James Slotta
Assistant Professor — Ph.D., University of Chicago

Contact
- E-mail: jslotta@utexas.edu
- Office: WCP 5.134
- Campus Mail Code: C3200
Interests
language and knowledge, political communication, epistemologies and politics, cultures of circulation, semantics-pragmatics interface; Melanesia, Papua New Guinea
Biography
Publications
Fleming, Luke and James Slotta. 2018. The pragmatics of kin address: A sociolinguistic universal and its semantic affordances. Journal of Sociolinguistics 22(4): 375-405. (https://doi.org/10.1111/josl.12304)
Cooperrider, Kensy, James Slotta, and Rafael Núñez. 2018. The preference for pointing with the hand is not universal. Cognitive Science. DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12585
Slotta, James. 2017. Can the subaltern listen? Self-determination and the provisioning of expertise in Papua New Guinea. American Ethnologist 44(2): 328-340.
Cooperrider, Kensy, James Slotta, and Rafael Núñez. 2017. Uphill and downhill in a flat world: The conceptual topography of the Yupno house. Cognitive Science 41: 768-799.
Slotta, James. 2016. Slang and the semantic sense of identity. Texas Linguistics Forum 59: 119-128.
Slotta, James. 2015. The perlocutionary is political: Listening as self-determination in a Papua New Guinean polity. Language in Society 44(4): 525-552.
Fleming, Luke and James Slotta. 2015. Named relations: A universal in the pragmatics of reference within the kin group. Proceedings of CLS 51, 165-179. Chicago: Chicago Linguistics Society.
Slotta, James. 2015. Phatic rituals of the liberal democratic polity: Hearing voices in the hearings of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Comparative Studies in Society and History 57(1): 130-160.
Slotta, James. 2014. Revelations of the world: Transnationalism and the politics of perception in Papua New Guinea. American Anthropologist 116(3): 626–642.
Cooperrider, Kensy, Rafael Núñez, and James Slotta. 2014. The protean pointing gesture: Variation in a building block of human communication. In P. Bello, M. Guarini, M. McShane, & B. Scassellati (Eds.), Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 355-360). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
Slotta, James. 2012. Dialect, trope, and enregisterment in a Melanesian speech community. Language & Communication 32: 1-13. doi:10.1016/j.langcom.2011.11.003
Courses
ANT 302 • Cultural Anthro-Honors-Wb
31830 • Spring 2021
Meets MW 1:00PM-2:30PM
Internet; Synchronous
GC
SB
ANT 391 • Rsch/Grant Proposal Writing-Wb
32235 • Spring 2021
Meets T 9:00AM-12:00PM
Internet; Synchronous
ANT 324L • Us Lang Diversity/Conflict-Wb
31108 • Fall 2020
Meets MW 2:30PM-4:00PM
Internet; Synchronous
CD
ANT 393 • Discourse Power Knowledge
31280 • Fall 2020
Meets T 2:00PM-5:00PM WCP 4.174
Hybrid/Blended
ANT 320L • Endangered Languages
31620 • Spring 2020
Meets MWF 2:00PM-3:00PM WCP 4.118
(also listed as LIN 373)
ANT 392N • Intro To Grad Ling Anthropol
31840 • Spring 2020
Meets F 9:00AM-12:00PM WCP 4.120
ANT 302 • Cultural Anthropology
30890-30915 • Fall 2019
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:00PM GAR 0.102
GC
SB
ANT 393 • Lang Variation/Style/Register
31310 • Fall 2019
Meets TH 9:00AM-12:00PM WCP 4.114
ANT 302 • Cultural Anthropology
31510-31535 • Fall 2018
Meets MW 3:00PM-4:00PM GAR 0.102
CD
SB
ANT 302 • Cultural Anthropology
30580-30615 • Spring 2018
Meets MW 11:00AM-12:00PM BEL 328
CD
SB
ANT 307 • Culture And Communication-Hon
30725 • Spring 2018
Meets MW 1:00PM-2:30PM SAC 4.118
CD
SB
ANT 302 • Cultural Anthropology
31190-31215 • Fall 2017
Meets MW 12:00PM-1:00PM CLA 0.126
CD
SB
ANT 320L • Polit/Polity/Power Of Words
31415 • Fall 2017
Meets MW 10:00AM-11:30AM SAC 4.118
ANT 302 • Cultural Anthropology-Honors
31115 • Spring 2017
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM SAC 4.118
CD
SB
ANT 320L • Lang Endangerment/Rights
31225 • Spring 2017
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM SAC 4.174
(also listed as LIN 373)
ANT 302 • Cultural Anthropology
30990-31025 • Fall 2016
Meets MW 2:00PM-3:00PM ART 1.102
CD
SB
ANT 307 • Culture And Communication
31120 • Fall 2016
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM CLA 0.112
CD
SB
(also listed as LIN 312C)
Publications
Fleming, Luke and James Slotta. 2018. The pragmatics of kin address: A sociolinguistic universal and its semantic affordances. Journal of Sociolinguistics 22(4): 375-405. (https://doi.org/10.1111/josl.12304)
Cooperrider, Kensy, James Slotta, and Rafael Núñez. 2018. The preference for pointing with the hand is not universal. Cognitive Science. DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12585
Slotta, James. 2017. Can the subaltern listen? Self-determination and the provisioning of expertise in Papua New Guinea. American Ethnologist 44(2): 328-340.
Cooperrider, Kensy, James Slotta, and Rafael Núñez. 2017. Uphill and downhill in a flat world: The conceptual topography of the Yupno house. Cognitive Science 41: 768-799.
Slotta, James. 2016. Slang and the semantic sense of identity. Texas Linguistics Forum 59: 119-128.
Slotta, James. 2015. The perlocutionary is political: Listening as self-determination in a Papua New Guinean polity. Language in Society 44(4): 525-552.
Fleming, Luke and James Slotta. 2015. Named relations: A universal in the pragmatics of reference within the kin group. Proceedings of CLS 51, 165-179. Chicago: Chicago Linguistics Society.
Slotta, James. 2015. Phatic rituals of the liberal democratic polity: Hearing voices in the hearings of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Comparative Studies in Society and History 57(1): 130-160.
Slotta, James. 2014. Revelations of the world: Transnationalism and the politics of perception in Papua New Guinea. American Anthropologist 116(3): 626–642.
Cooperrider, Kensy, Rafael Núñez, and James Slotta. 2014. The protean pointing gesture: Variation in a building block of human communication. In P. Bello, M. Guarini, M. McShane, & B. Scassellati (Eds.), Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 355-360). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
Slotta, James. 2012. Dialect, trope, and enregisterment in a Melanesian speech community. Language & Communication 32: 1-13. doi:10.1016/j.langcom.2011.11.003