Full Description
The Matrix of Language introduces students and other readers to recent debates in the study of language and culture. The articles in this anthology, selected for their readability, present a range of methodological approaches and well-known case studies that illustrate the interconnection of language, culture, and social practice. The editors' introductory essays compare and contrast specific approaches in four broad areas: language and socialization, gender, the ethnography of speaking, and the role of language in social and political life. The book is a valuable introduction in linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics courses and a resource for anyone exploring the relation of language to psychology, political theory, feminist studies, and literature and folklore.
Contents
* Introduction Learning Language, Learning Culture * What No Bedtime Story Means: Narrative Skills at Home and School Shirley Brice Heath. * Detective Stories at Dinnertime: Problem-Solving Through Co-Narration Elinor Ochs, Ruth Smith, and Carolyn Taylor. * Hard Words: A Functional Basis for Kaluli Discourse Steven Feld and Bambi B. Schieffelin. Gender, Power, And Discourse * A Cultural Approach to Male-Female Miscommunication Daniel N. Maltz and Ruth A. Borker. * Norm-Makers, Norm-Breakers: Uses of Speech by Men and Women in a Malagasy Community Elinor Keenan (Ochs). * The Whole Woman: Sex and Gender Differences in Variation Penelope Eckert. Genre, Style, Performance * Biography of a Sentence: A Burmese Proverb A. L. Becker. * Any Man Who Keeps Moren One Houndll Lie to You: A Contextual Study of Expressive Lying Richard Bauman. * Carne, Carnales, and the Carnivalesque: Bakhtinian Batos, Disorder, and Narrative Discourses Jos E. Limn. Language As Social Practice * Grog and Gossip in Bhatgaon: Style and Substance in Fiji Indian Conversation Donald Brenneis. * Reflections on a Meeting: Structure, Language, and the Polity in a Small-Scale Society Fred R. Myers. * When Talk Isnt Cheap: Language and Political Economy Judith T. Irvine. * Monoglot Standard in America: Standardization and Metaphors of Linguistic Hegemony Michael Silverstein. * The Grammar of Consciousness and the Consciousness of Grammar Jane H. Hill.
