Culture and Communication

James M. Wilce is Professor of Anthropology at Northern Arizona University. He is the author of three books, Eloquence in Trouble (1998), Crying Shame (2008), and Language and Emotion (Cambridge, 2009). He is also the editor of Social and Cultural Lives of Immune Systems (2003) and the book series, Studies in Discourse and Culture (2005 to present).

• List of figures; List of tables; Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Society, culture, and communication; 2. What is communication?; 3. Semiotics and sign types; 4. The structure of language; 5. Culture, society, communication, and language evolving; 6. Diverse languages and perspectives: communication, expression, and mind; 7. Researching communication and culture as a linguistic anthropologist; 8. Human social semiotics; 9. The communicative enactment and transmission of society and culture; 10. Cultures of performance and the performance of culture; 11. Globalization, media, and emotion talk; 12. Applying linguistic anthropology; Appendix. IPA and other specialized marks; Glossary; References.

'Culture and Communication is an excellent introduction to the contemporary focus in linguistic anthropology on semiotic approaches to language and other human sign systems. Among the many pedagogical features the exercises are particularly outstanding.' Susan U. Philips, University of Arizona