Basic Issues of Anthropological Linguistics

Abstract

“It has been the effort of the author to connect the study of language with the study of other branches of anthropology, for a language is best understood when the habits, customs, institutions, philosophy – the subject-matter of thought embodied in the language – are best known. The student of language should be a student of the people who speak the language; and to this end the book [paper – P.C.] has been prepared, with many hints and suggestions relating to other branches of anthropology.” Powell ([1877] 1880: vi).

Keywords

• anthropological linguistics
• contact linguistics
• sociolinguistics
• pragmatics
• cultural patterns
• discursive practices