Living Memory investigates the complex question of language and its place at the heart of Bergamasco culture in northern Italy.

- Integrates extensive participant observation with sociolinguistic data collection
- Reveals the political and social dynamics of a national language (Italian) and a local dialect (Bergamasco) struggling for survival
- Introduces the original concept of the -social aesthetics of language- the interweaving of culturally-shaped and emotionally felt dimensions of language-choice
- Written to be accessible to students and specialists...

Language and Materiality integrates linguistic anthropological and sociolinguistic scholarship on a range of topics: semiotic approaches to language, language commodification, sound, embodiment, mediatization, and aesthetics. Empirically rigorous, the volume engages scholars and students interested in language, its use, and meanings. It consists of three sections - 'Texts, Objects, Mediality', 'Sound, Aesthetics, Embodiment', and 'Time, Place, Circulation' - containing chapters and short commentaries, framed by a curated conversation about semiotics and materiality in anthropology. Each...