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The Social Life of Words
A Historical Approach
Series: Language in Society
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The Social Life of Words
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
Ideal for upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and linguists interested in sociolinguistics, lexical semantics, English lexicology, and the historical development of modern English.
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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
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Description
A new approach to sociolinguistics, introducing the study of the social meaning of English words over time, and offering an engaging and entertaining demonstration of lexical sociolinguistic analysis.
The Social Life of Words: A Historical Approach explores the rise and fall of the social properties of words, charting ways in which they take on new social connotations. Written in an engaging narrative style, this entertaining text matches up sociolinguistic theory with social history and biography to discover which kind of people used what kind of word, where and when. Social factors such as class, age, race, region, gender, occupation, religion, and criminality are discussed in British and American English.
From familiar words such as popcorn, porridge, cafΓ©, to less common words like burgoo, califont, etna, and phrases like kiss me quick, monkey parade, slap-bang shop, The Social Life of Words demonstrates some of the many ways a new word or phrase can develop social affiliations. Detailed yet accessible chapters cover key areas of historical sociolinguistics, including concepts such as social networks, communities of practice, indexicality and enregisterment, prototypes and stereotypes, polysemy, onomasiology, language regard, lexical appropriation, and more. The first book to take a focused look at lexis as a topic for sociolinguistic analysis, The Social Life of Words:
- Introduces sociolinguistic theories and shows how they can be applied to the lexicon.
- Demonstrates how readers can apply sociolinguistic theory to their own analyses of words in English and other languages.
- Provides an engaging and amusing new look at many familiar words, inviting students to explore the sociolinguistic properties of words over time for themselves.
Part of Wiley Blackwellβs acclaimed Language in Society series, The Social Life of Words is essential reading for upper-level undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and linguists working in sociolinguistics, lexical semantics, English lexicology, and the history and development of modern English.
Series: Language in Society
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The Social Life of Words
A new approach to sociolinguistics, introducing the study of the social meaning of English words over time, and offering an engaging and entertaining demonstration of lexical sociolinguistic analysis. The Social Life of Words: A Historical Approach explores the rise and fall of the social properties of words, charting ways in which they take on new social connotations. Written in an...Paperback$8599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Forensic Linguistics
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Intercultural Communication
This newly revised edition is both a lively introduction and practical guide to the main concepts and challenges of intercultural communication. Grounded in interactional sociolinguistics and discourse analysis, this work integrates theoretical principles and methodological advice, presenting students, researchers, and practitioners with a comprehensive and unified resource. Intercultural Communication features new original theory and expanded treatment of generations, gender, and...Paperback$19000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
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Talk in Action examines the language, identity, and interaction of social institutions, introducing students to the research methodology of Conversation Analysis. Features: Focuses uniquely on real-world applications of CA by examining four institutional domains: calls to emergency numbers, doctor-patient interaction, courtroom trials, and mass communication. Provides a theoretical and methodological overview of the roots of CA, reviewing the main developments...Paperback$8399Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
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Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781119881032
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 22 December 2022
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Wiley-Blackwell
Contributors:
- Series edited by David Hornsby
Audience: Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 13.0mm
Width: 156.0mm
Height: 233.0mm
Weight: 369g
Pages: 224
About the Author
Laura Wright is a Professor of English Language at the University of Cambridge. She is a historical sociolinguist who tracks the social history of English. Her books include Sunnyside: A Sociolinguistic History of British House Names, The Multilingual Origins of Standard English, Southern English Varieties Then and Now, and Multilingual Practices in Language History: New Perspectives.
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