Language, Culture, and Society : Key Topics in Linguistic Anthropology

by Christine Jourdan; Kevin Tuite

• ISBN13: 9780511166631
• ISBN10: 051116663X
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2006-05-11
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Language, our primary tool of thought and perception, is at the heart of who we are as individuals. Languages are constantly changing, sometimes into entirely new varieties of speech, leading to subtle differences in how we present ourselves to others. This revealing account brings together eleven leading specialists from the fields of linguistics, anthropology, philosophy and psychology, to explore the fascinating relationship between language, culture, and social interaction. A range of major questions are discussed: How does language influence our perception of the world? How do new languages emerge? How do children learn to use language appropriately? What factors determine language choice in bi- and multilingual communities? How far does language contribute to the formation of our personalities? And finally, in what ways does language make us human? Language, Culture and Society will be essential reading for all those interested in language and its crucial role in our social lives.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Walking through walls

An issue about language

Linguistic relativities

Benjamin Lee Whorf and the boasian foundations of contemporary ethnolinguistics

Cognitive anthropology

Methodological issues in cross-language colour naming

Pidgins and creoles genesis: an anthropological offering

Bilingualism

The impact of language socialization on grammatical development

Intimate grammars: anthropological and psychoanalytic accounts of language, gender, and desire

Maximizing ethnopoetics: toward the fine-tuning (anthropological) experience

Of phonemes, fossils and webs of meaning: the interpretation of language variation and change

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.