A New Companion to Linguistic Anthropology - (Wiley Blackwell Companions to Anthropology) (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The original Companion to Linguistic Anthropology was published in 2004. The New Companion, whose all-new chapters aim to capture the state of the discipline in the first two decades of the twenty-first century, illustrates the many exciting new directions in linguistic anthropology as well as the persistence, elaboration, and transformation of some of the foundational concepts discussed in the 2004 volume. The major sections in the new volume showcase how the subfield has reworked classic linguistic anthropological concepts and methods and developed new ones in response to political, social, and technological developments over the last several decades, including 1) renewing commitments to engaged linguistic anthropology in a time of ongoing political and environmental crises 2) continuing to both critique and assert the relevance of community and its multiple variants as a unit of analysis 3) tracing the temporal and spatial contours of interaction in a globalized, mediatized world and 4) emphasizing the role of the senses and experience in language. In the introduction, we explore each of these developments in turn, revealing ways they influence each other and how they have shaped thematic developments in the field, including the rise to prominence of topics such as chronotope and scale, materiality, language and experience, decolonization, and posthumanism. The discussion focuses on the ways in which: 1. linguistic anthropologists have recommitted themselves to social justice issues and responded directly to political and historical events and crises of the first two decades of the 21st century 2. the resulting new thematic directions in linguistic anthropology have both transformed and reaffirmed the field's classic topics of study, methods, and theoretical underpinnings 3. such developments enable new forms of interdisciplinarity both within and beyond anthropology and allow us to (re)consider both the place of language and the taken-for-granted centrality of humans in our research"--

Book Synopsis

Provides an expansive view of the full field of linguistic anthropology, featuring an all-new team of contributing authors representing diverse new perspectives

A New Companion to Linguistic Anthropology provides a timely and authoritative overview of the field of study that explores how language influences society and culture. Bringing together more than 30 original essays by an interdisciplinary panel of renowned scholars and younger researchers, this comprehensive volume covers a uniquely wide range of both classic and contemporary topics as well as cutting-edge research methods and emerging areas of investigation.

Building upon the success of its predecessor, the acclaimed Blackwell Companion to Linguistic Anthropology, this new edition reflects current trends and developments in research and theory. Entirely new chapters discuss topics such as the relationship between language and experiential phenomena, the use of research data to address social justice, racist language and raciolinguistics, postcolonial discourse, and the challenges and opportunities presented by social media, migration, and global neoliberalism. Innovative new research analyzes racialized language in World of Warcraft, the ethics of public health discourse in South Africa, the construction of religious doubt among Orthodox Jewish bloggers, hybrid forms of sociality in videoconferencing, and more.

• Presents fresh discussions of topics such as American Indian speech communities, creolization, language mixing, language socialization, deaf communities, endangered languages, and language of the law
• Addresses recent trends in linguistic anthropological research, including visual documentation, ancient scribes, secrecy, language and racialization, global hip hop, justice and health, and language and experience
• Utilizes ethnographic illustration to explore topics in the field of linguistic anthropology
• Includes a new introduction written by the editors and an up-to-date bibliography with over 2,000 entries

A New Companion to Linguistic Anthropologyis a must-have for researchers, scholars, and undergraduate and graduate students in linguistic anthropology, as well as an excellent text for those in related fields such as sociolinguistics, discourse studies, semiotics, sociology of language, communication studies, and language education.

From the Back Cover

A New Companion to Linguistic Anthropology

In A New Companion to Linguistic Anthropology, an interdisciplinary collection of established scholars and members of a new generation of innovative researchers provide a comprehensive overview of the study of language practices in contemporary society. More than 30 original essays offer fresh perspectives on a uniquely wide range of classic and contemporary topics, present new research and methods, discuss current trends and debates, identify emerging areas of investigation, and more.

This new version of the acclaimed Blackwell Companion to Linguistic Anthropology offers an entirely new set of chapters that integrates advances in research and theory, while reflecting on new challenges and opportunities both inside and outside the field. The chapters discuss topics such as the experiencing of language, the use of linguistic research to address social justice, the ethical implications of institutional discourses, hybrid forms of sociality in digital media, racialized language, postcolonial discourse, and issues born out of new social media, migration, and global neoliberalism.

A New Companion to Linguistic Anthropology is essential reading for researchers, scholars, and undergraduate and graduate students in linguistic anthropology, and a valuable resource for those in related fields such as sociolinguistics, discourse studies, semiotics, sociology of language, communication studies, and language education.

About the Author

ALESSANDRO DURANTI is Distinguished Research Professor of Anthropology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). One of the most respected linguistic anthropologists in the world, Duranti has authored and edited many of the defining volumes in the field. He is the co-founder of the journal Pragmatics, former editor of the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, and past President of the Society of Linguistic Anthropology.

RACHEL GEORGE is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Whitman College. Her research interests include language socialization after regime change, ambivalent discourse, language and bureaucracy, and the semiotics of writing on social media. Her work on changing linguistic, political, and ethnic identities in Belgrade, Serbia has been published in Language in Society and Political and Legal Anthropology Review.

ROBIN CONLEY RINER is Professor of Anthropology at Marshall University. Her work in linguistic and legal anthropology investigates how people use language to navigate morally complex experiences surrounding institutional death and killing. She is the author of Confronting the Death Penalty and co-editor of Language and Social Justice in Practice.