. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  279. This book sums up much of Agha’s important contributions to semiotics. It is a comparative work where the author draws from different societies to show the importance of language in creating models of social action and identity. He also discusses indexicality and enregisterment.
  280. Find this resource:
  281. Hoffmann-Dilloway, Erika. 2008. Metasemiotic regimentation in the standardization of Nepali Sign Language. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 18.2: 192–213.
  282. DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-1395.2008.00019.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  283. By looking at the case of deaf languages in Nepal and how their standardization is connected to nationalist projects, the author considers the processes through which standardization attempts to regiment variation. She considers how such standardization may impact linguistic ideologies, which are therefore not just driving standardization but also themselves being produced by the standardization processes.
  284. Find this resource:
  285. Irvine, Judith T., and Susan Gal. 2000. Language ideology and linguistic differentiation. In Regimes of language: Ideologies, polities and identities. Edited by Paul V. Kroskrity, 35–84. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press.
  286. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  287. In this essay, the authors discuss three semiotic processes (iconicity, erasure, and recursivity) present in language ideologies. They explore their role in relegitimizing colonialist pursuits and their link to nationalism.
  288. Find this resource:
  289. Keane, Webb. 2007. Christian moderns: Freedom and fetish in the mission encounter. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
  290. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  291. This book, based on fieldwork in the island of Sumba in Indonesia, considers the role of religion (and Christianity in particular) in the colonial encounter from a semiotic perspective. Through his analysis, the author sheds light on the emergence of modernity and its ideologies.
  292. Find this resource:
  293. Mertz, Elizabeth. 2007. Semiotic anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology 36:337–353.
  294. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.anthro.36.081406.094417Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  295. An eloquent discussion of the role of Peircean semiotic theory in looking at the relationship among language, other systems of signs, culture, and society. The author argues that semiotics is not only central to linguistic anthropology but also can be a bridge between linguistic and sociocultural anthropology.
  296. Find this resource:
  297. Peirce, Charles S. 1955. Philosophical writings of Peirce. Edited by Justus Buchler. New York: Dover.
  298. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  299. The classic discussion of the different categories of signs in Peirce, where he proposes the idea of indexicality as well as the conceptualization of signs and sign relations.
  300. Find this resource:
  301. Silverstein, Michael. 1976. Shifters, linguistic categories, and cultural description. In Meaning in anthropology. Edited by Keith H. Basso and Henry A. Selby, 11–55. Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press.
  302. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  303. Silverstein’s discussion of referential indexicality and the metapragmatic function. This often-cited article anticipated the study of language ideologies. It points at the relevance of Peircean theory in understanding the connections among language, culture, and society.
  304. Find this resource:
  305. Other Theoretical Influences
  306.  
  307. Several scholars working in other disciplines have had a deep theoretical impact on linguistic anthropology. Among the most influential has been the philosopher John Austin, who proposed the view of language as action as well as the notions of speech act and performativity (Austin 1975). Russian linguist Mikhail Bakhtin has had a growing influence after the late translation of his works into English (Bakhtin 1982; see also the translations in Dentith 1995). Particularly important were his concept of heteroglossia, the Bakhtin-Voloshinov analysis of language and power, and his analysis of the novel. Pierre Bourdieu’s proposal of language as symbolic capital and communication as practice (Bourdieu 1991) has been widely adopted. Sociologist Erving Goffman’s influence on linguistic anthropology is probably too extensive to summarize (see, for example, Goffman 1981). From the concept of Stance) and facework to footing and frame analysis, he has given to the discipline many of its fundamental concepts and questions. Russian philosopher and linguist Roman Jakobson has had great influence on semiotics and the Chicago school (Jakobson 1962–1988). Particularly important has been his discussion of the functions of language. Ferdinand de Saussure (Saussure 2011), considered the father of structural linguistics, has been central to important debates in linguistic anthropology, such as those on the relative importance of competence and performance.
  308.  
  309. Austin, J. L. 1975. How to do things with words. Edited by J. O. Urmson and Marina Sbisà. 2d ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
  310. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198245537.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  311. This posthumous edition of Austin’s work gathers most of his writings, originally presented in the form of lectures. He articulates his theory of speech acts, language as action, and performativity.
  312. Find this resource:
  313. Bakhtin, M. M. 1982. The dialogic imagination: Four essays. Edited by Michael Holmquist. Translated by Caryl Emerson and Michael Holmquist. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
  314. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  315. One of the most important of Bakhtin’s writings, where the Russian linguist presents his theory of the novel and of its role vis-à-vis modernity, as well as the discussion of heteroglossia.
  316. Find this resource:
  317. Bourdieu, Pierre. 1991. Language and symbolic power. Edited by John B. Thompson. Translated by Gino Raymond and Matthew Adamson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
  318. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  319. Bourdieu’s study of the relationships among language, politics, and power. It tackles such topics as censorship, institutional ritual discourse, and class differences in linguistic practice.
  320. Find this resource:
  321. Dentith, Simon. 1995. Bakhtinian thought: An introductory reader. London: Routledge.
  322. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  323. This introduction to the work of Bakhtin is comprehensive and well reasoned. It includes important excerpts from Bakhtin’s original work. Each is contextualized and historically situated by the commentator. Attribution of each piece to Bakhtin or Voloshinov is also discussed in depth and historically contextualized.
