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A fun entrance point to linguistics, this accessible book uses online cat discourse to introduce a wide range of concepts.
After conquering the Internet, cats are now taking on linguistics! Since the advent of social media, cats have become a topic central to online communication, and the multitude of cat-related accounts now online has made this a world-wide phenomenon. Through cat-inspired varieties of language, we have developed a genre of cat-inspired vocabulary. And on our special social media accounts for our cats, we take on their identities, as we post, write, talk, and chat - as our feline friends. This innovative book provides linguistic analyses of the cyber 'Cativerse', exploring online language variation, and explaining key linguistic concepts – all through the lens of cat-related communication. Each chapter explores a different sociolinguistic phenomena, drawing on fun and engaging examples including memes, hashtags, captions and 'LOLcats', from platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Innovative yet accessible, it is catnip for all 'hoomans' interested in how language is used online.
Why do certain words make us blush or wince? Why do men and women really speak different languages? Why do nursery rhymes in vastly different societies possess similar rhyme and rhythm patterns? What do slang, riddles and puns secretly have in common? This erudite yet irresistibly readable book examines the game of language: its players, strategies, and hidden rules. Drawing on the most fascinating linguistic studies—and touching on everything from the Marx Brothers to linguistic sexism, from the phenomenon of glossolalia to Apache names for automobile parts—Word Play shows what really happens when people talk, no matter what language they happen to be using.
A unique collection of original essays by 21 of the world's leading linguists. The topics discussed focus on some of the most popular myths about language: The Media Are Ruining English; Children Can't Speak or Write Properly Anymore; America is Ruining the English Language. The tone is lively and entertaining throughout and there are cartoons from Doonesbury andThe Wizard of Id to illustrate some of the points. The book should have a wide readership not only amongst students who want to read leading linguists writing about popular misconceptions but also amongst the large number of people who enjoy reading about language in general.
Slip of the Tongue is a love letter to words and the myriad and contradictory ways we use them. Author Katie Haegele is a respected memoirist who makes sense of the world around her by looking at the ways we use language: to communicate, to make art, and simply to survive. She takes us through her life by describing her family’s rich linguistic history and her own coming of age as a feminist and an artist, and introduces us to her hometown of Philadelphia, a city lively with graffiti, poetry, and the remnants of its colonial heritage. She connects history to the present with research, interviews, and musings on digital technology and the contemporary state of the English language. Slip of the Tongue, a book as brainy as it is heart-warming, is a celebration of that humanity in all its complicated beauty. Haegele's tone is personal and conversational—she is able to explore her subjects with both intellectual vigor and a lot of heart. Her memoir takes a usually inaccessible academic subject of linguistic and joyfully breaks it open for all of us to see and marvel at.
This book asks how we—as citizens, immigrants, activists, teachers—can counter the abuse of language in our midst. How can we take back the power of language from those who flaunt that power to silence or erase us and our fellows? In search of answers, Linguistic Disobedience recalls ages and situations that made critiquing, correcting, and caring for language essential for survival. From turn-of-the-twentieth-century Central Europe to the miseries of the Third Reich, from the Movement for Black Lives to the ongoing effort to decolonize African languages, the study and practice of linguistic disobedience have been crucial. But what are we to do today, when reactionary supremacists and authoritarians are screen-testing their own forms of so-called disobedience to quash oppositional social justice movements and their languages? Blending lyric essay with cultural criticism, historical analysis, and applied linguistics, Linguistic Disobedience offers suggestions for a hopeful pathway forward in violent times.
With examples of conversation, this book is a lively account of social and intellectual import of everyday talk about language.
"'I can't even speak my own language,' were the words overheard in a collage staffroom that triggered the writing of this book. Calling something 'my own' implies a personal, proprietorial relationship with it. But how can it be your own if you cannot speak it?The Cultural Memory of Language looks at unintended monolingualism - a lack of language fluency in a migratory cultural situation where two or more languages exist at 'home'. It explores family history and childhood language acquisition and attrition. What is the present everday experience of language use and life between two cultures? Examining interview data, Samata uncovers a sense of inauthenticity felt by people who do not fully share a parent's first language. Alongside this features a sense of concurrent anger, and a need to assign blame. Participation in the language, even to the extent of phatic or formulaic phraseology, occasions feelings of authentic linguistic and cultural inclusion. The book thus uncovers appreciable (and measurable) benefits in positive self-image and a sense of well-being. Looking at how people view language is essential - how they view the language they call their own is even more important and this book does just that in a qualified applied linguistic environment."--
How do today's teenagers talk? What are the distinguishing features of their style of language, and what do they tell us about the English language more generally? Drawing on a huge corpus of examples collected over a fifteen-year period, Sali A. Tagliamonte undertakes a detailed study of adolescents' language and argues that it acts as a 'bellwether' for the future of the English language. Teenagers are often accused of 'lowering the standards' of the English language by the way they talk and text. From spoken words - 'like', 'so', 'just', and 'stuff' - to abbreviated expressions used online, this fascinating book puts young people's language under the microscope, examining and demystifying the origins of new words, and tracking how they vary according to gender, geographical location, and social circumstances. Highly topical and full of new insights, the book is essential reading for anyone interested in how teenagers talk.
