Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Linguistic Anthropology Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

710 Full-Text Articles 632 Authors 582,120 Downloads 97 Institutions

All Articles in Linguistic Anthropology

Faceted Search

710 full-text articles. Page 3 of 17.

The Semantics Of Sin: Profanity, Reform, And Cultural Authority In Progressive America, Evan J. Christensen 2025 University of New Hampshire, Durham

The Semantics Of Sin: Profanity, Reform, And Cultural Authority In Progressive America, Evan J. Christensen

Roland D. Sawyer Scholarship Papers

During the Progressive Era, language reform movements such as the Anti-Profanity League sought to regulate everyday speech as part of broader efforts to preserve public morality and cultural identity. This paper examines the rhetorical strategies and cultural assumptions underpinning the anti-profanity crusade, focusing especially on Reverend Roland D. Sawyer’s leadership. Using historical sources including league literature, newspaper accounts, personal letters, organizational records, and sermons, it argues that profanity was framed not merely as a religious or moral failure but as a threat to social cohesion, character, and national values. Efforts to suppress swearing reveal how language functioned as a marker …


Vital Language Practices And Attitudes Among The Lumbee, Deven A. Hull 2025 University of South Carolina - Columbia

Vital Language Practices And Attitudes Among The Lumbee, Deven A. Hull

Senior Theses

The longstanding interest among linguists and linguistic anthropologists in Indigenous languages has increasingly adopted a Critical Indigenous framework, which has been promoted by Indigenous scholars and community leaders as a means of decolonizing “salvage” collection of Indigenous language materials. An important aspect of Critical Indigenous theory is the framework of vitality—that is, an emphasis in literature and community practice on the everyday living and lived elements of culture. One means of promoting Indigenous language within this Critical framework of vitality that is community-centered is centering vital language practices in community-based archives, which seek not to document the language as it …


Navigating Trauma: A Linguistic Exploration Of Bilingual Trauma Expressions, Amira Mahmoud Othman 2025 American University in Cairo

Navigating Trauma: A Linguistic Exploration Of Bilingual Trauma Expressions, Amira Mahmoud Othman

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the relationship between language, trauma, and emotional expression among bilingual Arabic-English speakers, focusing on code-switching patterns and euphemisms, and more broadly the emotional roles of native and non-native languages in trauma narratives. Through qualitative interviews with 20 Egyptian participants, the research reveals that code-switching serves as both a linguistic and emotional tool, allowing speakers to navigate trauma by creating distance or engaging more intimately. Such codeswitching patterns include the integration of English content words within Arabic structures, morphosyntactic innovations, and gender agreement applications, reflecting the creative adaptability of bilingual speakers in emotionally charged contexts, in line with …


Cross-Linguistic Queerness: A Phonetic Study Of How Bilingual Mandarin-English Speakers Index A Sapphic Identity, Malena L. Sparano 2025 Scripps College

Cross-Linguistic Queerness: A Phonetic Study Of How Bilingual Mandarin-English Speakers Index A Sapphic Identity, Malena L. Sparano

Scripps Senior Theses

The comparative lack of research about Queer identities among speakers of other languages limits cross-linguistic and cross-cultural understanding of Queerness within an increasingly globalized community (Cameron and Kulick, 2003). Moreover, the focus on Monolingual, Western, men’s repertoires excludes important nuances that shape identities falling outside the heteropatriarchy, significantly neglecting Sapphic people and Lesbians (Leap, 2008). Sapphic identity helps broaden the scope of traditionally very gendered labeling, stemming from Zita’s (1981) definition as a person identifying as a woman/non-man and experiencing attraction to women or non-men. Bilingual research is key in understanding the specific roles of multivariable cultural and phonetic analysis …


Book Review - Language Ideologies And Linguistic Identity In Heritage Language Learning., Michelle F. Ramos Pellicia 2025 CHABSS/CSUSM

Book Review - Language Ideologies And Linguistic Identity In Heritage Language Learning., Michelle F. Ramos Pellicia

International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest

No abstract provided.