  324. Find this resource:
  325. Goffman, Erving. 1981. Forms of talk. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press.
  326. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  327. The author here delves into an analysis of everyday interactions. The book includes five essays, including “Replies and Responses,” “Response Cries,” and “Footing.”
  328. Find this resource:
  329. Jakobson, Roman. 1962–1988. 8 vols. Selected writings. The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter.
  330. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  331. An important and inclusive selection of the writings of the Russian philosopher and linguist.
  332. Find this resource:
  333. Saussure, Ferdinand de. 2011. Course in general linguistics. Rev. ed. Edited by Perry Meisel and Haun Saussy. Translated by Wade Baskin. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.
  334. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  335. Considered the most important of Saussure’s writings, this book laid the groundwork for the modern study of language and for the development of structural linguistics as a field. Originally published in 1916.
  336. Find this resource:
  337. Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis
  338.  
  339. Emerging in sociology, these schools of thoughts and analysis have been adopted in linguistic anthropology. Ethnomethodology, an attempt to understand the methods through which humans construct their social world, was first proposed and developed at the University of California–Los Angeles (UCLA) and articulated in Garfinkel 1967 and later Heritage 1984. Conversation analysis also developed first at UCLA through works such as Sacks 1995 and Schegloff 2007. It analyzes everyday interactions, their structure, and their social consequences. An important collection, including an appendix with the transcription method, is Atkinson and Heritage 1984.
  340.  
  341. Atkinson, J. Maxwell, and John Heritage, eds. 1984. Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  342. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  343. This collection of essays is essential reading for those who desire to approach conversation analysis, and it includes some of its most famous authors and essays.
  344. Find this resource:
  345. Garfinkel, Harold. 1967. Studies in ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
  346. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  347. A collection of the first works of Garfinkel, including some of his most important essays.
  348. Find this resource:
  349. Heritage, John. 1984. Garfinkel and ethnomethodology. Cambridge, UK: Polity.
  350. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  351. In this important volume, Heritage, himself a leading exponent of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, situates ethnomethodology and Garfinkel’s work on the background of theoretical developments in sociology and phenomenology.
  352. Find this resource:
  353. Sacks, Harvey. 1995. Lectures on conversation. 2 vols. Edited by Gail Jefferson. Oxford: Blackwell.
  354. DOI: 10.1002/9781444328301Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  355. A comprehensive two-volume set including most essays and lectures by Sacks that, due to his premature death, had not been previously published.
  356. Find this resource:
  357. Schegloff, Emanuel A. 2007. Sequence organization in interaction: A primer in conversation analysis. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  358. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511791208Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  359. In this book the author summarizes thirty years of research in conversation analysis. As such, it is particularly comprehensive and is thus an alternative to reading his previous original articles.
  360. Find this resource:
  361. Critical Discourse Analysis
  362.  
  363. A main current in discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis is fundamentally interdisciplinary, and many contributions to it come from linguistic anthropologists. It adopts a definition of discourse closer to the Foucaultian conceptualization to look at the imposition and maintenance of political power trough discursive means. Good introductions to this field are Fairclough 1995, van Dijk 2008, and Wodak 2009.
  364.  
  365. Fairclough, Norman. 1995. Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. London: Longman.
  366. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  367. An analysis of the scope and methods of critical discourse analysis. Fairclough proposes a more textually oriented form of analysis.
  368. Find this resource:
  369. van Dijk, Teun A. 2008. Discourse and power. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
  370. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  371. A collection of the author’s most important writings in critical discourse analysis. His approach is more psychologically oriented, with a central focus on racism.
  372. Find this resource:
  373. Wodak, Ruth. 2009. The discourse of politics in action: Politics as usual. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
  374. DOI: 10.1057/9780230233683Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  375. In this work Wodak, the proponent of the discourse-historical approach to critical discourse analysis, delves into political discourse in Europe and the United States, from the language of the media to the construction of a European identity in the language of the European parliament to the imagination of politics in the TV series The West Wing.
  376. Find this resource:
  377. Concepts and Debates
  378.  
  379. As a complex discipline with many different interests and internal complex views, linguistic anthropology has seen many debates throughout its history. Some of them are connected to the emergence of new conceptualizations or to the reinterpretation of older ones. Three will be explored here: first, the recent interest in the study (and definition) of stance (see Stance); second, the extension and centralization of the concept of indexicality (see Indexicality and Deixis); and finally, a major debate that, from the 1970s through the 1990s, focused on gendered ways of talking and their relationship to power and culture (see Gender, Language, and Power).
  380.  
  381. Stance
  382.  
  383. The inquiry on interactional stances probably started with the definition in Goffman 1981 of “footing” (see Other Theoretical Influences). Over the last decade or so the concept has received renewed attention, becoming central to the study of language both within linguistic anthropology and in related disciplines. This has led to its reconceptualization (Goodwin 2007) and to debates regarding its appropriate definition (Kockelman 2004, Du Bois 2007, Englebretson 2007). Scholars have explored how stances are communicated, their consequences on interaction (Kockelman 2004, Goodwin 2007), and their use in constructing identities and social/power relationships (Kiesling 2001, Jaffe 2009).
  384.  
  385. Du Bois, John W. 2007. The stance triangle. In Stancetaking in discourse: Subjectivity, evaluation, interaction. Edited by Robert Englebretson, 139–182. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  386. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  387. Du Bois’s take on stance differs from others as he attempts to give a more inclusive definition of it vis-à-vis subjectivity. He proposes considering stances as public actions where speakers simultaneously evaluate objects, position the self and others, and align with others.
