Linguistic Anthropology: A Reader is a comprehensive collection of the best work that has been published in this exciting and growing area of anthropology and is organized to provide a guide to key issues in the study of language as a cultural resource and speaking as a cultural practice.

Editor Alessandro Duranti's extensive introduction provides an original perspective on the development of the field and highlights its most compelling issues. Each section of the volume includes a brief introductory statement, a set of guiding questions, and a recommended further reading list. The readings are both historically oriented and thematically coherent, and are grouped according to four themes: speech community and communicative competence; the performance of language; language socialization and literacy practices; and the power of language. Duranti has taken care throughout to trace theoretical and methodological connections among different authors and research agendas from anthropology and other disciplines. This is a collection that stands to serve both scholars and students.