Reassessing The Role Of Polynesian Rats (Rattus Exulans) In Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Deforestation: Faunal Evidence And Ecological Modeling, Terry L. Hunt, Carl P. Lipo 2025 University of Arizona

Reassessing The Role Of Polynesian Rats (Rattus Exulans) In Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Deforestation: Faunal Evidence And Ecological Modeling, Terry L. Hunt, Carl P. Lipo

Anthropology Datasets

The role of introduced Polynesian rats (Rattus exulans) in the deforestation of Rapa Nui remains a contentious issue. Several critics, including Mieth and Bork (2010), argue that rats played a negligible role compared to human impacts. We address the role of rats through three lines of evidence: (1) a response to rats-are-neglible arguments, including problematic continental analogies and misunderstandings of seed predation impacts; (2) analysis of rat remains from Anakena excavations (1986-2005) showing that rats decreased by 93% over time, contradicting claims they served as a “fallback food” following resource depletion; and (3) ecological modeling demonstrating that introduced …


Comparative Semiotic Analysis Of Non-Verbal Communication: Apis Mellifera Waggle Dance And Human Kinesic Signaling Systems, Nishtha Tikalal 2025 University of Central Florida

Comparative Semiotic Analysis Of Non-Verbal Communication: Apis Mellifera Waggle Dance And Human Kinesic Signaling Systems, Nishtha Tikalal

Honors Undergraduate Theses

There are many parallels between two seemingly disparate forms of non-verbal communication: the waggle dance of Apis mellifera (honeybees) and human kinesic signaling systems. Through a comparative semiotic analysis, this research aims to conduct a comparative semiotic analysis, investigating structural and functional similarities between these communication methods, challenging anthropocentric assumptions about meaning making in the natural world. This research employs a meta-synthesis approach, drawn from a methodological literature review to examine historical representations of bee-human relationships, semiotics of non-verbal communication, and the specific mechanisms of the waggle dance and human kinesics. This methodology involves systematic categorization and analysis of extracted …


“Before, We Didn’T Eat Manioc Flour”: Historical And Social Transformations In Food Techniques Among Indigenous Peoples Of The Rio Negro Basin In The Brazilian Amazon, Lorena França 2024 Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC)

“Before, We Didn’T Eat Manioc Flour”: Historical And Social Transformations In Food Techniques Among Indigenous Peoples Of The Rio Negro Basin In The Brazilian Amazon, Lorena França

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Manioc flour is currently considered one of the main foods consumed by Indigenous peoples in the Northwest Amazon. It is fundamental both to the traditional diet and to adding an "Indigenous flavor" to urban dishes. This article presents an analysis of historical sources that position manioc flour as an important trading commodity since the 19th century and shows how its internal consumption seems to have grown in recent decades. This significance contrasts with the role of manioc flour in mythic narratives about the origin of foods, where it is either not mentioned among the Tukano peoples or referred to as …


Revitalizing While Transmitting: Conversations Around “Natural Birth”Practices With Kichwa Midwives In Ecuador’S Napo Region, Laura Rival 2024 Oxford University

Revitalizing While Transmitting: Conversations Around “Natural Birth”Practices With Kichwa Midwives In Ecuador’S Napo Region, Laura Rival

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Despite its relevance for analyzing many distinctive native imaginaries and societal values, childbirth remains a relatively neglected theme within Amazonianist scholarship. Yet, birthing can be shown to structure contemporary struggles around kinship, politics, economics, and the place of transformation in social life. This article proposes to examine a Kichwa organization (AMUPAKIN) through an experimental anthropological lens. By putting childbirth at the center of its political struggle, AMUPAKIN seeks to keep Kichwa knowledge/power alive. The goal of the organization is that each child born the Kichwa way will be able to live a good life in multicultural contexts. The article documents …


“Nós Vamos Lutar Por Eles”: A Defesa Do Povo “Isolado” Pirititi Pelos Waimiri Atroari, Amazonas E Roraima, Brasil, Silvia Melo Futada, Glenn H. Shepard Jr., Walter Nicanor Fontoura Blos, Antônio Carlos Andrade do Nascimento, Marcelo de Sousa Cavalcante, Associação Comunitária Waimiri Atroari 2024 Universidade da Flórida

“Nós Vamos Lutar Por Eles”: A Defesa Do Povo “Isolado” Pirititi Pelos Waimiri Atroari, Amazonas E Roraima, Brasil, Silvia Melo Futada, Glenn H. Shepard Jr., Walter Nicanor Fontoura Blos, Antônio Carlos Andrade Do Nascimento, Marcelo De Sousa Cavalcante, Associação Comunitária Waimiri Atroari

