本课程意在介绍语言人类学这个小领域：其主要情怀非人类学莫属，但同时与其他研究语言的学科（语言学，文学，传播学）有一些重要的对话。其主要理论支持来自符号学(semiotics)。其主要方法为田野调查，主要关注现实世界中实际发生的种种人类（有时非人类）互动。课程会涵盖相关哲学/逻辑文本，语言学文本，但最主要的是田野调查的人类学文本（可以暂时理解为一些被高度分析的小故事）。对以下现象感兴趣的同学可以考虑参与：
“你”和“您”的区分以及在显示生活中的使用；
第一/第二人称代词的特殊之处（【敲门声】A：谁啊？B：我啊！A：我是谁？B：你啊！）和其的交流意义；
相声表演/评书中演员“学”不同“角色”；
两个陌生人第一次见面的尴尬对话；
当人们品鉴红酒时，人们在做什么；
口音（卷还是不卷舌？这是一个值得考虑的问题）；
方言，普通话的普及；
等等……

What is the role of language in cultural life? Following up on key anthropological themes by steering the wheel of the question of “culture,” linguistic anthropologists ask not “what” culture is, but “where” to look for culture. Quick answer: actual interaction and the semiotics of discourse not limited to speech. The class will engage with both theories and empirical analyses of actual cases of human interaction (read: ethnography). You may learn about: tools for analyzing that bugging question—“what just happened?” —after a puzzling encounter, say when the person of your admiration text you ambiguous language; how Starbuck baristas talk behind your back; how greetings could be sites of status manipulation; how rituals are effective; pronoun usage; gossip and drama. For those of you who are more theory-oriented: what is a sign; what to take from structuralism (what is structuralism?); cultural relativity; the usefulness of the “ideology” concept (idea-ology). Please note that this is not a course in linguistics. Rather, we will look at the practice and (meta-)pragmatic side of things. You do not need to understand all terms in this course description to join the class.