  388. Find this resource:
  389. Englebretson, Robert. 2007. Stancetaking in discourse: An introduction. In Stancetaking in discourse: Subjectivity, evaluation, interaction. Edited by Robert Englebretson, 1–26. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  390. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  391. The essays in this edited volume take various approaches to the study of stance. In the introduction, the editor gives an inclusive summary of current definitions and approaches to the study of stances and attempts to show how each definition can be productive in different contexts of research.
  392. Find this resource:
  393. Goodwin, Charles. 2007. Participation, stance and affect in the organization of activities. Discourse and Society 18.1: 53–73.
  394. DOI: 10.1177/0957926507069457Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  395. The author expands the analysis of stance to include the way stances are constructed not only through verbal communication but also through embodiment. He argues that stances are fundamental to the organization of action and cognition as well as to the positioning of the speakers as actors.
  396. Find this resource:
  397. Jaffe, Alexandra, ed. 2009. Stance: Sociolinguistic perspectives. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  398. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  399. A state-of-the-art collection including relatively recent scholarship on stance and stance taking. Starting from a view of stance as positioning, the essays apply the concept to the study of such subjects as colonialism, religion, personhood, ideologies, and gender.
  400. Find this resource:
  401. Kiesling, Scott. 2001. Stances of whiteness and hegemony in fraternity men’s discourse. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 11:101–115.
  402. DOI: 10.1525/jlin.2001.11.1.101Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  403. Kiesling’s extensive work on masculinity and stance is well represented in this article, where he considers the role of race-modeled stances in the mediated/indirect performance of whiteness. Through these stances, he argues, the speakers reaffirm their hegemonic social position through interaction.
  404. Find this resource:
  405. Kockelman, Paul. 2004. Stance and subjectivity. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 14.2: 127–150.
  406. DOI: 10.1525/jlin.2004.14.2.127Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  407. The author takes a semiotic approach to understanding stances by defining them as indicators of commitment events with respect to narrated events. Through an analysis of clitics in Q’eqchi’ Maya, he proposes that stances can be semiotically operationalized to better understand the construction of subjectivity.
  408. Find this resource:
  409. Indexicality and Deixis
  410.  
  411. The notion of indexicality refers to the quality of signs to index or point to social realities and identities. The concept developed from Peirce’s original classification of signs (Peirce 1955). While this concept has been explored most fully by linguistic anthropologists interested in the semiotic aspects of language, it has become increasingly important to the discipline as a whole since 1990. Among the work of the former, the contributions Silverstein 2003 and Agha 2007 are important. The second connects indexicality to the notion of enregisterment. Also important has been the discussion of indexicality in connection to gender initiated by Ochs 1992. Connected to but distinguishable from the concept of indexicality is deixis (the quality of communication and meaning that is dependent on context), which has also been amply studied. A major example is in Hanks 1990, a work on Mayan language and space that bridges semiotic and ethnography of communication approaches.
  412.  
  413. Agha, Asif. 2007. Language and social relations. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  414. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  415. This book sums up much of Agha’s important contributions to semiotics. It is a comparative work in which the author draws from different societies to show the importance of language in creating models of social action and identity. He also discusses indexicality and enregisterment.
  416. Find this resource:
  417. Hanks, William F. 1990. Referential practice, language, and lived space among the Maya. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
  418. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  419. An ethnographic study of indexicality and the language of reference among the Yucatec Maya. Hanks looks at how space and spatial relationships are imagined and communicated in interaction, both in everyday life and in religious and ritual contexts. He also examines the embodiment of indexicality.
  420. Find this resource:
  421. Ochs, Elinor. 1992. Indexing gender. In Rethinking context: Language as an interactive phenomenon. Edited by Alessandro Duranti and Charles Goodwin, 235–258. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  422. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  423. In this often-cited article, Ochs adds complexity and nuance to the study of gender and language by considering the role of indexes, contexts, and stances in their performance. The article redirected the attention of scholars to these interrelations, moving research past earlier, more simplistic approaches to the study of gender and language. She also proposed an important distinction between direct and indirect indexing of gender.
  424. Find this resource:
  425. Peirce, Charles S. 1955. Philosophical writings of Peirce. Edited by Justus Buchler. New York: Dover.
  426. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  427. The classic discussion of Peirce’s different categories of signs, where he proposes the idea of indexicality as well as the conceptualization of signs and sign relations.
  428. Find this resource:
  429. Silverstein, Michael. 2003. Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life. Language and Communication 23:193–229.
  430. DOI: 10.1016/S0271-5309(03)00013-2Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  431. Silverstein has explored the concept of indexicality probably more than any other scholar. In this important article, he expands the study of indexicality through an analysis of “indexical order” and applies it to the study of the transformation of relational identities in interaction.
  432. Find this resource:
  433. Gender, Language, and Power
  434.  