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Os Pirititi são um grupo indígena “isolado” pouco conhecido, que ocupa um território altamente ameaçado na divisa entre os estados do Amazonas e Roraima (Brasil), e tem majoritariamente rejeitado todo tipo de contato e encontro. Os Waimiri Atroari já tiveram conflitos com os Pirititi no passado, mas nas últimas décadas assumiram a responsabilidade de defender os Pirititi e seu território, em processos de reconhecimento oficial, elaborando estratégias, organizando atividades e investindo seu tempo e recursos da associação comunitária. Diante da lentidão das respostas do Estado brasileiro às invasões e outras ameaças aos Pirititi, os Waimiri Atroari tornaram-se os principais protagonistas …


La Escucha De Los Soplos: Chamanismo Y Proposiciones Ontológicas Sobre El Lenguaje En El Alto Río Negro, Amazonas, Danilo Paiva Ramos 2024 Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar)

La Escucha De Los Soplos: Chamanismo Y Proposiciones Ontológicas Sobre El Lenguaje En El Alto Río Negro, Amazonas, Danilo Paiva Ramos

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

La región del Alto Río Negro-AM es considerada una de las áreas con mayor intensidad de multilingüismo en Brasil e incluso en el mundo. Hay un total de 23 pueblos indígenas que hablan lenguas de las familias lingüísticas arawak, tukano y hup, yuhup, dâw y nadëb. El presente trabajo busca analizar, desde un enfoque comparado, cómo un sistema regional multilingüe y multiétnico se compone no sólo de exogamia lingüística, sino también de la articulación ontológica entre endoexogamia lingüística y dialogismo chamánico. Comienza con el estudio del antropólogo tukano João Rivelino Barreto sobre el arte del diálogo chamánico tukano para describir …


We Will Not Be Saved: A Memoir Of Hope And Resistance In The Amazon Rainforest, Theodor Borrmann 2024 University of Oxford

We Will Not Be Saved: A Memoir Of Hope And Resistance In The Amazon Rainforest, Theodor Borrmann

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Review: We will not be saved: a memoir of hope and resistance in the Amazon rainforest, by Nemonte Nenquimo and Mitch Anderson. London: Wildfire, 2024. 368 pp., plates.


Bahsé Ahpose: O Adocicamento Das Águas E Dos Peixes Como Regeneração Da Vida No Alto Vaupés, Noroeste Amazônico, José Carlos Almeida Cruz, Justino Sarmento Rezende, Thiago Mota Cardoso 2024 Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM)

Bahsé Ahpose: O Adocicamento Das Águas E Dos Peixes Como Regeneração Da Vida No Alto Vaupés, Noroeste Amazônico, José Carlos Almeida Cruz, Justino Sarmento Rezende, Thiago Mota Cardoso

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Nas paisagens etnográficas do Noroeste Amazônico brasileiro se encontra o Rio Vaupés, na Terra Indígena do Alto Rio Negro, no Município de São Gabriel da Cachoeira. Nessas paisagens, os povos do Vaupés fazem o Bahsé Ahpose, o adocicamento das águas e dos peixes na prática do tinguijamento. O conhecimento desse ritual e sua prática resulta do encontro de conhecimentos cosmológicos e cosmopolíticos na vida dos povos do Vaupés. Esse rito se realiza pelos diálogos dos kumuã (xamãs), para quem o adocicamento faz parte da fórmula presente na taxonomia de todas as “rezas” benéficas e está sempre presente nelas. Realiza-se o …


Jean Langdon: Transformations And Perspectives From Half A Century Of Research About Shamanism, Isabel Santana de Rose 2024 Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC)

Jean Langdon: Transformations And Perspectives From Half A Century Of Research About Shamanism, Isabel Santana De Rose

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This text reviews some of Jean Langdon’s most important classical and contemporary writings about shamanism, highlighting her key contributions to the area, as well as her relevance to the anthropology of health and Indigenous health policies. The paper also reflects on Langdon’s influence in the discussions surrounding gender and female agency in ethnographies of lowland South America. Jean Langdon was one of the pioneers in the revival of the research on shamanism in the 1980s. During a period when male anthropologists largely dominated studies on this topic, she highlighted the complexity and diversity of Indigenous shamanisms, proposing that they should …


