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ANTHRO 215-0 : The Study of Culture through Language

Description

Next to breathing and eating, communication is fundamental to social life. This course explores how and why people talk, write, and interact in the ways that they do, in order to establish, convey, and negotiate meaning with others. Drawing from ethnographic studies of culture through language use in different social settings, the assigned readings and films survey the contributions of linguistic anthropology.

From language socialization and storytelling, to multilingualism and language ideologies, communication performs as social action to influence dynamics of power, agency, representation, and identity. Semiotic theory is also examined – the study of signs and sign systems - as a conceptual approach to understanding the linguistic practices that structure the sociomaterial world.