This is the sixth edition of the book and it contains 15 chapters. Chapter 1, “Introducing linguistic anthropology”, gives an introduction to linguistic anthropology, the scientific study of the universal phenomenon of human language. After explaining the necessity and importance of studying language, modern myths about languages (especially misconceptions regarding “primitive” languages), grammar, and vocabulary, it provides a brief history of anthropology, followed by a section on anthropology, linguistics, and linguistic anthropology. In this section, the authors justify why the expression linguistic anthropology is preferable to anthropological linguistics, which is frequently used to refer to this subfield of anthropology.
Chapter 2, “Methods of linguistic anthropology”, first addresses the difference between linguistics, “the analytical study of language, any language, to reveal its structure – the different kinds of language units – and the rules according to which these units are put together to produce stretches of speech” (p. 21), and linguistic anthropology, “the study of language in its biological and sociocultural context” (p. 21). Two tables are used to illustrate paradigms in modern linguistics and linguistic anthropology.
Chapter 3, “‘Nuts and bolts’ of linguistic anthropology I: Language is sound”, and chapter 4, “‘Nuts and bolts’ of linguistic anthropology II: Structure of words and sentences”, introduce basic knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of speech and how speech sounds are articulated. When introducing sentences and grammar, the authors use examples from different languages (e.g., English, Chinese, Latin, etc.) to illustrate that some languages have more inflectional forms than others. The authors argue that the complexity of grammar “does not add to the prestige of a language” (p. 100).
In chapter 5, “Communicating nonverbally”, the authors argue that, while spoken language is the most common and important means of communication among humans, messages can also be transmitted by nonverbal means. These may include voice qualifiers (e.g., volume, pitch, pace), voice characterizers (e.g., laughing, giggling, moaning, whining), and vocal segregates (e.g., uh-huh to indicate agreement and uh-uh for disagreement). There are other nonverbal ways of communicating that do not involve human voice at all, for example, body gestures, facial expressions, spacing, touch, smell, whistling, smoke signals, drum “languages”, and so on. Modes of communication in different cultures and different types of writing systems are also touched upon.
Chapter 6, “The development and evolution of language: Language birth, language growth, and language death”, deals with the development and evolution of language, discussing the question “When does a communication system become language?” (p. 152). The latter part of the chapter pertains to the origins of language, and the life and death of languages, underscoring that language change does not equal language death. The authors emphasize that the relevant programs and activities related to language maintenance and reinforcement should be “further developed, organized, and administered by members of the societies concerned” (p. 176).
Chapter 7, “Acquiring language(s): Life with first languages, second languages, and more”, covers language acquisition. It introduces different theories of language acquisition, such as behaviorist psychology theory, innatist theory, and sociocultural theory, which can help readers to become familiar with research on how languages are learned. It also discusses the relationship between cognition and language acquisition, the social aspects of multilingualism, code-switching, code-mixing, and diglossia in bilingual or multilingual communication.
Chapter 8, “Language through time”, focuses on language change and demonstrates how the field of historical linguistics is related to anthropological research. It introduces different ways in which languages are classified, for instance, according to genetic relationships (e.g., language family) and typological characteristics (e.g., sound system, word order, etc.). The chapter also offers an explanation as to how and why sound changes occur, how protolanguages are reconstructed, how a protoculture is reconstructed, etc. The authors demonstrate that all languages change as long as they are being used.
Chapter 9, “Languages in variation and languages in contact”, presents idiolects, dialects, styles, borrowed words/loanwords, pidgins, creoles, which can be found in any “typical” sociolinguistics book. A number of examples are provided for illustration purposes. In the latter part of this chapter, there is a very brief discussion of Esperanto, an artificial language.
Chapter 10, “Ethnography of communication”, focuses on a recent development in the field of culture and language research: ethnography of communication. In the section on speech community, the authors stress that “it is important to remember that people who speak the same language are not always members of the same speech community” (p. 266). This remark is useful to keep in mind when conducting research related to culture, language and society. Towards the end of this chapter, the authors present recent trends in the ethnography of speaking.
Chapter 11, “Culture as cognition, culture as categorization: Meaning and language in the conceptual world”, first briefly reviews the development of the study of semantics, then the authors use an anthropological linguistic perspective to examine meaning by discussing concepts, words, and categories. When introducing studies of discourse, the authors refer to Sherzer's (Reference Sherzer, Sherzer and Urban1986) study of oral performance in San Blas (along the northeast coast of Panama) to illustrate how analysis can be done for such research.
In chapter 12, “Language, culture, and thought”, there is a section on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis which presents arguments on linguistic relativity and linguistic determinism; the section “Whorf's hypothesis reconsidered” may inspire readers to inquire further about language, culture and thought by considering a variety of languages and cultures. In the summary and conclusion part of this chapter, the authors emphasize the importance of linguistics anthropology by stating that it “has much to contribute” (p. 335) to the study of the most basic problems of humanity, such as the nature of knowledge and thought, the structure of the mind, etc.
Chapter 13, “Language, identity, and ideology I: Variations in gender”, and chapter 14, “Language, identity, and ideology II: Variations in class, ‘race,’ ethnicity, and nationality”, examine language, identity, and ideology from different angles. Chapter 13 first discusses the distinctions between gender and sex, and between grammatical and biological gender. It then illustrates these distinctions by providing examples from different contexts. It also discusses theoretical approaches related to gender and language, including difference theory/subcultural theory, dominance theory/social power theory, communicative strategy theory, identity theory, community of practice theory, and agency theory.
In Chapter 14, the authors focus on the “differences in economics, education, familial prestige, and some other ways people might rank themselves in society” (p. 390), and they suggest adding the concept of social network, so as to give researchers “a deeper understanding of the variables examined” (p. 394). In the section on language and nationality, the authors examine case studies on four countries (India, the Czech Republic, Canada, and Spain) to demonstrate “how the symbolic value of languages is used by the people to pursue political power and ends and to foster consciousness among members of the group” (p. 410).
In chapter 15, “Linguistic anthropology in a globalized world”, the last chapter, the authors try to convey how, in a globalized world, linguistic anthropology research can be applied to other disciplines, such as language planning, literacy education, intercultural communication, and communication in the online environment. In the latter part of the chapter, the authors discuss research ethics, advising researchers aspects to keep in mind when they conduct fieldwork.
In a nutshell, the volume is intended to provide an introduction to linguistic anthropology. Besides presenting a number of theories central to the discipline, including psychological behaviorism, mentalism, structuralism, Chomsky's generative grammar, social constructivism, etc., it provides suggestions on how to do fieldwork for data collection. Each chapter includes a resource manual and a study guide with key terms, which are very useful, especially for beginners who are learning how to collect data through fieldwork. It could also be used as a textbook or a supplementary reader for students of related fields. This edition has updated statistics and expanded references. The authors state that they use a transcription system other than the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to make the text “much easier for beginning students to master” (p. xii). However, as an English learner who started with IPA, I found the “Americanist system” more difficult. The text is available in hard copy and Kindle formats. It is a challenge to see information clearly in some tables on a traditional Kindle e-reader, but a touch screen device that allows enlargement could work fine. An advantage of the Kindle version is that online resources listed in the book are hyperlinks.
