Paul V. Kroskrity (/ˈkrɒskrɪti/; born February 10, 1949) is an American linguistic anthropologist known primarily for his contributions to establishing and developing language ideology as a field of research.

[1] He is professor of anthropology, applied linguistics, and American Indian Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Voegelin inspired his interest in American Indian languages and suggested that he conduct research with the Arizona Tewa.

[10][11][12] Kroskrity's interest in the ideological dimension of language use and their relationship to linguistic structure, cultural identity, and ethnohistory can be traced to the beginning of his career.

[18] Associated with the highly valued religious domain, kiva speech embodies four cultural preferences: regulation by convention, indigenous purism, strict compartmentalization, and linguistic indexing of identity.

[21] In addition to research with the Arizona Tewa, Kroskrity has also worked with the Western Mono communities of central California since 1980.

In this context, the adoption of English items into the lexicon of Western Mono was welcomed rather than condemned, partly because the Western Mono language was never indexical or iconic of a unified ethnic identity, owing to internal differentiation; and partly because in colonial and post-colonial society, English was becoming increasingly useful.

He conducted "collaborative research" with Tewa and Western Mono informants long before the term became fashionable in anthropology.