What is linguistic anthropology or anthropolinguistics?

Linguistic anthropology or anthropolinguistics is a discipline that deals with the study of the languages ​​spoken by human societies and how these relate the lexicon and linguistic uses with the basic cultural characteristics of each one.

anthropology and linguistics

To understand what linguistic anthropology is about, it is first necessary to understand what anthropology and linguistics consist of:

• Anthropology : from the Greek anthropos “human” and logos , “knowledge”, is the science that studies human beings. His field of study includes both their biological traits (such as physical characteristics and traces of animal behavior) and other non-biological qualities, such as their sociocultural contexts. That is, anthropology studies humanity as a whole, as a whole. Depending on the context of study, anthropology can be divided into other specialties, including evolutionary, organizational, urban, religious, psychological, and cognitive anthropology, among others.

• Linguistics is the discipline that investigates the origin, evolution and structure of language. Its objective is to know the rules that govern ancient and modern languages. This includes the study of human language structures and their variations across language families, which it also identifies and classifies. Linguistics is also responsible for analyzing the conditions that make understanding and communication possible. Likewise, this science proposes theories and has its own methods of analysis and study. In addition, it is considered a multidisciplinary science, that is, it encompasses the knowledge of various sciences and is characterized by its great breadth in the study of language.

linguistic anthropology

As mentioned above, linguistic anthropology is a discipline that integrates the objects of study of both sciences. It studies the diversity of languages ​​spoken by different human societies, their vocabulary, linguistic uses and cultural characteristics. The anthropologist Alessandro Duranti defines it as “the study of language as a resource of culture, and of speech as a cultural practice.”

Due to its interdisciplinary nature, linguistic anthropology uses methods from various disciplines, particularly from its two base sciences, with the purpose of understanding the different aspects of a language. It also positions different languages ​​as frameworks for cultural practices. This is possible because, through communication, social characteristics and relationships between and within individuals can be represented.

Linguistic anthropology, therefore, focuses on how language develops communication, as well as the roles it plays in social identity, the sense of belonging to certain groups, and cultural beliefs and ideologies. For example:

• Societies where a single language defines their culture.
• The diffusion of a language in other societies and the world.
• The influence of one or several languages ​​on the cultural practices of a society.

Differences between linguistic anthropology and other disciplines

The main difference between linguistic anthropology and other disciplines that study language is its focus on language as a strategy for social interaction. In addition, it includes a more innovative look at some of the issues that make up the center of anthropological studies, such as:

• the rules of representation,
• the constitution of the authority,
• ethnic conflicts,
• the legitimation of power,
• the process of socialization,
• the cultural construction of the individual,
• cultural interactions,
• social changes,
• the rituals,
• social control,
• the development of knowledge and cognitive, artistic and aesthetic aspects.

Other disciplines associated with linguistic anthropology

Linguistic anthropology is closely related to two other disciplines, anthropological linguistics and sociolinguistics, which are sometimes used interchangeably but have slightly different approaches:

• Anthropological linguistics : is a branch of linguistics and anthropology that is responsible for studying the role of language in a sociocultural context. It also focuses on determining the influence of language on cultural practices. It differs from linguistic anthropology in that its object of study focuses more on the process of word formation, as well as on the vocalization of language and the different semantic and grammatical systems. An example of the issues that this subdiscipline studies is the variation of the language in a region, when more than one language is spoken.
• Sociolinguistics : focuses on linguistic phenomena, particularly the relationship between them and social phenomena. It is responsible for identifying and explaining the processes where linguistic changes occur in different social groups. Instead of seeing language as strategies or structures, sociology approaches its study as an essential element of social interactions.
• Other Related Disciplines: In addition to anthropological linguistics and sociolinguistics, there are also other sub-disciplines that relate to linguistic anthropology in different ways. Some of them are the ethnography of communication, ethnolinguistics, descriptive linguistics, and historical linguistics, among others.

Bibliography

• Duranti, A. Linguistic Anthropology. (2002). Spain. Cambridge University Press.
• Junyent Figueras, MC; Comellas Casanovas, P. Linguistic anthropology . (2019). Spain. Synthesis.
• Echeverría, R. Ontology of language. (2016). Spain. JC Sáez Editor.