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RR 2016/229 The Routledge Handbook of Language and Culture Edited by Farzad Sharifian Routledge London and New York 2015 xv + 522 pp. ISBN 978 0 415 52701 9 (print); ISBN 978 1 315 79399 3 (e-book) £150 $240 Routledge Handbooks
It may be a truism but one worth repeating: language is central to all human activities. It is a product of human biology and psychology, which both shapes culture and, in turn, is shaped by it. Given language's ubiquity, it is not surprising its study should be of interest to so many in so many different fields.
There is no shortage of books on language and culture in the market; they are of different quality and aimed at different audiences. However, The Routledge Handbook of Language and Culture (RHLC ), masterfully edited by Farzad Sharifian, is a first for its comprehensiveness on the relationship between language and culture. The volume contains contributions by leading scholars from different theoretical and disciplinary backgrounds and is likely to become a classic for students and researchers.
The RHLC consists of 33 chapters, which cover areas such as sociolinguistics and cultural, psychological, cognitive and linguistic anthropology, illustrating the historical development of each discipline, its current theoretical positioning, practice and research, as well as the potential for future research. The handbook has a practical orientation, in that it shows readers how the insights it discusses can be applied to areas such as second language teaching and learning and intercultural communication, to name only three.
The RHLC is divided into seven parts:
1. Overview and Historical Background;
2. Ethnolinguistics;
3. Studies of Language and Culture;
4. Language, Culture, and Cognition;
5. Research on Language and Culture in Related Disciplines/Sub-Disciplines;
6. Language and Culture in Applied Domains; and
7. Cultural Linguistics: Past, Present, and Future Directions.
Part One opens with a highly informative, yet remarkably succinct and accessible, overview of the handbook and the discipline of language and culture by the editor. This is especially useful for those new to the field but will also be appreciated by more expert readers. Chapter Two, by John Leavitt, is a good introduction to the concept of linguistic relativity from the time of Edward Sapir, and thus discusses the famous but often misunderstood and...