  435. The vast amount of studies, starting from Lakoff’s famous study (Lakoff 1973), tried to show and pinpoint women’s use of language (and less directly men’s use of language) tended to fall into one of two approaches. The first saw women and men’s languages as different and identified the source of that difference in socialization (Maltz and Borker 1998, Tannen 1990). The second saw men’s language use as a way of imposing and reinforcing their social power over women (Fishman 1978, West and Zimmerman 1983) and saw women’s language as “powerless” (O’Barr and Atkins 1998). The two approaches were respectively named the “difference paradigm” and the “dominance paradigm.” The debate among proponents of the different approaches, at times reaching harsh tones (as in Troemel-Ploetz 1998, a critique of Tannen 1990), continued through the 1980s and until the beginning of the 1990s; it both influenced and was influenced by feminist views of patriarchal power and of the influence of language on sexist social arrangements.
  436.  
  437. Fishman, Pamela M. 1978. Interaction: The work women do. Social Problems 25.4: 397–406.
  438. DOI: 10.1525/sp.1978.25.4.03a00050Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  439. Among the most interesting studies originating in the so-called dominance paradigm, Fishman’s work focuses on differential power among women and men in relationships, showing that men’s use of language, in their interactions with women, can follow from and reinforce patriarchal power.
  440. Find this resource:
  441. Lakoff, Robin. 1973. Language and woman’s place. Language in Society 2:45–79.
  442. DOI: 10.1017/S0047404500000051Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  443. Following the lead of feminist scholars in other fields, Lakoff first proposes the need to consider how language socialization and language use furthers the oppression of women and then discusses what can be done to avoid it. Lakoff also articulates a series of characteristics of women’s speech, spurring a large amount of research to prove or disprove their actual connection to women’s use of language.
  444. Find this resource:
  445. Maltz, Daniel N., and Ruth A. Borker. 1998. A cultural approach to male-female miscommunication. In Language and gender: A reader. Edited by Jennifer Coates, 417–432. Oxford: Blackwell.
  446. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  447. Influenced by the theorization of crosstalk and cross-cultural differences in communication, the authors applied the same reasoning to male–female communication, proposing that men and women are socialized into different cultures and languages. This was the first articulation of the so-called difference hypothesis.
  448. Find this resource:
  449. O’Barr, William M., and Bowman K. Atkins. 1998. “Women’s language” or “powerless language”? In Language and gender: A reader. Edited by Jennifer Coates, 377–386. Oxford: Blackwell.
  450. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  451. In this seminal article the authors, using data from court cases and witnesses/expert talk, propose that what had been seen as male language could be reinterpreted as “powerful” language (and vice versa for women’s language). Many subsequent studies followed this lead and attempted to distinguish between powerful and powerless interactional strategies and ways to use language.
  452. Find this resource:
  453. Tannen, Deborah. 1990. You just don’t understand: Women and men in conversation. New York: William Morrow.
  454. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  455. Tannen’s classic work. Rapport talk and report talk are proposed as gendered styles of interaction. This is often considered the fullest articulation of the so-called difference paradigm.
  456. Find this resource:
  457. Troemel-Ploetz, Senta. 1998. Selling the apolitical. In Language and gender: A reader. Edited by Jennifer Coates, 446–457. Oxford: Blackwell.
  458. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  459. In this famous and scathing critique of Tannen’s work, the author argues against the “difference paradigm.”
  460. Find this resource:
  461. West, Candace, and Don Zimmerman. 1983. Small insults: A study of interruptions in cross-sex conversations between unacquainted persons. In Language, gender and society. Edited by Barrie Thorne, Cheris Kramarae, and Nancy Henley, 102–115. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
  462. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  463. In a series of studies, the authors demonstrate that men interrupt women in conversation often, while the reverse rarely happens. They interpret this data as indicating that men use language to reinforce their dominance over women in everyday encounters. The position of this study and the large number of studies that followed have become known as the “dominance paradigm.”
  464. Find this resource:
  465. Endangered Indigenous Languages
  466.  
  467. Since its inception, linguistic anthropology has sought to gather data on indigenous languages as a fundamental step toward understanding cultures. Over the years, the study of indigenous languages has remained an important goal of the discipline. However, the interest in simply recording has given way to an interest in advocacy and protection. Today, many linguistic anthropologists are engaged in language revitalization projects, working side by side with Native American communities in the United States and Canada as well as with indigenous groups elsewhere (see Hinton and Hale 2001). While they are also still working at studying and recording dying languages, the emphasis is on working together with communities to retain cultural heritage. This often means working with software developers and local schools and educators to develop school curricula and language-learning software. Important online archives have been created, such as the AILLA: The Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America, the Foundation for Endangered Languages, and Living Tongues. Finally, in recent years linguistic anthropologists have become interested in studying the effects of colonialism and globalization on indigenous languages and communities (see, for example, Makihara and Schieffelin 2007).
  468.  
  469. AILLA: The Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America.
  470. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  471. Includes recordings and collections of texts from indigenous Latin American languages. Its stated missions are preservation, accessibility, and community support. Includes links to other resources and related conferences. The site is maintained by the University of Texas.
  472. Find this resource:
  473. Foundation for Endangered Languages.
  474. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  475. The website of the largest international foundation dedicated to the protection of endangered languages. The foundation organizes an annual conference, publishes an online newsletter, and has a competitive grants program.
  476. Find this resource:
  477. Hinton, Leanne, and Ken Hale, eds. 2001. The green book of language revitalization in practice. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
  478. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  479. This is a beautiful, state-of-the-art collection detailing the methods, challenges, and successes in language revitalization projects across the world. Necessary reading for anybody interested not only in this subject but also in indigenous rights, education, and social advocacy.
  480. Find this resource:
  481. Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages.
