Barbarians at the Gate

Studies in Language Attitudes

Edited By: Patricia Donaher

£44.99

The study of language attitudes investigates how our beliefs about language shape racial issues, social policy, and cultural stereotypes. This volume examines four key intersections in language attitudes research: Authority, Affiliation, Authenticity, and Accommodation.

The study of language attitudes is the investigation of beliefs expressed about the nature of language and its diverse usages, how these attitudes came to…

The study of language attitudes is the investigation of beliefs expressed about the nature of language and its diverse usages, how these attitudes came to exist and persist, and how these attitudes shape social action and policy. Language attitude studies have illuminated our understanding of racial issues, social and economic stratification, cultural stereotypes, educational issues, folk linguistics, and, more recently, popular culture. This volume is an examination of four intersections in language attitudes research: Authority, Affiliation, Authenticity, and Accommodation. In each section, the contributors introduce new dimensions to the study of language attitudes while providing examples of the ways in which the study of language attitudes can continue to inform and shape our understanding of language diversity.

Patricia Donaher is Associate Professor of English at Missouri Western State University in Saint Joseph, Missouri, USA. She is the national area chair for language attitudes and popular linguistics for the Popular Culture Association. In addition to her scholarship in the area of language attitudes, she works in the field of popular literature and has recently co-authored, with James M. Okapal, an article on free will and determinism in the Harry Potter series in Reading Harry Potter Again (Giselle Liza Anatol, Editor; Praeger, 2009).

Amie A. Doughty, Alena Horn, Cynthia L. Jeney, Milford A. Jeremiah, Seth R. Katz, James Mitchell, Constance M. Ruzich, Susan Tamasi, Deborah Schaffer, Agnes Ragone

Hardback

ISBN: 1-4438-1703-1
ISBN13: 978-1-4438-1703-5
Date of Publication: 2010-11-09

Ebook

ISBN: 1-5275-5114-8
ISBN13: 978-1-5275-5114-5
Date of Publication: 2010-11-09

Category: Social Sciences, Language and Linguistics, Language and Linguistics

Pages: 305

Subject Codes:

BIC: CF, CFB, CBX
BISAC: LAN009050, LAN009040, LAN009000, LAN004000, SOC026000, SOC002010
THEMA: CF, CFB, CBX

Pages: 305

“It has been far too long since the last book with this breadth on this subject. There is something here for just about anyone who has an interest in language.
- The book is consistently well written. That is important because I believe it will engage a larger audience, including teachers who do not do (and those who do not trust) empirical research. I cannot emphasize this too much. Teachers (K-12 and college) need to constantly be reminded of facts about language. For most of my academic life, I taught a linguistics course for future teachers (for most, it was the only linguistics course taken). We read many of the works cited in this book, and the students worked on dialect and grammar problem sets; some even did research projects on dialect variance. But when I met those same students later, when they were teaching, many had reverted to the old attitudes of right/wrong. Not contextual right/wrong (e.g., style standards for journals or newspapers or even physics or linguistics professors) but absolute right/wrong. Bishop Lowth, John Simon, et al. paved easier roads to follow.

Barbarians at the Gate

Hardback

Ebook

Subject Codes:

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