Linguistic
anthropology at the University of Michigan
“The
theme for this volume, ‘Linguistic Form and Social Action,’ emerged in
continuing conversations among graduate students affiliated with the Linguistic
Anthropology program. Initially, these conversations focused on the theoretical
utility of close-grained linguistic analysis for ethnographic research. However,
we soon moved beyond these theoretical discussions and turned our attention
towards the practical difficulties that linguistic anthropologists face in
resolving tensions between micro- and macro-analytic methodologies.
“The editorial committee
devoted considerable thought to our use of the words ‘form’ and
‘formal.’ In advocating the combined use of both ethnographic and
‘formal linguistic’ methods, we emphasize the value of incorporating the
study of linguistic forms, including syntax, phonology, semantics, and
pragmatics in achieving analytically rich ethnographic description. At the same
time, we seek to bring the study of linguistic form, which has often denied the
importance of broader social and cultural contexts of the utterance, into an
essentially contextual theoretical space, explicitly acknowledging that these
forms can not function, and therefore can not be studied independently of
concurrent social systems.
”— From the
Introduction
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order form (in Acrobat
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