  482. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  483. The institute is dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of endangered indigenous languages through documentation, community training, and public outreach. It includes links to current projects and to publications.
  484. Find this resource:
  485. Makihara, Miki, and Bambi B. Schieffelin, eds. 2007. Consequences of contact: Language ideologies and sociocultural transformations in Pacific societies. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  486. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  487. The essays in this volume nicely represent the recent studies on the roots of language death in colonization and displacement of native population. While its focus is mainly on Pacific societies, the analysis is generally applicable. Also important is the authors’ stress of dynamic of resistance and attempts at revitalization and the role of transnational fluxes and globalization.
  488. Find this resource:
  489. Selected Areas of Current Study
  490.  
  491. Certain research topics have received privileged attention from linguistic anthropologists. Some of them, such as language socialization, bilingualism and code-switching, or racism and discrimination, have been central to disciplinary inquiry for decades, corresponding to their centrality in the study of language in general. Others, however, became more important during the 1990s. These include such topics as performance and identity, language and sexuality, and the study of linguistic ideologies. Their surge in importance is probably connected to the emergence, in social sciences, of new fields of inquiry such as queer theory and postcolonial studies as well as to the growing centrality of the study of identities. Finally, the study of argumentative language, and the connected interest in conflict language, impoliteness, and insults, is relatively recent, receiving attention from scholars since the beginning of the 21st century. For more extensive coverage of other areas of study in linguistic anthropology, see General Overviews. This section is broken down into the following subsections: Performance and Identity, Bilingualism and Code-Switching, Language and Sexuality, Racism and Discrimination, Language Ideologies, Socialization, and Argumentative Language.
  492.  
  493. Performance and Identity
  494.  
  495. Linguistic anthropology studies language as performance, understood as either language use or as display of communicative competence in front of an audience (Hymes 1981, Bauman 1977). This includes works focusing on performance in its more self-conscious and aesthetically oriented forms (Bauman 1986, Hymes 1981) as well as those looking at performance as language use in everyday interactions (see also Duranti 1997 in General Overviews). Social identities and social realities are investigated from the point of view of their linguistic and interactional performance. This is true of the study of, for example, gender (Kapchan 1995, Mendoza-Denton 2008), ethic, racial (Gumperz 1982), and sexual identities (Hall 1995). Much research has been dedicated to the study of how social identities are performed and through which linguistic means (Gumperz 1982, Mendoza-Denton 2008).
  496.  
  497. Bauman, Richard. 1977. Verbal art as performance. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland.
  498. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  499. The landmark work in the study of performance. Breaking with a tradition of text analysis that relegated performance to an epiphenomenon, Bauman shows the fundamental importance of performance in understanding meaning and its inextricable link to social action, power, and social change. The volume includes a few additional essays expanding various aspects of the conceptualization of performance.
  500. Find this resource:
  501. Bauman, Richard. 1986. Story, performance and event: Contextual studies of oral narrative. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  502. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  503. The construction of the past in the narrative present is shown in this analysis of a series of verbal art performances. The study is based on Bauman’s ethnographic study of storytelling in Texas.
  504. Find this resource:
  505. Gumperz, John J., ed. 1982. Language and social identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  506. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  507. In this often-cited book, Gumperz proposes the existence of a tight connection between language and the construction of social identities, inspiring a subsequent generation of studies. Each of the essays included, covering topics such as ethnic styles of interaction, code-switching and identity, and cross-cultural miscommunication (crosstalk), is today considered a classic.
  508. Find this resource:
  509. Hall, Kira. 1995. Lip service on the fantasy lines. In Gender articulated: Language and the socially constructed self. Edited by Kira Hall and Mary Bucholtz, 183–213. New York: Routledge.
  510. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  511. Hall’s striking work shows the performance of sexual identities through language in her study of “voice-sex” workers interacting by phone with their clients. She also complexifies a simplistic view of sex workers as passive victims of a patriarchal gaze.
  512. Find this resource:
  513. Hymes, Dell. 1981. In vain I tried to tell you: Essays in Native American ethnopoetics. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press.
  514. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  515. The capstone of a lifework of studies on Northwest Coast Native American poetics, this book shows the fundamental shift in perspective and understanding obtained through the introduction of performance to the study of verbal art.
  516. Find this resource:
  517. Kapchan, Deborah A. 1995. Performance. Journal of American Folklore 108.430: 479–508.
  518. DOI: 10.2307/541657Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  519. The connections among performance, verbal art, gender identities, and social structure are shown in this beautiful study of Moroccan female market vendors. The author argues that performance can uphold and upend social structure and established gender roles.
  520. Find this resource:
  521. Mendoza-Denton, Norma. 2008. Homegirls: Language and cultural practice among Latina youth gangs. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
  522. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  523. The performance of Latina identities, gender, and belonging finds expression in a wonderful narration of the lives of Latina girls belonging to high school gangs in a California high school. The author seamlessly weaves together ethnography of speaking and variationist sociolinguistics to give a moving portrait of these young women’s search for respect and personal expression in a hostile and discriminating school and social environment.
  524. Find this resource:
  525. Bilingualism and Code-Switching
  526.  
