A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology

“The essays … display a vigorous subdisciplinary repertoire with much to offer the contemporary research university, and they show that a field is not necessarily humdrum for being useful.” (Journal of Anthropological Research, November 2008)

"Duranti…has done more than anyone else in the past generation to establish linguistic anthropology as a scholarly field. ... Designed to be user-friendly …A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology…is an impressive achievement, and will be of great value to its field and neighboring fields, for a long time to come. This Companion may be a culmination of Duranti’s considerable work to establish linguistic anthropology." (Journal of Sociolinguistics)

"This hefty, immaculate volume inaugurates the innovative series of Blackwell Companions to Anthropology, and does so with academic panache … Intelligible for readers with no previous knowledge of the field ... A resource of genuine utility in academic libraries with any interest in linguistics or anthropology.” (Reference Reviews)

"This volume brings together 31 scholars in the field of linguistic anthropology and is aimed at offering an overview of the discipline's key concepts and approaches." (Pragmatics)

"Succeeds in doing exactly what it sets out to in a clear, concise and well-ordered fashion... a well thought out and comprehensive anthology that gives the reader a well-rounded introduction to linguistic anthropology... a must-have for any anthropologist's bookshelf." (Social Anthropology)

"Duranti has brought together a stellar collection of original essays that will surely become a foundational resource in linguistic anthropology."
–Deborah Tannen, Georgetown University

"With this Companion, Duranti continues his creative role in giving shape to linguistic anthropology as a field. The chapters will be valuable not only for students, but also for colleagues. They bring together a considerable range of those active in the field, and of important foci of research. To mention just two: it is hard to imagine greater clarity than that brought to linguistic diversity by Mithun, for example, or to the nature of language ideologies by Kroskrity."
–Dell Hymes, University of Virginia

"A valuable contribution to linguistic anthropology, this book comprises the best articles by some of the best authors. In it, Duranti celebrates the rich diversity of linguistic anthropology by integrating new advances in sociolinguistics, discourse and conversation analysis, gender and ethnic studies, and other sister cross-disciplines. Moving well beyond early studies of varieties of language and folklore, this book offers insights into the cultural dimensions of power, social inequality, identity, and many other dimensions of talk and text in their sociocultural contexts. This will serve as a true companion for many students and scholars in many disciplines."
–Teun A. van Dijk, Universitat Pompeu Fabra