Classic case studies surveying the use, role and function of language and speech in social life.

In this eloquently written volume Michael Agar expands the premise set forth in his very popular work The Professional Stranger. Speaking of Ethnography challenges the assumption that conventional scientific procedures are appropriate for the study of human affairs. Agar's work is informed by a hermeneutic and phenomenological tradition, in which he questions the researcher's own taken-for-granted procedures.

Methods for the Ethnography of Communication is a guide to conducting ethnographic research in classroom and community settings that introduces students to the field of ethnography of communication, and takes them through the recursive and nonlinear cycle of ethnographic research. Drawing on the mnemonic that Hymes used to develop the Ethnography of SPEAKING, the authors introduce the innovative CULTURES framework to provide a helpful structure for moving through the complex process of collecting and analyzing ethnographic data and addresses the larger "how-to" questions that students struggle with when undertaking ethnographic research. Exercises and activities help students make the connection between communicative events, acts, and situations and ways of studying them ethnographically. Integrating a primary focus on language in use within an ethnographic framework makes this book an invaluable core text for courses on ethnography of communication and related areas in a variety of disciplines.

The Role of Corpus Linguistics in the Ethnography of a Closed Community analyses the interactions of immigrants within an Irish reception centre for asylum seekers to highlight the instinctive resourcefulness of people who are faced with the challenge of communicating when there is no common language or culture. Based on three years of ethnographical observation and using an illuminating and innovative blending of applied methodologies, chiefly corpus linguistics, ethnography and conversation analysis, this book: Draws upon a corpus of 98,000 words; Examines the use of English in the interactions of residents with one another and those with English speaking staff of the centre; Challenges constructs such as speech community, communicative competence and interlanguage. This book is essential reading for academics and upper-level undergraduates or graduates working in the areas of Corpus Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, and those interested in research methodologies. It will also prove to be of significant interest to people interested in migration studies and to providers of English language education to immigrants.

A highly influential scholar urges that linguistics be studied as part of the entire communicative conduct of social groups and demonstrates the mutual relation between linguistics and other disciplines, such as sociology, social anthropology, and education.

The endangered languages crisis is widely acknowledged among scholars who deal with languages and indigenous peoples as one of the most pressing problems facing humanity, posing moral, practical, and scientific issues of enormous proportions. Simply put, no area of the world is immune from language endangerment. The Oxford Handbook of Endangered Languages, in 39 chapters, provides a comprehensive overview of the efforts that are being undertaken to deal with this crisis. A comprehensive reference reflecting the breadth of the field, the Handbook presents in detail both the range of thinking about language endangerment and the variety of responses to it, and broadens understanding of language endangerment, language documentation, and language revitalization, encouraging further research. The Handbook is organized into five parts. Part 1, Endangered Languages, addresses the fundamental issues that are essential to understanding the nature of the endangered languages crisis. Part 2, Language Documentation, provides an overview of the issues and activities of concern to linguists and others in their efforts to record and document endangered languages. Part 3, Language Revitalization, includes approaches, practices, and strategies for revitalizing endangered and sleeping ("dormant") languages. Part 4, Endangered Languages and Biocultural Diversity, extends the discussion of language endangerment beyond its conventional boundaries to consider the interrelationship of language, culture, and environment, and the common forces that now threaten the sustainability of their diversity. Part 5, Looking to the Future, addresses a variety of topics that are certain to be of consequence in future efforts to document and revitalize endangered languages.