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Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language Series

This series delves into the intricate relationship between language, society, and culture. It explores how social contexts and cultural norms shape linguistic meanings and functions. Each volume offers substantial ethnographic and theoretical contributions to understanding language variation across diverse cultures. The collection is essential reading for scholars in linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, and related fields.

Language Contact in a Plantation Environment
Language Diversity and Thought
Explorations in the Ethnography of Speaking
Culture and Language Development

Recommended Reading Order

  1. Culture and Language Development

    Language Acquisition and Language Socialization in a Samoan Village

    • 280 pages
    • 10 hours of reading
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    Elinor Ochs delves into the intricate relationship between socialization and language development in children. The book examines how these two processes influence each other, providing insights into the ways children learn to communicate within their social environments. Through detailed analysis, Ochs highlights the significance of cultural context in shaping language skills and social interactions among young learners.

    Culture and Language Development

  3. Language Diversity and Thought

    A Reformulation of the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis

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    Language Diversity and Thought examines the Sapir-Whorf linguistic relativity hypothesis: the proposal that the grammar of the particular language that we speak affects the way we think about reality. Adopting a historical approach, the book reviews the various lines of empirical inquiry that arose in America in response to the ideas of anthropologists Edward Sapir and Benjamin L. Whorf. John Lucy asks why there has been so little fruitful empirical research on this problem and what lessons can be learned from past work. He then proposes a new, more adequate approach to future empirical research. A companion volume, Grammatical Categories and Cognition, illustrates the proposed approach with an original case study. The study compares the grammar of American English with that of Yucatec Maya, an indigenous language spoken in southeastern Mexico, and then identifies distinctive patterns of thinking related to the differences between the two languages.

    Language Diversity and Thought

  4. Language Contact in a Plantation Environment

    A Sociolinguistic History of Fiji

    • 324 pages
    • 12 hours of reading
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    The book delves into the sociolinguistic evolution in Fiji during a pivotal period when around 90,000 laborers from various Pacific islands and India were brought to work on European plantations. It explores how these diverse linguistic groups interacted, influencing the development of language in the region. Through this historical lens, the author examines the complexities of language contact and its implications for cultural identity and communication in Fiji.

    Language Contact in a Plantation Environment