The Workings of Language: From Prescriptions to PerspectivesThe essays in this book help to make sense of the workings of language in our everyday world--on the personal, local, national, and international levels. The authors are all linguists, seeking to help readers free themselves of language prejudices, thus opening the way to better informed views on the function of language in society, a more balanced treatment in schools, and more linguistically-sound public policies. Defusing Chicken-Little prognostications about English, this volume suggests that dark claims about language are not to be taken at face value. Instead, these claims function as a signal: time to step back. Offering just such a time-out, eminent linguists explore the fuller picture underlying language in our society, examining prescriptivism, Black English, Ozark English, American Sign Language, English-Only, and Endangered Languages. After helping stomp out such linguistic fires, the linguists showcase the potent workings of language: world englishes, language and politics, media, prejudice, creativity, gender, and humor, thus opening the way to better informed views on the function of language in schools, and more linguistically sound public policies. |
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Contents
The Language Mavens | 3 |
North American Varieties of English as Byproducts of Population Contacts | 15 |
African American Vernacular English Is Not Standard English with Mistakes | 39 |
Home Speech as Springboard to School Speech Oaklands Commendable Work on Ebonics | 59 |
Southern Mountain English The Language of the Ozarks and Southern Appalachia | 67 |
On the Other Hand American Sign Language Signed Englishes and Other Visual Language Systems | 81 |
Englishes Englishonly and Languages in Danger of Extinction | 89 |
From Out in Left Field? Thats Not Cricket Finding a Focus for the Language Curriculum | 91 |
Language and Politics Prejudice the Media Creativity Humor and Gender | 137 |
Metaphor Morality and Politics Or Why Conservations Have Left Liberals in the Dust | 139 |
Language as a Weapon of Hate | 157 |
Language and the News Media Five Facts about the Fourth Estate | 165 |
Life on Marks Language and the Instruments of Invention | 181 |
Laughing at and Laughing with The Linguistics of Humor and Humor in Literature | 201 |
Women and Men in Conversation | 211 |
Breaking Mythical Bonds African American Womens Language | 217 |
Other editions - View all
The Workings of Language: From Prescriptions to Perspectives Rebecca S. Wheeler Limited preview - 1999 |
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References to this book
Language in the Schools: Integrating Linguistic Knowledge Into K-12 Teaching Kristin E. Denham,Anne C. Lobeck No preview available - 2005 |