  527. The study of bilingualism and code-switching, although by no means limited to linguistic anthropology, has received much attention in this discipline. Zentella 1997 has been fundamental both in deepening our understanding of code-switching as complex and rule-bound and in critiquing “cultural deficit” views of linguistic minorities in the United States. Carol Myers-Scotton, in addition to her study of code-switching in Africa, has proposed new applications of the concept of marked and unmarked behavior to code-switching in connection to ethnic identity (Myers-Scotton 1993). Monica Heller has been a central scholar in the study of French–English bilingualism and nationalism in Canada (Heller 1994). Gal 1987 explores code-switching as a political strategy of empowerment. Kroskrity 1993 offers an important analysis of multilingualism among the Tewa that led the author to the formulation of the concept of repertoire of identities. Woolard 1998 was pivotal in initiating a debate on the concept of “code” and contributing to the development of contact linguistics. Overall, these studies show that in linguistic anthropology, bilingualism and code-switching are studied never as an isolated phenomenon but as part of wider social and cultural processes. Moreover, scholars have taken a proactive stance in defense of bilingual rights (Zentella 1997).
  528.  
  529. Gal, Susan. 1987. Codeswitching and consciousness in the European periphery. American Ethnologist 14.4: 637–653.
  530. DOI: 10.1525/ae.1987.14.4.02a00030Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  531. The author situates code-switching practices in a wider social context by comparing three minorities in Europe (Italians in West Germany, Hungarians in Austria, and Germans in Romania). She argues that code-switching can be a form of resistance to symbolic domination.
  532. Find this resource:
  533. Heller, Monica. 1994. Crosswords: Language, education, and ethnicity in French Ontario. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
  534. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  535. Based on many years of fieldwork in Canada, this book can be considered the capstone of Heller’s studies of bilingualism and code-switching. She focuses here on migration and bilingual education in particular and on the thorny politics of bilingualism and multilingualism in Ontario and Quebec.
  536. Find this resource:
  537. Kroskrity, Paul V. 1993. Language, history, and identity: Ethnolinguistic studies of the Arizona Tewa. Tucson: Univ. of Arizona Press.
  538. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  539. The results of many years of fieldwork with the Arizona Tewa, this book presents a comprehensive portrait of a culture, its languages, and the life histories of its people. The author examines the attitudes toward and uses of code-switching and their connection to the performance of a repertoire of identities.
  540. Find this resource:
  541. Myers-Scotton, Carol. 1993. Duelling languages: Grammatical structure in codeswitching. Oxford: Clarendon.
  542. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  543. An in-depth analysis of the structure of code-switching, the grammatical constrains that shape it, and its different forms and usages.
  544. Find this resource:
  545. Woolard, Kathryn A. 1998. Simultaneity and bivalency as strategies in bilingualism. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 8.1: 3–29.
  546. DOI: 10.1525/jlin.1998.8.1.3Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  547. Advocating a linguistic study of contact zones, the author focuses on the presence of bivalency in code-switching and its relevance to the performance of multiple identities. This work questions the existence of codes as distinct outside the practices where they are deployed.
  548. Find this resource:
  549. Zentella, Ana C. 1997. Growing up bilingual: Puerto Rican children in New York. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
  550. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  551. Zentella’s study of Puerto Rican bilingual children in New York is an engaging ethnography. It spans the lives of three generations of Puerto Ricans and their families, examining their engagements with educational institutions, the discrimination they endure, and the beauty of their languages. Zentella also presents an extensive examination of code-switching, its purposes, and its complexity.
  552. Find this resource:
  553. Language and Sexuality
  554.  
  555. The study of language and sexuality includes both the study of the varieties spoken in queer communities and a wider critique of hegemonic ideologies of gender and sexuality. In the second case, linguistic anthropologists have made important contribution to the development of queer theory. Leap 1996 was a seminal work on gay men’s language, which was followed by studies of lesbian language (Queen 1997) as well as research on linguistic expression of queer identities and communities across the world (Boellstorff and Leap 2004). Some of these studies have led to a critique and redefinition of the concept of “speech community” (Queen 1997) and to exploring the connection between language and desire (Cameron and Kulick 2003).
  556.  
  557. Boellstorff, Tom, and William L. Leap. 2004. Introduction: Globalization and “new” articulations of same-sex desire. In Speaking in queer tongues: Globalization and gay language. Edited by William L. Leap and Tom Boellstorff, 1–21. Urbana: Univ. of Illinois Press.
  558. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  559. In this famous collection of essays, the authors explore the globalization of “gay” as a concept, the emergence of gay identities in postcolonial context, and the previous presence or emergence of linguistic varieties and codes that express them.
  560. Find this resource:
  561. Cameron, Deborah, and Don Kulick. 2003. Language and sexuality. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  562. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511791178Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  563. The authors analyze the linguistic construction of sexuality, the language of heteronormativity, and the performance of queer identities. They also propose an alternative view of sexuality as desire and explore its linguistic expression.
  564. Find this resource:
  565. Leap, William. 1996. Word’s out: Gay men’s English. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press.
  566. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  567. In this already classic book, Leap examines gay language as a separate variety of English, fundamental to creating a sense of gay identity. The book refocused the attention of the discipline on the need to understand the varieties through which sexual minorities construct and find expression for their identities.
  568. Find this resource:
  569. Queen, Robin M. 1997. “I don’t speak Spritch”: Locating lesbian language. In Queerly phrased: Language, gender, and sexuality. Edited by Anna Livia and Kira Hall, 233–255. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  570. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  571. This article, part of an extensive and important collection on language and sexuality, explores the different and multiple code choices through which lesbian identities may be indexed. The author also critiques and complexifies the notion of speech community from a queer theory point of view.
