Language and Classification Meaning-Making in the Classification and Categorization of Ceramics Routledge Studies in Sociolinguistics Series

This volume adopts a practice-based approach to examine the different ways in which classification is communicated and negotiated in different environments within archaeology. The book looks specifically at the archaeological classification of ceramics as a lens through which to examine the discursive and social practices inherent in the classification and categorization process, with perspectives from such areas as corpus linguistics, discourse analysis, linguistic anthropology, and archaeology forming the foundation of the book?s theoretical framework. The volume then looks at the process of classification in practice in a variety of settings, including a university course on ceramics classification, an archaeological field school, an intensive petrography course, and archaeometry laboratory at a nuclear research reactor, and highlights participant observation and audiovisual data taken from fieldwork practice completed in these environments. This volume offers a valuable contribution to the growing literature on language and material culture, making this a key resource for students and scholars in sociolinguistic, anthropological linguistics, archaeology, discourse analysis, and anthropology.

1. Introduction: Negotiating Classification 2. Ceramics Classification 3. Teaching Classification: Classroom Typology 4. Classification in the Field: Historical Archaeology 5. Classification Down the Scope: Thin-Section Petrography 6. Classification Via Reactor: Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis 7. Classification as Personal Interpretation 8. Conclusion

Allison Burkette is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Mississippi. Her previous publications include Language and Material Culture (2015).