Language, Society and Power: An IntroductionLinda Thomas, Shân Wareing This is the book for anyone who has ever wondered how language influences thought, how language impacts on our daily life, and how power is perpetuated through language. Written in a lively way and drawing on examples from everyday life, each chapter provides an introduction to a social or political issue in language study, such as: * language use in politics and the media * language use according to gender, ethnicity, age and class * how language affects and constructs our identities * the significance of our attitudes toward language use and our notions of correctness. The book contains numerous exercises, end of chapter summaries and a glossary of key terms. The authors encourage the reader to look beyond language as a form of information exchange and to consider the wider issues of the relationship between language and culture. Highly interdisciplinary, it will be essential for students of English language and linguistics from introductory or A-level upward. It is also of great relevance to students of media, communication, cultural studies, sociology and psychology. |
Contents
Chapter 1 What is language and what does it do? | 1 |
Chapter 2 Language thought and representation | 15 |
Chapter 3 Language and politics | 28 |
Chapter 4 Language and the media | 43 |
Chapter 5 Language and gender | 58 |
Chapter 6 Language and ethnicity | 74 |
Chapter 7 Language and age | 87 |
Chapter 8 Language and class | 104 |
Chapter 9 Language and identity | 121 |
Chapter 10 The standard English debate | 135 |
Chapter 11 Attitudes to language | 155 |
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| 184 | |
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Common terms and phrases
accent ACTIVITY American attitudes behaviour bomb Britain British British English broadcasting Chapter concept considered context cultural Daily Telegraph describe dialect discourse discussed elderly emphasise English Language ethnic identity ethnic majority example expressions extract further reading gender Gillian Shephard give grammar Guardian ideas ideology Implicature important kind label Labov language variety linguistic variation Lippi-Green London look means men’s Milroy modal auxiliary verb multiple negation negative newspaper Newspeak Nineteen Eighty-Four Ofsted particular people’s perceived perception person phrase political correctness position prestige variety pronoun pronunciation Received Pronunciation refer regional represent Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis sentence sexist Sinn Fein social class social group Society and Power sociolinguistic solidarity sound speak speakers speech community spoken standard English status stereotypes stigmatised style Suggestions for further talk television things topics Trudgill usage varieties of English verb vocabulary women words