Linguistic Anthropology

In this innovative textbook, Alessandro Duranti introduces linguistic anthropology as an interdisciplinary field which studies language as a cultural resource and speaking as a cultural practice. The theories and methods of linguistic anthropology are introduced through a discussion of linguistic diversity, grammar in use, the role of speaking in social interaction, the organisation and meaning of conversational structures, and the notion of participation as a unit of analysis. An entire chapter is devoted to the notion of culture, and there are invaluable methodological chapters on ethnography and transcription. Original in its treatment and yet eminently clear and readable, Linguistic Anthropology will appeal to both upper-level undergraduate and graduate students.

Alessandro Duranti is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His previous publications include Rethinking context: language as an interactive phenomenon, edited with Charles Goodwin (1992) and From grammar to politics: linguistic anthropology in a Western Samoan village (1994), as well as many articles.