Linguistic Anthropology  
                  Linguistic anthropology is a branch of anthropology that studies the role of 
                  language in  the  social  lives  of  individuals  and  communities. Linguistic 
                  anthropology  explores  how  language  shapes  communication.  Language 
                  plays  a  huge  role  in  social  identity,  group  membership,  and  establishing 
                  cultural beliefs and ideologies. 
                  Linguistic  anthropologists  have  ventured  into  the  study  of  everyday 
                  encounters,     language     socialization,    ritual   and    political    events, 
                  scientific discourse,    verbal    art,   language     contact    and    language 
                  shift, literacy events,  and media.—Alessandro  Duranti,  ed.  "Linguistic 
                  Anthropology: A Reader" 
                  So, unlike linguists, linguistic anthropologists do not look at language alone, 
                  language is viewed as interdependent with culture and social structures. 
                  According  to  Pier  Paolo  Giglioli  in  "Language  and  Social  Context," 
                  anthropologists  study  the  relation  between  worldviews,  grammatical 
                  categories and semantic fields, the influence of speech on socialization and 
                  personal  relationships,  and  the  interaction  of  linguistic  and  social 
                  communities. 
                  In  this  case,  linguistic  anthropology  closely  studies those  societies  where 
                  language defines a culture or society. For example, in New Guinea, there is a 
                  tribe of indigenous people who speak one language. It is what makes that 
                  people  unique.  It  is  its  "index"  language.  The  tribe  may  speak  other 
                  languages from New Guinea, but this unique language gives the tribe its 
                  cultural identity. 
                  Linguistic anthropologists may also take an interest in language as it relates 
                  to socialization. It can be applied to infancy, childhood, or a foreigner being 
                  enculturated. The anthropologist would likely study a society and the way 
                  that language is used to socialize its young.  
                  In terms of a language's effect on the world, the rate of spread of a language 
                  and its influence on a society or multiple societies is an important indicator 
                  that  anthropologists  will  study.  For  example,  the  use  of  English  as  an 
                  international language can have wide-ranging implications for the world's 
                  societies. This can be compared to the effects of colonization or imperialism 
       and the import of language to various countries, islands, and continents all 
       over the world. 
       Anthropological Linguistics  
       A closely related field (some say, exactly the same field), anthropological 
       linguistics, investigates the relationship between language and culture from 
       the linguistics perspective. According to some, this is a branch of linguistics. 
       This may differ from linguistic anthropology because linguists will focus 
       more  on  the  way  words  are  formed, for  example,  the  phonology  or 
       vocalization of the language to semantics and grammar systems. 
       For  example,  linguists  pay  close  attention  to  "code-switching,"  a 
       phenomenon that occurs when two or more languages are spoken in a region 
       and  the  speaker  borrows  or  mix  the  languages  in  normal  discourse.  For 
       example, when a person is speaking a sentence in English but completes his 
       or  her  thought  in  Spanish  and the listener  understands  and  continues the 
       conversation in a similar way. 
       A linguistic anthropologist may be interested in code-switching as it affects 
       the society and evolving culture, but will not tend to focus on the study of 
       code-switching, which would be more of an interest to the linguist.  
       Sociolinguistics  
       Very similarly, sociolinguistics, considered another subset of linguistics, is 
       the study of how people use language in different social situations. 
       Sociolinguistics includes the study of dialects across a given region and an 
       analysis  of  the  way  some  people  may  speak  to  each  other  in  certain 
       situations,  for  example,  at  a  formal  occasion,  slang  between  friends  and 
       family, or the manner of speaking that may change based on the gender 
       roles. Additionally, historical sociolinguists will examine language for shifts 
       and changes that occur over time to a society. For example, in English, a 
       historical sociolinguistic will look at when "thou" shifted and was replaced 
       by the word "you" in the language timeline. 
       Like dialects, sociolinguists will examine words that are unique to a region 
       like a regionalism. In terms of American regionalisms, a "faucet" is used in 
       the  North,  whereas,  a  "spigot"  is  used  in  the  South.  Other  regionalism 
       includes  frying  pan/skillet;  pail/bucket;  and  soda/pop/coke.  Sociolinguists 
       may also study a region, and look at other factors, such as socio-economic 
       factors that may have played a role as to how language is spoken in a region.