This book examines the ways in which the media represents language-related issues, but also how the media's use of language is central to the construction of what people think language is, could or ought to be like. The chapters examine issues of identity, gender, youth, citizenship, politics and ideology across a range of media, including television, radio, newspapers, magazines and the internet. The result is a multilingual survey of the construction of language in and by the media that will be essential reading for students and researchers of sociolinguistics or language and communication. Since the emergence of sociolinguistics as a new field of enquiry in the late 1960s, research into the relationship between language and society has advanced almost beyond recognition. In particular, the past decade has witnessed the considerable influence of theories drawn from outside of sociolinguistics itself. Thus rather than see language as a mere reflection of society, recent work has been increasingly inspired by ideas drawn from social, cultural, and political theory that have emphasised the constitutive role played by language/discourse in all areas of social life. "The Advances in Sociolinguistics" series seeks to provide a snapshot of the current diversity of the field of sociolinguistics and the blurring of the boundaries between sociolinguistics and other domains of study concerned with the role of language in society.

This book not only examines the ways in which the media represents language-related issues, but also how the media's use of language is central to the construction of what people think language is, could or ought to be like.

About the Author
Sally Johnson is Professor and Head of the Department of Linguistics and Phonetics, University of Leeds. Astrid Ensslin is a Lecturer in New Media at the University of Wales Bangor

Reviews
"...consistently reflects its authors' ability to meld fresh empirical study to thought-provoking analytical and theoretical insight vis-a-vis the intersections between media representations of language issues and larger societal understandings of these issues...Adam Jaworski concludes the volume with a reflective chapter (Chapter 14) entitled 'Language in the media: Authenticity and othering'. Jaworski notes the ways in which many of the volume's chapters display a growing self-reflexivity among researchers of language. Given the clear critical orientation of most of the volume's authors, the seems an apt observation with which to conclude Language in the Media." Journal of Sociolinguistics 13/4. 2009
"This is not just another book on media language. In a sophisticated, original and sharply critical way, it shows us how the media lens gives language distinctive forms and values. Sociolinguistics comes of age when it analyses the mediation of language - a truly contemporary phenomenon. That is what this book achieves, comprehensively and brilliantly." - Professor Nikolas Coupland, Centre for Language and Communication Research, Cardiff University, UK -- Professor Nikolas Coupland, Centre for Language and Communication Research, Cardiff University, UK
"The book Language in the Media...exhibits several underlying linking qualities that give the book a desirable level of coherence, which is also enhanced formally by the fact that there is only one bibliographical section at the end of the book. The book is not the typical book on language and the media...it focuses on very specific and ideology-connoted aspects of the relationship of language and media, but at the same time it will no doubt draw the attention of readers from a wide range of research perspectives, including pragmatics, (critical) discourse analysis, ethnological approaches, etc...the book is invaluable and no doubt offers interesting insights in a field on which so much has been published already." - Francisco Yus, The Linguist List, November 3, 2008 -- Francisco Yus * Linguist List, The *



Book Information
ISBN 9780826495495
Author Professor Sally Johnson
Format Paperback
Page Count 328
Imprint Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 500g