First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Language, Society and Power is the essential introductory text to studying language in a variety of social contexts. This book examines the ways language functions, how it influences thought and how it varies according to age, ethnicity, class and gender. It considers whether representations of people and their language matter, explores how identity is constructed and performed, and considers the creative potential of language in the media, politics and everyday talk. This fourth edition has been completely revised to include recent developments in theory and research and offers the following features: A range of new and engaging international examples drawn from everyday life – including material from social media and newspapers, cartoons, YouTube and television. Two new chapters which cover Linguistic Landscapes, including signs, graffiti and the internet; and Global Englishes, exploring variation in and attitudes to English around the world Updated and expanded student research projects and further reading sections for each chapter Brand new companion website that includes video and audio clips, links to articles and further reading for students and professors. Language, Society and Power is a must-read for students of English language and linguistics, media, communication, cultural studies, sociology and psychology.

Language is the core of human culture - anthropologists have always put it at the centre of their agenda. So too have many linguists. The amalgam of the two disciplines, anthropological linguistics, aims to document and examine how language mirrors social structure and culture-specific thought patterns. Language, Society, and Culture provides a concrete method for studying the relation between language and society. Intended for use in introductory-level courses in linguistics that adopt a cultural focus, this text is also suitable for supplementary use in more theoretical linguistics courses. Written in Danesi's accessible and engaging style, highlighting the fascinating and vital work going on in anthropological linguistics, this book will also appeal to a broad audience of language students, scholars, and enthusiasts.

Language, Society, and New Media uses an interdisciplinary approach, integrating frameworks from sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology and emerging strands of research on language and new media, to demonstrate the relationship between language, society, thought, and culture to students with little to no background in linguistics. Couched in this integrative "e-sociolinguistic" approach, each chapter covers the significant topics in this area, including language structures, language and cognition, and language variation and change, to elucidate this relationship, while also extending the purview of the field to encompass forms of new media, including Facebook and Twitter. Discussions are supported by a wealth of pedagogical features, including sidebars, activities and assignments, and a comprehensive glossary. In Language, Society, and New Media, Marcel Danesi explores the dynamic connections between language, society, thought, and culture and how they continue to evolve in today’s rapidly changing digital world, ideal for students in introductory courses in sociolinguistics, language and culture, and linguistic anthropology.

Using Taiwan as a case study, this book constructs an innovative theory of a political sociology of language. Through documentary and ethnographic data and a comparative-historical method the book illustrates how language mediates interactions between society and the state and becomes politicized as a result; how language, politics and power are intertwined processes; and how these processes are not isolated in institutions but socially embedded.

The book explores the change over time in language-society relations in a multilingual periphery of Egypt. It examines the role of language ideologies in the construction and negotiation of social identities in the processes of contact, maintenance and shift typical of multilingualism. Based on extensive fieldwork and interviews, it is the first of its kind to portray the inventory of linguistic and accompanying non-linguistic behaviors observed within and between different ethnolinguistic groups in the Siwa Oasis. It provides first-hand information about the linguistic habits of Siwan women, an aspect which is generally difficult to access in this gender-segregated community. The book sheds light on Berber-Arabic contact at the core of the Arab world and at a critical time when individual linguistic repertoires are expanding and Arabic is emerging as a powerful resource.

Africa’s diversity is best illustrated linguistically. Thousands of endogenous and exogenous languages are linked to and central to the identity and reality of Africans. Language is a vital lens for analyzing these multifaceted challenges in Africa, where a deeper understanding of the entire linguistic landscape is germane to understanding sociopolitical and cultural systems. Concentrating on instrumental and emblematic functions of language in Africa, Language, Society, and Empowerment in Africa and Its Diaspora argues for the critical value of African languages beyond functionality into philosophical consideration of their importance for African unity and advancement. Akinloyè Òjó calls for the development and empowerment of African languages to serve in various domains, including the support of basic literacy and daily survival of their users. Òjó propagates ways to empower African languages for African sociocultural and economic development in the twenty-first century. The author productively engages works by linguists and language pedagogues to provide an ardent case for the empowerment of African languages in the renewed era of globalization, the internet, and an emergent Global Africa. Òjó posits and accentuates some of the notable modalities for empowering African languages in specialized domains for national and continental development.

This book presents findings in the field of geolinguistics. It outlines the opportunities and tensions facing linguistic minorities and offers a synthesis of the complex relationship between territorial identity, social change and economic development in multilingual societies.