Anthropological Linguistics

AY2020/2021 Semester 2

The course explores the interaction of language and culture from linguistic, sociological and anthropological points of view. Using linguistic and social theories as a basis, this course will demonstrate how the treatment of language and culture issues might pose a danger of propagating stereotypes. It will also question the transference and translation of languages across cultures. Pragmatic theories will be also used to explain the causes of cross-cultural misunderstandings. Other topics discussed include the role of prosody and nonverbal behaviour in communication; factors influencing conversational style in different discourse contexts; the negotiation of power and solidarity in intercultural communication; the socialisation of language, and the creation of an identity from a child language acquisition perspective.