Final answer:
Linguistic anthropology, a subfield of anthropology, examines language's role in culture and society, including sub-disciplines like sociolinguistics and studies of language origins and relativity.
Step-by-step explanation:
Linguistic anthropology is one of the four main subfields of anthropology, focusing on language as a central aspect of human sociocultural life. This area of study looks at how language impacts thought, shapes worldviews, and is integral in creating culture. Sub-disciplines within linguistic anthropology include sociolinguistics, which explores how language use varies with social factors like age, gender, and ethnicity; the study of language origins and its role in human evolution; and the examination of language relativity, or how language reflects and is shaped by environmental and cultural conditions.
Linguistic anthropologists engage in immersive, long-term research to understand the myriad ways language is used across different cultures for social action, such as in rituals, ceremonies, casual conversations, and even in the assertion of power and resistance against authority. They analyze various forms of speech and the social functions they serve within communities, like how 'chief speech' might be used by leaders, or specialized ceremonial language might facilitate cultural exchanges.