ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS

ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS.

Anthropological linguistics is the study of the relations between language and culture and the relations between human biology, cognition and language. This strongly overlaps the field of linguistic anthropology, which is the branch of anthropology that studies humans through the languages that they use.

Anthropological linguistics is concerned with:

Descriptive (or synchronic) linguistics: Describing dialects (forms of a language used by a specific speech community). This study includes phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and grammar.

Historical (or diachronic) linguistics: Describing changes in dialects and languages over time. This study includes the study of linguistic divergence and language families, comparative linguistics, etymology, and philology.

Ethnolinguistics: Analyzing the relationship between culture, thought, and language.

Sociolinguistics: Analyzing the social functions of language and the social, political, and economic relationships among and between members of speech communities.