Linguistic Anthropology in Canada: Some Personal Reflections

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique
• Main Author: Darnell, Regna
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2005
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0008413100003698; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0008413100003698

Abstract Linguistic anthropology can be understood as attention to the use and communicative context of language across cultures and societies. The legacy of linguistic anthropology for both of its constituent disciplines resides in qualitative research methods and the attention paid to the particular words of particular speakers. Linguistic anthropologists have also modelled ethical ways of doing collaborative research. Canadian linguistic anthropology has been pragmatic and closely tied to the maintenance and revitalization of First Nations (Native Canadian) languages. Issues of language are inseparable from those of community and larger social processes: this can be seen in the context of traditional Algonquian languages in the Prairies as well as in the adaptation of English to First Nations purposes. The latter is a reaction to the imposition of residential schooling that alienated students from their culture, their community, and their language, and escalated language loss. Current research on life-history narratives indicates that nomadic legacies of subsistence hunting are still present in the decision-making strategies of contemporary Algonquian peoples in southern Ontario.