Published by De Gruyter Mouton

Anthropological Linguistics [AL]

Edited by: Svenja Völkel and Nico Nassenstein

ISSN: 2701-987X

e-ISSN 2701-9888

Overview
Volumes

New book series

The series Anthropological Linguistics provides a forum for different strands of research addressing the relationship between language and culture. This includes linguistic studies considering the cultural context as well as anthropological studies with a focus on language. The overall aim is to bring together scholars from various approaches (e.g. linguistic relativity, ethnography of communication, language socialization) and with different regional specializations (Africa, Oceania, the Americas, Asia and Europe) to promote an innovative interdisciplinary exchange in this broad field and to shed light on crosslinguistic variation in the interplay with cultural diversity.

Advisory Board:

Kate Burridge (Monash University, Australia)
N. J. Enfield (The University of Sydney, Australia)
Birgit Hellwig (University of Cologne, Germany)
Paul Kockelman (Yale University, USA)
Simon Overall (University of Otago, New Zealand)
Jack Sidnell (University of Toronto, Canada)
James Slotta (The University of Texas at Austin, USA)

To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Natalie Fecher.

Topics

Book Ahead of Publication 2024

Language, Society and Ideologies in Multilingual Egypt

Arabic and Berber in the Siwa Oasis

Valentina Serreli

Volume 8 in this series

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The book explores the change over time in language-society relations in a multilingual periphery of Egypt. It examines the role of language ideologies in the construction and negotiation of social identities in the processes of contact, maintenance and shift typical of multilingualism. Based on extensive fieldwork and interviews, it is the first of its kind to portray the inventory of linguistic and accompanying non-linguistic behaviors observed within and between different ethnolinguistic groups in the Siwa Oasis. It provides first-hand information about the linguistic habits of Siwan women, an aspect which is generally difficult to access in this gender-segregated community. The book sheds light on Berber-Arabic contact at the core of the Arab world and at a critical time when individual linguistic repertoires are expanding and Arabic is emerging as a powerful resource.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.0000/9783111045351
ISBN:: 9783111045351
ISBN:: 9783111045122
ISBN:: 9783111046518
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Languages of Africa
Subject:: African Languages, other
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Anthropological Linguistics and Ethnolinguistics
Subject:: Bilingualism and Multilingualism
Subject:: Sociolinguistics
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton

Book Ahead of Publication 2024

Learning Languages, Being Social

Susanne Mohr, Lindsay Ferrara

Volume 7 in this series

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This book addresses increasingly diverse language learning trajectories in a modern, globalized world, specifically outside of formal classroom situations and with respect to second and additional language practices. This includes, but is not restricted to, intersections of formal and informal learning, computer-mediated contexts as well as family contexts and language learning in multilingual contexts. The book provides a current and specifically anthropological view on the second and additional language acquisition in non-school settings through various studies. It is unique in its focus and scope and is relevant to anthropologists and linguists, who are interested in the intersection of language and culture.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.0000/9783110794670
ISBN:: 9783110794670
ISBN:: 9783110794779
ISBN:: 9783110794588
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Applied Linguistics
Subject:: Language Teaching and Learning
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Anthropological Linguistics and Ethnolinguistics
Subject:: Bilingualism and Multilingualism
Subject:: Language Contact
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton

Book 2023

Celebrating Indigenous Voice

Legends and Narratives in Languages of the Tropics and Beyond

Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, Robert L. Bradshaw, Luca Ciucci, Pema Wangdi

Volume 5 in this series

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Every society thrives on stories, legends and myths.

This volume explores the linguistic devices employed in the astoundingly rich narrative traditions in the tropical hot-spots of linguistic and cultural diversity, and the ways in which cultural changes and new means of communication affect narrative genres and structures. It focusses on linguistic and cultural facets of the narratives in the areas of linguistic diversity across the tropics and surrounding areas — New Guinea, Northern Australia, Siberia, and also the Tibeto-Burman region. The introduction brings together the recurrent themes in the grammar and the substance of the narratives. The twelve contributions to the volume address grammatical forms and categories deployed in organizing the narrative and interweaving the protagonists and the narrator. These include quotations, person of the narrator and the protagonist, mirativity, demonstratives, and clause chaining. The contributors also address the kinds of narratives told, their organization and evolution in time and space, under the impact of post-colonial experience and new means of communication via social media.

