linguistic anthropology

English

Etymology

Compound of linguistic +‎ anthropology. Attested from the 19th century.

Noun

linguistic anthropology (usually uncountable, plural linguistic anthropologies)

1. (anthropology, originally and chiefly US) The branch of anthropology that studies language and language use.
   • 1881, Otis T. Mason, “Progress of Anthropology in America during the year 1880”, in The American Naturalist‎^[1], page 621:

     Linguistic anthropology is the study of language, first in its origin, as the medium of communicating thought, emotion and volition.

   • 2017, James Wilce, Culture and Communication, page xvi:

     Additionally, linguistic anthropology is one of the four subfields of anthropology, so my linganth tribe’s work overlaps, unsurprisingly, with the work of archaeologists, biological anthropologists, and, especially, social and cultural anthropologists

See also

• cultural anthropology
• social anthropology
• physical anthropology
• biological anthropology
• archaeology
• applied linguistics