Linguistic Anthropology

Kim C. Ordovez
Reporter
Definition of Terms:
• Linguistic-
is the scientific study of
language. It involves
analyzing language form,
language meaning, and
language in context.
Anthropology -
is the scientific study of
humans and human
behavior and societies in the
past and present.
 Linguistic Anthropology

Is the interdisciplinary study of how language influences social

life. It is a branch of anthropology that originated from the
endeavor to document endangered languages, and has grown
over the past century to encompass most aspects of language
structure and use.
 Linguistic Anthropology

Alessandro Duranti a Distinguished Professor of

Anthropology and served as Dean of Social Sciences
at University of California, Los Angeles defines linguistic
anthropology as “ the study of language as a cultural resource
and speaking as a cultural practice.”.
 Historical development

Linguistic anthropology emerged from the development of

three distinct paradigms. These paradigms set the ways of
approaching linguistic anthropology: the first, now known as
"anthropological linguistics", focuses on the documentation of
languages; the second, known as "linguistic anthropology",
engages in theoretical studies of language use;
 Historical development

the third, developed over the past two or three decades, studies
issues from other sub-fields of anthropology with linguistic
tactics. Though they developed sequentially, all three paradigms
are still practiced today.
 Areas of Interest

• Contemporary linguistic anthropology continues research in

all three of the paradigms described above: documentation
of languages, study of language through context, and study
of identity through linguistic means. The third paradigm, the
study of anthropological issues, is a particularly rich area of
study for current linguistic anthropologists.
 Linguistic Anthropology

Linguistic anthropology explores how language shapes

communication. Language plays a huge role in social identity,
group membership, and establishing cultural beliefs and
ideologies.
 Linguistic Anthropology

Linguistic anthropologists have ventured into the study of

everyday encounters, language socialization, ritual and political
events, scientific discourse, verbal art, language contact and
language shift, literacy events, and media.—Alessandro
Duranti, ed. "Linguistic Anthropology: A Reader"
 Linguistic Anthropology

• So, unlike linguists, linguistic anthropologists do not look at

language alone, language is viewed as interdependent with
culture and social structures.
 Linguistic Anthropology

According to Pier Paolo in "Language and Social Context,"

anthropologists study the relation between
worldviews, grammatical categories and semantic fields, the
influence of speech on socialization and personal relationships,
and the interaction of linguistic and social communities.
 Linguistic Anthropology

• In this case, linguistic anthropology closely studies those

societies where language defines a culture or society. For
example, in New Guinea, there is a tribe of indigenous
people who speak one language. It is what makes that people
unique. It is its "index" language. The tribe may speak other
languages from New Guinea, but this unique language gives
the tribe its cultural identity.
 Linguistic Anthropology

• Linguistic anthropologists may also take an interest in

language as it relates to socialization. It can be applied to
infancy, childhood, or a foreigner being enculturated. The
anthropologist would likely study a society and the way that
language is used to socialize its young.
 Linguistic Anthropology
In terms of a language's effect on the world, the rate of spread
of a language and its influence on a society or multiple societies
is an important indicator that anthropologists will study. For
example, the use of English as an international language can
have wide-ranging implications for the world's societies. This
can be compared to the effects of colonization or imperialism
and the import of language to various countries, islands, and
continents all over the world.
In Addition: Why do we have many languages?

The Tower of Babel

Genesis 11:1-9
• 11 Now the whole world had one language and a common
speech. 2 As people moved eastward,[a] they found a plain in
Shinar[b] and settled there.
• 3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them
thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
• 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a
tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a
name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the
face of the whole earth.”
• 5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the
people were building. 6 The LORD said, “If as one people
speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then
nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come,
let us go down and confuse their language so they will not
understand each other.”
• So the LORD scattered them from there over all the
earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was
called Babel[c]—because there the LORD confused the
language of the whole world. From there
the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
 References

• www.Wikipedia.com
• www.thoughtco.com