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Language, Culture & Society: an Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology

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Language, Culture & Society: an Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology
LANGUAGE, CULTURE & SOCIETY:
AN INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY

Language, Culture & Society:
An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology

Language, Culture & Society:
An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology

Anthropology, a study of human kind, is and has been concerned with all aspects of human society. Within anthropology are four main subfields: physical/biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, archaeological anthropology, and linguistic anthropology; with many subgroups within these fields. Within the four lies an array of lab testing techniques and field work, providing a more in-depth analysis of humanistic aspects that could not be obtained through other means. According to two prominent anthropologists, Pi Sunyer and Salzmann, the most recently classification of humans, “Homo sapiens,” has been the main emphasis in anthropology; and can be summarized by the overall scope of anthropology by three propositions. First, because members of the Homo sapiens species are biological organisms, the study of human beings must try to understand their origin and nature in the appropriate context; two, as humans strive to adapt to a great variety of natural and self made conditions, they engaged in a long series of innovations referred to by the term culture; and three, in the course of their cultural evolution during the past million years, humans were immeasurably aided by their developing of an effective means of communication, the most remarkable and crucial component of which is human language (Pi Sunyer and Salzmann 1978:3). This, then, enables linguistic anthropology’s emphasis to be based on a premise: Linguistic anthropology is concerned with the consequences of the process referred to in the third person (Salzmann 1998:3). Since anthropology is the study of human kind, and language is the single biggest entity that distinguishes humans from any other living organism on the

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