The Arizona Tewa are a Pueblo Indian group that migrated around 1700 to First Mesa on the Hopi Reservation and who, while speaking Hopi, have also retained their native language. Paul V. Kroskrity examines this curiosity of language and culture, explaining the various ways in which the Tewa use their linguistic resources to successfully adapt to the Hopi and their environment while retaining their native language and the cultural identity it embodies.

“Kroskrity has produced a fascinating book, technical enough for specialists in Puebloan language and culture—it is complete with intralinear translations—but accessible enough for other linguistic and cultural anthropologists. This is the kind of book that gives our discipline a good name.”­—American Anthropologist
 
“[Kroskrity’s] innovative studies break new ground in Pueblo Indian language studies. His suggestions for utilizing sociolinguistic concepts can be expected to yield more penetrating analyses of contact studies and of changing ethnic identities. His argument to shift the theoretical emphasis from one that focuses on homogeneity to one that focuses upon patterned group and individual variability should open new and more productive areas for anthropological linguistic research. Although Language, History, and Identity is about the Arizona Tewa, it is also about linguistic anthropology and the larger tradition of academic anthropology of which it is a part.”—Journal of Linguistic Anthropology
 
“Language, History, and Identity is an important work for students of the Pueblo cultures and a must-read for linguists interested in Native American languages as well as for anyone wanting to learn the discipline of linguistic anthropology.”—Studies in American Indian Literatures
 
“This book is an important contribution to the body of knowledge of Native American ethnolinguistics. It is detailed, thorough, and methodically organized . . . [with] an extensive bibliography. There is a breadth of data and theory not often found in an ethnolinguistic treatment of a single cultural group. In addition, Kroskrity frequently incorporates the Tewas’ opinions regarding their language, history, and culture. . . . Kroskrity has written a provocative study of a singular group of people.”—American Indian Quarterly
 
 “There is something of interest for those specializing in topics as diverse as historical linguistics, language contact, bilingualism, sociolinguistics, ethnography of communication, ethnopoetics, and cultural anthropology. . . . The volume sets a very high standard for ethnolinguistic studies in general and for Southwestern Native American language and culture studies in particular.”—Anthropological Lingustics
 
“[Kroskrity] provid[es] solid ethnohistorical, descriptive linguistic, and sociolinguistic analysis. He also presents an incisive critique of linguistic studies of the American Southwest and of ethnolinguistic theory and method as they have developed over the past four decades.”—Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
 
“A major achievement in ethnolinguistics. . . . Kroskrity’s prose is unusually clear and concise, a model of scholarly writing. . . . . . . I hope others will follow where Kroskrity has already gone.”—Language in Society
 
“This rich and well-written book should be read by those interested in Native American studies, by sociolinguists, and by those who study ethnicity. Indeed, it would make an excellent text in courses focusing on any of those areas.”—American Scientist