Linguistic Anthropology

Linguistic anthropology is concerned with the expression of culture through language. It is the culturally situated study of human language, including the sound system, grammar, stylistics, and language and cognition. We emphasize a thorough grounding in the fundamentals via courses on language structure, linguistic theory, field methods, and data management. Both theoretical and practical training are offered in this interdisciplinary field, with course offerings in language and culture, field methods, ethnopoetics, language endangerment, and language revitalization.

We place particular emphasis on applied (service) linguistics of a cooperative nature in the American mid- and southwest, Inner Asia, and east Africa. Graduate students are strongly encouraged to participate in and conduct cooperative field service or research projects; opportunities are available to work on collaborative projects in the Midwest and overseas.

Recent research projects include revitalization projects in the US Southeast and Southwest and an endangered-language multimedia documentation project in North Tibet. A joint Ph.D. in Anthropology and Linguistics is planned. Linguistic anthropology maintains close ties with KU's Department of Linguistics, Child Language Program and the Center for Indigenous Nations Studies.