  572. Find this resource:
  573. Racism and Discrimination
  574.  
  575. There are several strands in the linguistic anthropological study of racialization and discrimination. Studies on the effect of racism on minorities are well represented by Urciuoli 1996, which also explores the ideological matrix of the distinction between ethnicity and race. Works by other theorists, such as Wodak and van Dijk 2000, focus on the study of racism “from the top” in mass media and political discourse. Europeanist scholars often focus on racism and nationalism in the context of immigration (Blommaert and Verschueren 1998), while American scholars are more attentive to the experience of race as social identity (see also Reyes and Lo 2008). Hill 2008 applies the study of linguistic ideologies to an understanding of “white racism” in the United States.
  576.  
  577. Blommaert, Jan, and Jef Verschueren. 1998. Debating diversity: Analysing the discourse of tolerance. London: Routledge.
  578. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  579. An important look at racism and immigration in Europe and a critique of the dominant “discourse of tolerance,” this book considers the role of linguistic ideologies and the relationship of racism to nationalism and the concept of citizenship. The book is based on research in Belgium, with particular attention to mass media and political discourse
  580. Find this resource:
  581. Hill, Jane H. 2008. The everyday language of white racism. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
  582. DOI: 10.1002/9781444304732Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  583. The author proposes an analysis of white racism in the United States and the linguistic means through which it is reinforced. She focuses in particular on mock forms of imitation of minority languages.
  584. Find this resource:
  585. Reyes, Angela, and Adrienne Lo. 2008. Beyond yellow English: Toward a linguistic anthropology of Asian Pacific America. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  586. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  587. As they attempt to identify language varieties expressing the identities and life experiences of Asian and Pacific Islanders Americans in the United States, the authors in this collection of essays also grapple with questions of racism, discrimination, stereotype, and the politics of representation.
  588. Find this resource:
  589. Urciuoli, Bonnie. 1996. Exposing prejudice: Puerto Rican experiences of language, race, and class. Boulder, CO: Westview.
  590. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  591. A look at linguistic discrimination against Latino minorities in the United States, which also considers the impact of such discrimination on the persons who suffer it. The book is based on fieldwork research with Puerto Ricans in New York City. Urciuoli also explores the ideological matrix of the distinction between ethnicity and race and the racialization of linguistic differences.
  592. Find this resource:
  593. Wodak, Ruth, and Teun A. van Dijk, eds. 2000. Racism at the top: Parliamentary discourses on ethnic issues in six European states. Klagenfurt, Austria: Drava Verlag.
  594. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  595. This collection of essays is a notable example of the work done by discourse analysts on racism in the press. It also shows a representative sample of the work of two major scholars of racism: van Dijk and Wodak.
  596. Find this resource:
  597. Language Ideologies
  598.  
  599. The study of language ideologies is deeply connected in its origin to the work of Michael Silverstein (Silverstein 1979; see also The Peircean Semiotic Approach). However, it was with the redefinition of language ideologies in political terms at the beginning of the 1990s (discussed in Schieffelin, et al. 1998) that this topic became central to linguistic anthropological inquiry. Scholars have explored the connections of language ideologies to political economy and to colonialism (Irvine and Gal 2000), in The Pericean Semiotic Approach, to nationalism and modernity (see the essays in Kroskrity 2000), and to gender (Inoue 2002).
  600.  
  601. Inoue, Miyako. 2002. Gender and linguistic modernity: Toward an effective history of Japanese women’s language. American Ethnologist 29.2: 392–422.
  602. DOI: 10.1525/ae.2002.29.2.392Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  603. A beautiful analysis of the invention of the concept of the Japanese woman and her language during the 19th century and with the emergence of Japan’s nation-state. It reveals the way linguistic ideologies come to be naturalized and sustain the naturalization of gender divisions and political status quo.
  604. Find this resource:
  605. Kroskrity, Paul V., ed. 2000. Regimes of language: Ideologies, polities and identities. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press.
  606. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  607. The essays in this classic volume furthered the study of linguistic ideologies and showed their connection to colonialism, national formations, politics, law systems, and the emergence of modernity. Among them is Silverstein’s critique and expansion of the concept of “imagines community” in connection to language and Irvine and Gal’s proposal (see Irvine and Gal 2000, in The Pericean Semiotic Approach) of semiotic concepts later widely deployed in scholarship such as iconicity, erasure, and fractal recursivity.
  608. Find this resource:
  609. Schieffelin, Bambi B., Kathryn A. Woolard, and Paul V. Kroskrity, eds. 1998. Language ideologies: Practice and theory. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  610. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  611. First published as an edited issue on the journal Pragmatics in 1992, this series of essays puts the study of linguistic ideologies squarely at the center of linguistic anthropological inquiry. It also highlights the connections between language ideologies and power.
  612. Find this resource:
  613. Silverstein, Michael. 1979. Language structure and linguistic ideology. In The elements: A parasession on linguistic units and levels. Edited by Paul R. Clyne, William F. Hanks, and Carol L. Hofbauer, 193–247. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
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  615. In this classic essay, Silverstein first proposed the concept of linguistic ideologies as a set of beliefs about language, demonstrating their relevance in understanding language as well as their use and impact in society.
  616. Find this resource:
  617. Socialization
  618.  
