Recent Work
Mark Fettes, in Steps Towards an Ecology of Language (1996), sought "a theory of language ecology which can integrate naturalist and critical traditions"; and in An Ecological Approach to Language Renewal (1997), sought to approach a transformative ecology via a more active, perhaps designed, set of tools in language. This may cross a line between science and activism, but is within the anthropological tradition of study by the participant observer. Related to problems in critical philosophy (for instance, the question who's we, and the subject-object problem).
In many respects, the scope of interest of ethnolinguistics and linguistic anthropology overlap. Both are concerned with the relationship between language and culture. Both work with the concept of worldview. But unlike linguistic anthropology which as a discipline of anthropology, focuses on man, the individual representing his culture, ethnolinguists are concerned with the way individuals express themselves and how they communicate together. Ethnolinguistics looks at the relationship between discourse and language, while linguistic anthropology tends to make more general claims about vocabulary and grammar. Anna Wierzbicka is one of the best-known exponents of ethnolinguistics in English-speaking countries. James W. Underhill redefined the term in his Ethnolinguistics and Cultural Concepts: truth, love, hate & war (Cambridge University Press 2012). See anthropology, linguistics.
Read more about this topic: Anthropological Linguistics
Famous quotes containing the word work:
“What we often take to be family values—the work ethic, honesty, clean living, marital fidelity, and individual responsibility—are in fact social, religious, or cultural values. To be sure, these values are transmitted by parents to their children and are familial in that sense. They do not, however, originate within the family. It is the value of close relationships with other family members, and the importance of these bonds relative to other needs.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“Whoever is not in the possession of leisure can hardly be said to possess independence. They talk of the dignity of work. Bosh. True work is the necessity of poor humanity’s earthly condition. The dignity is in leisure. Besides, 99 hundredths of all the work done in the world is either foolish and unnecessary, or harmful and wicked.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)