The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Anthropology

An essential reference guide, this state-of-the-field survey covers a wide range of topics, approaches and theories in linguistic anthropology.

N. J. Enfield (Edited by), Paul Kockelman (Edited by), Jack Sidnell (Edited by)

9781009014618, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 April 2021

764 pages, 45 b/w illus. 12 tables
24.2 x 16.8 x 3.9 cm, 1.31 kg

'The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Anthropology is an intellectually stimulating and wide-ranging compilation that is sure to spark discussion on its vision of the field. In many ways, it offers a rebuke of what the editors see as the weaknesses of linguistic anthropology, as the introduction notes that the contributors to the volume include 'scholars who take their linguistics as seriously as their anthropology', who use methods 'far beyond ethnography and descriptive linguistics', and who 'study processes far beyond the historical and the cultural.' Adrienne Lo, Journal of Sociolinguistics

The field of linguistic anthropology looks at human uniqueness and diversity through the lens of language, our species' special combination of art and instinct. Human language both shapes, and is shaped by, our minds, societies, and cultural worlds. This state-of-the-field survey covers a wide range of topics, approaches and theories, such as the nature and function of language systems, the relationship between language and social interaction, and the place of language in the social life of communities. Promoting a broad vision of the subject, spanning a range of disciplines from linguistics to biology, from psychology to sociology and philosophy, this authoritative handbook is an essential reference guide for students and researchers working on language and culture across the social sciences.

1. Introduction: directions in the anthropology of language N. J. Enfield, Paul Kockelman and Jack Sidnell
Part I. System and Function: 2. Basics of a language R. M. W. Dixon
3. The item/system problem N. J. Enfield
4. Language and the manual modality: the communicative resilience of the human species Susan Goldin-Meadow
5. Linguistic diversity and universals Balthasar Bickel
6. Denotation and the pragmatics of language Michael Silverstein
7. Language function Sandra A. Thompson and Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen
Part II. Process and Formation: 8. Language acquisition and language socialization Penelope Brown and Suzanne Gaskins
9. Language, society and history: towards a unified approach? Paja Faudree and Magnus Pharao Hansen
10. Language emergence: Al-Sayyid Bedouin sign language Wendy Sandler, Mark Aronoff, Carol Padden and Irit Meir
11. Endangered languages Keren Rice
12. Language evolution Stephen C. Levinson
13. Causal dynamics of language N. J. Enfield
Part III. Interaction and Intersubjectivity: 14. Intentionality and language Robert B. Brandom
15. The architecture of intersubjectivity revisited Jack Sidnell
16. Language and human sociality Alan Rumsey
17. The ontology of action, in interaction Jack Sidnell and N. J. Enfield
18. Conversation across cultures Mark Dingemanse and Simeon Floyd
Part IV. Community and Social Life: 19. Poetics and performativity Luke Fleming and Michael Lempert
20. Ritual language David Tavárez
21. Oratory, rhetoric, politics Bernard Bate
22. Language and media Paul Manning and Ilana Gershon
23. The speech community and beyond: language and the nature of the social aggregate Shaylih Muehlmann
Part V. Interdisciplinary Perspectives: 24. Linguistic anthropology and critical theory Paul Kockelman
25. Linguistic anthropology and sociocultural anthropology Rupert Stasch
26. Sociolinguistics: making quantification meaningful Penelope Eckert
27. Language and archaeology: state of the art Roger Blench
28. Language and biology: the multiple interactions between genetics and language Dan Dediu
29. Linguistic anthropology in the age of language automata Paul Kockelman.

Subject Areas: Anthropology [JHM], Linguistics [CF]