program description

linguistic anthropology examines the intersections of language, culture, and society. studies in linguistic anthropology range from micro-level analyses of interpersonal discourse (looking at language in everyday and ritual contexts, at different linguistic aspects of artistic and expressive language, or at social meaning and social variation in speech) to the macro-level analysis of speech communities where language is used to form social identities or for playing out power relations between people, institutions and even countries. faculty members have worked with linguistic and cultural groups in south america (brazil and venezuela) and north america (urban populations in ontario and quebec, first nations in southwestern ontario and alberta, the canadian arctic, and arizona).