Customer Reviews

Linguistic Anthropology (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics)

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Reading this book I felt Duranti to be less of a linguist and more of an anthropologist--which I found to be a useful approach, giving quite a different perspective on the field than, for example, William Foley's book of similar title. Especially interesting were the sections on fieldwork methodology and ethics, a topic which I haven't seen covered in other books on linguistic anthropology. However, some of the linguistic stuff could have been explained in more detail, and Duranti doesn't include as much on recent perspectives as some others.

I just finished reading Alesandro Duranti's 1997 book for my linguistic anthropology core class. I wanted to take the opportunity here to comment on this book. A. Duranti goes through all of the major theoretical underpinnings and morphological manifestations that the discipline has endured since its inception from the likes of Boas and Sapir in the early 20th century. It has changed and gone through many necessary changes during its lifetime. In order to truly place our finger on the intentions of the "other," we must strive to open a dialogue with the "other" through the practice of speaking, analysis of discourse, and make assumptions based on interpretations to better understand the cultural baggage each one of us carries. This is healthy and natural, and summarizes what it means to be human. Linguistic anthropology taps into human psychology, and the social enterprise in many ways that I have never been able to imagine. A. Duranti eloquently explains linguistic anthropology's rightful place as a science and a discipline worthy of perpetuation in posterity. I sincerely hope others read it in order to assist in this perpetuation of what it means to be human through the practice of speaking.