The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Anthropology

The field of linguistic anthropology looks at human uniqueness and diversity through the lens of language, our species' special combination of art and instinct. Human language both shapes, and is shaped by, our minds, societies, and cultural worlds. This state-of-the-field survey covers a wide range of topics, approaches and theories, such as the nature and function of language systems, the relationship between language and social interaction, and the place of language in the social life of communities. Promoting a broad vision of the subject, spanning a range of disciplines from linguistics to biology, from psychology to sociology and philosophy, this authoritative handbook is an essential reference guide for students and researchers working on language and culture across the social sciences.

1. Introduction: directions in the anthropology of language N. J. Enfield, Paul Kockelman and Jack Sidnell; Part I. System and Function: 2. Basics of a language R. M. W. Dixon; 3. The item/system problem N. J. Enfield; 4. Language and the manual modality: the communicative resilience of the human species Susan Goldin-Meadow; 5. Linguistic diversity and universals Balthasar Bickel; 6. Denotation and the pragmatics of language Michael Silverstein; 7. Language function Sandra A. Thompson and Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen; Part II. Process and Formation: 8. Language acquisition and language socialization Penelope Brown and Suzanne Gaskins; 9. Language, society and history: towards a unified approach? Paja Faudree and Magnus Pharao Hansen; 10. Language emergence: Al-Sayyid Bedouin sign language Wendy Sandler, Mark Aronoff, Carol Padden and Irit Meir; 11. Endangered languages Keren Rice; 12. Language evolution Stephen C. Levinson; 13. Causal dynamics of language N. J. Enfield; Part III. Interaction and Intersubjectivity: 14. Intentionality and language Robert B. Brandom; 15. The architecture of intersubjectivity revisited Jack Sidnell; 16. Language and human sociality Alan Rumsey; 17. The ontology of action, in interaction Jack Sidnell and N. J. Enfield; 18. Conversation across cultures Mark Dingemanse and Simeon Floyd; Part IV. Community and Social Life: 19. Poetics and performativity Luke Fleming and Michael Lempert; 20. Ritual language David Tavárez; 21. Oratory, rhetoric, politics Bernard Bate; 22. Language and media Paul Manning and Ilana Gershon; 23. The speech community and beyond: language and the nature of the social aggregate Shaylih Muehlmann; Part V. Interdisciplinary Perspectives: 24. Linguistic anthropology and critical theory Paul Kockelman; 25. Linguistic anthropology and sociocultural anthropology Rupert Stasch; 26. Sociolinguistics: making quantification meaningful Penelope Eckert; 27. Language and archaeology: state of the art Roger Blench; 28. Language and biology: the multiple interactions between genetics and language Dan Dediu; 29. Linguistic anthropology in the age of language automata Paul Kockelman.

N. J. Enfield is a Senior Staff Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and Professor at Radboud University Nijmegen and the University of Sydney.
Paul Kockelman is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas, Austin.
Jack Sidnell is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Department of Linguistics at the University of Toronto.