Linguistic Anthropology

Linguistic Anthropology is the study of humanness through the languages humans use. Linguistic anthropologists at UAlbany do this through field work around the world where they work with informants to document and analyze languages, as well as study how language acquisition occurs under transcultural cirumstances and the implications of multilingualism in social contexts. Informants for this are found in field sites as local as Albany County or further away, such as among American Indians of the Southwest, West Coast, and Mesoamerica, as well as in Africa, Europe, and the South Pacific. The projects below offer some insight as to the particulars of such research and the diversity involved.

Institute for Mesoamerican Studies
The Institute for Mesoamerican Studies (IMS) is a non-profit educational research institute dedicated to the study and dissemination of knowledge concerning the peoples and cultures of Mesoamerica (Mexico and northern Central America).

Languages of Zambia
Documentation of the phonology and linguistic prosody of the languages of Zambia.

Project for the Documentation of the Languages of Mesoamerica (PDLMA)
Documentation of the lexicon, phonology, and morphosyntax of all living Mije-Sokean and Sapotekan languages.

Social Conditions of Multilingualism in an Era of Globalization
Examination of migration and language contact in Belgium and migration and language learning in Upstate New York.

Tolowa Post-Contact Social History
Use of language as an entree to study social history among this Northwest Californian group of Native American people. Includes examination of role of gender and wagework in language loss and roles of native and academic specialists in debates over tradition.