Féminas Speaking Up: Three Papers On Feminine Transgender Identities, Gender Identity Activism, And Language Reform In Lima, Peru, Ernesto Cuba 2024 CUNY Graduate Center

Féminas Speaking Up: Three Papers On Feminine Transgender Identities, Gender Identity Activism, And Language Reform In Lima, Peru, Ernesto Cuba

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this three-paper dissertation, I explore the linguistic and discursive practices of Féminas, a leading transgender rights activist organization based in Lima, Peru. Building on scholarship on language ideologies (Irvine & Gal, 2000), queer linguistics (Motschenbacher, 2011), and socio-onomastics (Ainiala & Östman, 2017), I analyze the role that language beliefs and language-in-use plays in performing local (trans)gender identities and shaping grassroots politics within this specific community of practice (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 1992). Based on an extensive corpus of semi-structured interviews and ethnographic material gathered during my long-term investigation with Féminas, I present three studies exploring distinct –though related– ideologically-driven sociolinguistic …


Principal Agency 50 Years After The Lau Decision: Building And Sustaining Bilingual Education Programs For Asian Languages, Kevin M. Wong, Zhongfeng Tian 2024 Pepperdine University

Principal Agency 50 Years After The Lau Decision: Building And Sustaining Bilingual Education Programs For Asian Languages, Kevin M. Wong, Zhongfeng Tian

Education Division Scholarship

This study examined how three champion principals of Asian language dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs—Cantonese, Korean, and Mandarin—in California have navigated the oscillating language-in-education policies after the Lau decision. We explored principals' various roles through a lens of agency in a social justice leadership framework, specifically considering the opportunities and challenges for agentive leadership from three different phases: foregrounding and engaging, planning and implementing, and evaluating and sustaining. Findings demonstrate that the success of DLBE programs goes beyond the overarching language policies that supposedly enable bilingual education; rather it hinges on the bottom-up commitment, collaboration and resilience of principals, …


Language And Gender Dialogue Journal, Sgokcora D. Gokcora 2024 CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College

Language And Gender Dialogue Journal, Sgokcora D. Gokcora

Open Educational Resources

This is an introductory material to get learners oriented on the topic of language and gender.


Aita O Paul Gauguin I Ite I Te Parau I Te Reo Tahiti: The Colonial Implications Of Paul Gauguin’S Incorrect Tahitian, Elise Hatch 2024 Brigham Young University

Aita O Paul Gauguin I Ite I Te Parau I Te Reo Tahiti: The Colonial Implications Of Paul Gauguin’S Incorrect Tahitian, Elise Hatch

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.


Language Play And Racial Dysphemism In The Marrakchi Language Space, Spencer Fausel 2024 CUNY Graduate Center

Language Play And Racial Dysphemism In The Marrakchi Language Space, Spencer Fausel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study seeks to divulge the meaning and popular usage of two phonetically similar yet reportedly distinct dysphemisms spoken and understood in the Marrakchi dialect of Moroccan Arabic (Darija). Darija speakers across the North African lingua-space use the term "qlawi" to denote testicles. In Morocco, speakers utter "qlawi" to express negation or pejorative notions of being, the term commonly wielded to disparage or vituperate a frustrating person or object—drawing connections to the subaltern, the lowly, the destitute, the stupid, the possessionless, and potentially to the racialized (non)object. The word itself can stand as a syntactic substitute for “nothing” in certain …


Women’S Routes: Gender, Mobility, And Knowledge Among The Makushi Of Southern Guyana, Lisa Katharina Grund 2024 Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi

Women’S Routes: Gender, Mobility, And Knowledge Among The Makushi Of Southern Guyana, Lisa Katharina Grund

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Exploring the journeys of some Makushi women, this article highlights the relevance of gender in the question of (im)mobility and female engagements with the world as central to contemporary Makushi life. Departing from the understanding that the category of space has proven crucial in the theoretical groundwork of the Guiana ethnographic area and drawing on the region’s classical ethnographies, it explores everyday practices of movement of the Makushi people who live along the triple frontier of southern Guyana. Rather than disruptive, these in and out journeys—collective or individual—prove to be crucial to the weaving of community. They are also central …


Digital Commons powered by bepress