Linguistic anthropology is a branch of anthropology that studies the role of language in the social lives of individuals and communities. Linguistic anthropology explores how language shapes communication. Language plays a huge role in social identity, group membership, and establishing cultural beliefs and ideologies.
So, unlike linguists, linguistic anthropologists do not look at language alone, language is viewed as interdependent with culture and social structures.
According to Pier Paolo Giglioli in “Language and Social Context,” anthropologists study the relation between worldviews, grammatical categories and semantic fields, the influence of speech on socialization and personal relationships, and the interaction of linguistic and social communities.
In this case, linguistic anthropology closely studies those societies where language defines a culture or society. For example, in New Guinea, there is a tribe of indigenous people who speak one language. It is what makes that people unique. It is its “index” language. The tribe may speak other languages from New Guinea, but this unique language gives the tribe its cultural identity .
Linguistic anthropologists may also take an interest in language as it relates to socialization. It can be applied to infancy, childhood, or a foreigner being enculturated. The anthropologist would likely study a society and the way that language is used to socialize its young.
In terms of a language’s effect on the world, the rate of spread of a language and its influence on a society or multiple societies is an important indicator that anthropologists will study. For example, the use of English as an international language can have wide-ranging implications for the world’s societies. This can be compared to the effects of colonization or imperialism and the import of language to various countries, islands, and continents all over the world.