Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology

This course is an introduction to Linguistic Anthropology, the study of language use in comparative social and cultural contexts from different human societies around the world.   Language is one of the features unique to our species and meaning-making through language is a central activity of human history.  In this course, you will learn how language both reflects and creates thought, culture, and power relations.  You will also learn how to apply the concepts we study to your own everyday experiences with language.  The topics we will cover include theories of language, linguistic relativity, language diversity and inequality, gender, language shift, and the creative use of language in performance and mass media.  We also consider language use in specific social contexts, such as courtrooms, medical and scientific settings, and political campaigns. 

Through exploring these key concepts and reviewing recent linguistic anthropological research, we will consider various methodologies used for studying language in society.  You will have the opportunity to conduct actual linguistic anthropological research and analysis of your own.  The major goals of this course are to equip you with the background to think critically about the role of language in human life, examine your own linguistic beliefs and attitudes, and to appreciate linguistic and cultural diversity.