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Look Inside Language and Identity

Language and Identity
An introduction

Part of Key Topics in Sociolinguistics

Author: John Edwards, St Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia

Date Published: September 2009
availability: Available
format: Paperback
isbn: 9780521696029

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About the Authors

The language we use forms an important part of our sense of who we are - of our identity. This book outlines the relationship between our identity as members of groups - ethnic, national, religious and gender - and the language varieties important to each group. What is a language? What is a dialect? Are there such things as language 'rights'? Must every national group have its own unique language? How have languages, large and small, been used to spread religious ideas? Why have particular religious and linguistic 'markers' been so central, singly or in combination, to the ways in which we think about ourselves and others? Using a rich variety of examples, the book highlights the linkages among languages, dialects and identities, with special attention given to religious, ethnic and national allegiances.
- An essential guide to one of the central topics in the study of language and society
- A helpful aid to understanding identity in general, and linguistic elements in particular
- Presents the latest insights from research carried out in recent years
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Reviews & endorsements
'Written in a truly interdisciplinary spirit, this rich, lucid and irreverent book on language, culture and politics is bound to win admirers across the humanities and social sciences. Very readable, highly enjoyable, deeply enlightening.' Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo
'This wide-reaching book is of admirable clarity in presenting diverse, complex issues … Edward's opinions … are clearly explained and reasoned in relation to the scholarly literature and would certainly serve to generate lively debate in a classroom setting and interest scholars of nationalism seeking an introduction to related aspects of sociolinguistics.' Nations and Nationalism
'This volume gives a full overview of key issues, trends and research relating to its title Language and Identity in the following areas: personal identity (both individual and group), language and dialect, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationalism, and language planning and ecology. As such, it provides a useful textbook for students, with study questions and further reading at the end of each chapter.' Carol Sanders, Professor Emeritus, University of Surrey
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Product details
- Date Published: September 2009
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521696029
- length: 324 pages
- dimensions: 216 x 139 x 15 mm
- weight: 0.45kg
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Identity, the individual and the group
3. Identifying ourselves
4. Language, dialect and identity
5. Dialect and identity: beyond standard and non-standard
6. Language, religion and identity
7. Language, gender and identity
8. Ethnicity and nationalism
9. Assessments of nationalism
10. Language and nationalism
11. Language planning and language ecology.
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Instructors have used or reviewed this title for the following courses
- Academic Language and Discourse
- Aspects of Sociolinguistics
- Business Communications
- Diversity and the American Experience
- Gender, Language, and Identity
- Interaction and identity
- Introduction to Language Study
- Introduction to Sociolinguistics
- Introduction to the English Language/History of the English Language
- Language Contact and Conflict
- Language and Identity in the Middle East and North Africa
- Language and social identity
- Language construction and social identiy
- Language, Culture, and Society
- Language, Gender, and Identity
- Language, Ideology and Power
- Language, culture, performance, interaction
- Linguistic Diversity and Literacy
- Processing spoken language
- Rhetoric and Identity
- Semantics, Identity, and Discourse
- Seminar in Reading
- Social Dialects
- Sociolinguistics & Identities
- Sociolinguistics in Education
- Spanish Dialectology and Social Identity
- Spanish Sociolinguistics
- Theory and Policy in Second language acquistion
- Undergraduate seminar in linguistic anthropology
- language planning
Author
John Edwards, St Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia
John Edwards is Professor of Psychology at St Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia. His previous publications include Language in Canada (Cambridge, 1998).