  619. Early contributions of linguistic anthropology to the study of language socialization were comparative: here the groundbreaking Ochs and Schieffelin 1984 effectively demonstrated that language socialization practices must be understood in their sociocultural context, redirecting previous inquiry into language acquisition. Later, the seminal Goodwin 1990 demonstrated the need to study socialization in everyday context, privileging the active participation of children in their own language acquisition. Goodwin’s work also showed the limit of previous beliefs regarding gendered ways of acquiring language. In recent years, various authors have explored the agentive role of children not only in learning language but also in shaping it. Some of the most recent work can be found in Kyratzis, et al. 2010.
  620.  
  621. Goodwin, Marjorie Harness. 1990. He-said-she-said: Talk as social organization among black children. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press.
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  623. Through extensive fieldwork with African American kids playing in everyday contexts, Goodwin shows the importance of peer-to-peer socialization and the emerging social structure in kids’ interactions. Particularly famous is her analysis of the “he-said-she-said” conflict-oriented exchanges among female children.
  624. Find this resource:
  625. Kyratzis, Amy, Jennifer F. Reynolds, and Ann-Carita Evaldsson, eds. 2010. Special issue: Heteroglossia and language ideologies in children’s peer play interactions. Pragmatics 20.4.
  626. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  627. This issue gives a panorama of recent studies in bilingual children’s socialization, stressing peer-to-peer interactions and the active role of children in shaping language.
  628. Find this resource:
  629. Ochs, Elinor, and Bambi B. Schieffelin. 1984. Language acquisition and socialization: Three developmental stories. In Culture theory: Essays on mind, self, and emotion. Edited by Richard A. Shweder and Robert A. LeVine, 276–320. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  630. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  631. In this classic study, the authors compare language socialization in Samoa, in the US white middle class, and among the Kaluli of New Guinea, showing the cultural differences in caregiving and different views of the person, and of their role in society, connected to these differences.
  632. Find this resource:
  633. Argumentative Language
  634.  
  635. While there have been studies of verbal duels and conflict language in the past, they often presented it as deviation, as failed communication, or generally as a problem to be solved (see, for example, Grimshaw 1990). However, important work done in the 1990s recast insults (Irvine 1993) and other conflict language as fundamental to social action (see Briggs 1996) and critiqued the absence of adequate research (Kulick 1993). In recent years the study of argumentative language (Pagliai 2010), impoliteness (Locher 2004), and verbal duels and ritual insults (Tetreault 2010, Pagliai 2010) has received renewed attention.
  636.  
  637. Briggs, Charles L., ed. 1996. Disorderly discourse: Narrative, conflict, and inequality. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  638. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  639. The essays in this volume focus on the discursive representation and construction of social conflict in narrative genres, such as gossip. The authors first recalled the attention of the necessity to see arguments not simply as a problem in communication but as constructive of social action.
  640. Find this resource:
  641. Grimshaw, Allen D., ed. 1990. Conflict talk: Sociolinguistic investigations of arguments in conversations. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  642. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  643. Probably the first edited collection to reclaim the importance of conflict in language and the necessity of its study. While conflict is still seen as a problem to be resolved, the authors show that the analysis of language can be fundamental to its understanding.
  644. Find this resource:
  645. Irvine, Judith T. 1993. Insult and responsibility: Verbal abuse in a Wolof village. In Responsibility and evidence in oral discourse. Edited by Jane H. Hill and Judith T. Irvine, 105–134. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  646. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  647. This seminal article reframed the study of insults, showing their contextual nature as well as their social relevance. It brought up important questions for subsequent scholarship, such as the relationship of insult to taking offence and the ways in which responsibility for insults is shared among the speakers and audience.
  648. Find this resource:
  649. Kulick, Don. 1993. Speaking as a woman: Structure and gender in domestic arguments in a New Guinea village. Cultural Anthropology 8.4: 510–541.
  650. DOI: 10.1525/can.1993.8.4.02a00050Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  651. In this article Kulick directs attention to the lack of studies of insults and verbal fights. By looking at kroses among New Guinean women he dispels the myth that women are naturally more polite than men and that verbal duels are a male domain.
  652. Find this resource:
  653. Locher, Miriam A. 2004. Power and politeness in action: Disagreements in oral communication. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.
  654. DOI: 10.1515/9783110926552Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  655. This book is emblematic of a growing interest in impoliteness, a topic until recently disregarded in favor of studies of politeness. Locher proposes an analysis of the social importance of impoliteness. She presents several cases, spanning from impoliteness in everyday conversations to political debates.
  656. Find this resource:
  657. Pagliai, Valentina, ed. 2010. Special issue: Performing disputes: Cooperation and conflict in argumentative language. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 20.1.
  658. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  659. These essays, representing the latest research on argumentative language and verbal duels, focus on the social constructiveness of arguments and the deep interrelations between conflict and cooperation. Arguments are seen as resources for communication and agency and as a fundamental part of interaction.
  660. Find this resource:
  661. Tetreault, Chantal. 2010. Collaborative conflicts: Teens performing aggression and intimacy in a French cité. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 20.1: 72–86.
  662. DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-1395.2010.01049.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  663. Looking at improvised verbal duels among teens of migrant descent in France, Tetreault shows the importance of verbal duels to the performance of hybrid identities. Insults and impoliteness are recast as central to communicative exchanges.
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