Language, Society and Power

Annabelle Mooney is Emerita Professor of Language and Society at the University of Roehampton, UK. Betsy Evans is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Washington, USA.

"This edition of Language, Society and Power is up to date with current developments in society that impact issues of power and ideology. It involves the reader – tutors and students alike – in an analysis of these developments, sucks them in to explore their in-ward understanding of language issues." – Ayo Amuda, University of South Wales, UK"Language, Society and Power contains a balanced and very accessible coverage of the core concepts of sociolinguistics, illustrated through carefully chosen and meticulously discussed data. It is a must for students and everyone interested in understanding and analysing how we use language in our societies." – Irene Theodoropoulou, Qatar University

• ContentsList of FiguresList of ImagesList of TablesTranscription ConventionsPreface to the Sixth EditionAcknowledgementsChapter 1 Language?1.1 Introduction1.2 Why Study Language?1.3 What Is Language?1.3.1 Language: A System1.3.2 Language: A System with Variation1.3.3 The Potential to Create New Meanings1.4 The ‘Rules’ of Language: Prescription Versus Description1.5 Power1.5.1 Ideology1.6 ‘Political Correctness’1.7 SummaryFurther Reading Chapter 2 Language, Thought and Representation2.1 Introduction2.2 Language as a System of Representation2.2.1 Different Kinds of Language2.2.2 Signs and Structure2.3 Linguistic Diversity2.3.1 Semantics2.3.2 Syntax2.4 The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis2.4.1 Linguistic Relativism and Determinism2.4.2 Numbers, Things, and Animals2.5 One Language, Many Worlds2.6 A Model for Analysing Language 2.6.1 Lexical Choices2.6.2 Transitivity2.7 SummaryFurther Reading Chapter 3 Language and Politics3.1 Introduction3.2 What is ‘Politics’?3.3 Politics and Ideology3.4 Three Persuasive Strategies: Logos, Pathos, Ethos3.5 Biscuits are Political?: Introducing Linguistic Tools3.6 Climate Change and Political Discourse3.7 Language, Ideology, and Metaphor3.7.1 Student as Customer3.8 Twitter and Political Agency3.9 Silly Citizenship3.9.1 Jorts the Cat3.9.2 ‘K-Pop and TikTok3.10 SummaryFurther ReadingChapter 4 Language and the Media4.1 Introduction4.2 Mass Media4.3 The Changing Context4.3.1 Structure4.3.2 Who is Producing Content?4.4 Manufacture of Consent4.4.1 Filtering the Facts4.5 News Values4.5.1 Actors and Events4.6 New News Values4.7 Who is the Expert; Who is the Author?4.8 Fake News4.8.1 ‘Fake news’ as Delegitimising Accusation4.8.2 Fabricated News Reports to Misinform4.8.3 Fabricated News Reports to Entertain4.8.4 Comedy News Shows4.9 SummaryFurther Reading Chapter 5 Linguistic Landscapes5.1 Introduction5.2 Defining the Linguistic Landscape5.2.1 Space and Meaning5.2.2 Different Kinds of Signs5.2.3 'Top-down' and 'Bottom-up' as a Continuum5.3 Signs and Multilingualism and Power5.3.1 Invisible Language5.4 Signs and Ideology5.5 Transgressive Signs: Graffiti5.6 Surveillance5.7 Online Landscapes5.7.1 Twitter5.7.2 Instagram5.7.3 Memes5.8 SummaryFurther Reading Chapter 6 Language and Gender6.1 Introduction6.2 What is Gender?6.3 Inequality at the Lexical Level6.3.1 Marked Terms6.3.2 Semantic Derogation6.3.3 Pronouns6.4 Differences in Language Use: Doing Being a ‘Woman’ or A ‘Man’6.4.1 Tag Questions6.5 Gossip6.5.1 Gossip and Men 6.5.2 Features of Men’s Talk6.6 Gender and Power6.6.1 Do Women Talk More than Men?6.6.2 Gender or Power?6.6.3 Intersectionality6.7 Gendered Talk: Performing Identity6.7.1 Mate6.7.2 Variation6.8 SummaryFurther Reading Chapter 7 Language and Ethnicity7.1 Introduction7.2 What Do We Mean By ‘Ethnicity’?7.3 Racism and Representations of Ethnicity 7.3.1 Representations of Race7.3.2 Racism Online7.3.3 Reclaiming Terms7.4 Ethnicity and Language Variation7.4.1 Ethnolect or Repertoire?7.4.2 African American Language7.5 Ethnicity and Identity7.5.1 Situated Ethnicity7.6 Consequences for Ethnolinguistic Repertoires7.6.1 Australian Aboriginal English7.6.2 Sociolinguistic Labour7.9 SummaryFurther Reading Chapter 8 Language and Age8.1 Introduction8.2 What do We Mean by 'Age'?8.3 Early Life Stage8.3.1 Language Used to Talk to Children8.4 Adolescent Life Stage8.4.1 What Teenagers Do8.4.2 Multiple Negation8.4.3 ‘Like’ as a Discourse Marker8.4.4 Changes to Morphology8.5 Middle Life Stage8.5.1 Thanks Across the Generations8.6 Later Life Stage8.6.1 Representations of Older People 8.6.2 Self-representation of Older People8.6.3 Language Used to Talk to Older People8.6.4 Learning to Use the Internet8.7 The Creep of Ageism8.7.1 OK Boomer and Bla, Bla, Bla8.8 SummaryFurther Reading Chapter 9 Language, Class and Symbolic Capital9.1 Introduction9.2 What is Social Class?9.3 Attitudes to Class9.3.1 Social Class as Other9.3.2 Representations of Social Class9.3.3 Pittsburghese9.4 Linguistic Variation9.4.1 New York City9.4.2 Norwich9.4.3 Glasgow9.5 Intersection of Social Class and Other Variables9.5.1 Social Class and Gender9.6 Social Networks9.7 Communities of Practice9.8 Symbolic Capital9.9 Revising the British Social Class Model9.9.1 Power and Access to Symbolic Capital9.9.2 Capital in the Global South 9.10 SummaryFurther Reading Chapter 10 Global Englishes10.1 Introduction10.2 What Does Global English Mean?10.3 Learning English10.3.1 Two Models10.3.2 ‘Lingua Franca Core’10.4 ‘Singlish’10.5 Indian English10.6 Linguistic Marketplace10.6.1 Call Centres and English10.7 Linguistic Imperialism10.8 What do Language Varieties Mean in the Global Context?10.8.1 Language Repertoires10.8.2 Discourse in Advertising and Linguistic Landscapes10.9 SummaryFurther Reading Chapter 11 Projects11.1 Introduction11.2 Things to Bear in Mind with Data Collection11.2.1 What is 'Data'?11.2.2 Transcribing11.2.3 Data Analysis11.3 ProjectsProject 1 – Mini DictionaryProject 2 – Political TextsProject 3 – Your Own Many VoicesProject 4 – Conversational PoliticsProject 5 – Expertise in the MediaProject 6 – Representation of GenderProject 7 – Titles Around the WorldProject 8 – IdentityProject 9 – Digital DetoxProject 10 – Little Bits of DataProject 11 – Children’s TelevisionProject 12 – Texts and Social MediaProject 13 – Linguistic LandscapesProject 14 – Political Agency11.4 Research Resources11.4.1 Where to Find Published Research11.4.2 Other Resources Further Reading Works CitedIndex