linguistic anthropology
linguistic anthropology noun: the branch of anthropology that studies language and language use.
Noun
linguistic anthropology (usually uncountable, plural linguistic anthropologies)
- The branch of anthropology that studies language and language use.
- Linguistic anthropology is the study of language, first in its origin, as the medium of communicating thought, emotion and volition.1881, Otis T. Mason, “Progress of Anthropology in America during the year 1880”, in The American Naturalist, page 621
- 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 anthropologists2017, James Wilce, Culture and Communication, page xvi
Forms of linguistic anthropology
| plural | linguistic anthropologies |
|---|
Origin of linguistic anthropology
Compound of linguistic + anthropology. Attested from the 19th century.
Questions about linguistic anthropology
- What does linguistic anthropology mean?
- Linguistic anthropology means the branch of anthropology that studies language and language use.
- What part of speech is linguistic anthropology?
- Linguistic anthropology is a noun.
- What is the plural of linguistic anthropology?
- The plural of linguistic anthropology is linguistic anthropologies.
Words near linguistic anthropology in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: linguistic anthropology (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “linguistic anthropology.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/linguistic_anthropology. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.