The volume highlights the importance of documenting narrative tradition across indigenous languages.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110789836
ISBN:: 9783110789836
ISBN:: 9783110789898
ISBN:: 9783110789775
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Anthropological Linguistics and Ethnolinguistics
Subject:: Language Contact
Subject:: Language Documentation
Subject:: Linguistic Typology
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton

Book 2023

Personal Names and Naming from an Anthropological-Linguistic Perspective

Sambulo Ndlovu

Volume 4 in this series

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This book fills a gap in the literature as it uniquely approaches onomastics from the perspective of both anthropology and linguistics. It addresses names and cultures from 16 countries and five continents, thus offering readers an opportunity to comprehend and compare names and naming practices across cultures. The chapters presented in this book explore the cultural significance of personal names, naming ceremonies, conventions and practices. They illustrate how these names and practices perform certain culture-specific functions, such as religion, identity and social activity. Some chapters address the socio-political significance of personal names and their expression of self and otherness. The book also links the linguistic structure of personal names to culture by looking at their morphology, syntax and semantics. It is divided into four sections: Section 1 demonstrates how personal names perform human culture, Section 2 focuses on how personal names index socio-political transitioning, Section 3 demonstrates religious values in personal names and naming, and Section 4 links linguistic structure and analysis of personal names to culture and heritage.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110759297
ISBN:: 9783110759297
ISBN:: 9783110759372
ISBN:: 9783110759174
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Semiotics
Subject:: Cultural Semiotics
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Anthropological Linguistics and Ethnolinguistics
Subject:: Onomastics
Subject:: Social Sciences
Subject:: Anthropology
Subject:: Linguistic Anthropology
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton

Book 2023

Performative Linguistic Space

Ethnographies of Spatial Politics and Dynamic Linguistic Practices

Neriko Musha Doerr, Jennifer M. McGuire

Volume 3 in this series

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This volume explores "performative linguistic space", namely a space which ushers or hinders linguistic practices. Space is made productive as a result of individuals who bring linguistic politics from diverse spaces into new ones. By moving away from the notions of discrete units of language and linguistic communities associated with a specific space, this volume suggests a fluid productive aspect of space. It goes beyond the assumed space-linguistic community association through ethnographic accounts that mediate linguistic anthropology, cultural geography, sociolinguistics, and deaf studies.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110744781
ISBN:: 9783110744781
ISBN:: 9783110744842
ISBN:: 9783110744743
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Anthropological Linguistics and Ethnolinguistics
Subject:: Bilingualism and Multilingualism
Subject:: Sociolinguistics
Subject:: Social Sciences
Subject:: Anthropology
Subject:: Linguistic Anthropology
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton

Book 2022

Nurturing Language

Anthropological Linguistics in an African Context

Gerrit J. Dimmendaal

Volume 2 in this series

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This monograph introduces students and scholars in linguistics, anthropology, and intercultural communication to anthropological linguistics, with a special focus on Africa. Among the topics addressed are semantic fields such as kinship or colour terminology, spatial orientation, linguistic relativity and the link between language and cognition, onomastics, the ethnography of communication, interactional sociolinguistics, emotions, (im)politeness strategies, conversation analysis, and non-verbal communication.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110726633
ISBN:: 9783110726633
ISBN:: 9783110727029
ISBN:: 9783110727142
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Applied Linguistics
Subject:: Applied Linguistics, other
Subject:: Languages of Africa
Subject:: African Languages, other
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Anthropological Linguistics and Ethnolinguistics
Subject:: Onomastics
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton

Book 2022

Approaches to Language and Culture

Svenja Völkel, Nico Nassenstein

Volume 1 in this series

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This book provides an overview of approaches to language and culture, and it outlines the broad interdisciplinary field of anthropological linguistics and linguistic anthropology. It identifies current and future directions of research, including language socialization, language reclamation, speech styles and genres, language ideology, verbal taboo, social indexicality, emotion, time, and many more. Furthermore, it offers areal perspectives on the study of language in cultural contexts (namely Africa, the Americas, Australia and Oceania, Mainland Southeast Asia, and Europe), and it lays the foundation for future developments within the field. In this way, the book bridges the disciplines of cultural anthropology and linguistics and paves the way for the new book series Anthropological Linguistics.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110726626
ISBN:: 9783110726626
ISBN:: 9783110726992
ISBN:: 9783110727159
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Anthropological Linguistics and Ethnolinguistics
Subject:: Social Sciences
Subject:: Anthropology
Subject:: Linguistic Anthropology
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton