Vox Popular: The Surprising Life of Language in the Media [Hardcover]

Our favorite movies and TV shows feature indelible characters who tell us about themselves not just in what they say but in how they say it. The creative decisions behind these voicessuch as what accent or dialect to useoffer rich data for sociolinguistic study. Ideal for students of language variation as well as general readers interested in media, Vox Popular is an engaging tour through the major issues of sociolinguistic study as heard in the voices from mass media.

?Provides readers with a unified and accessible picture of the interrelationships between language variation and the mass media

Presents detailed original analyses of multiple audiovisual media sources

?Includes a broad methods chapter covering quantitative and qualitative methods in a style not available in any other textbook

All theoretical terms are accessibly explained, with engaging examples, making it suitable for non-academics as well as undergraduate students

?Incorporates pedagogical textboxes throughout and includes sections dedicated to developing practical skills for the field

Preface and Acknowledgments vii

A Note on the Linguistic Conventions Used in Vox Popular x

Keywords Found in Each Chapter xiv

1 Language in a Mediated World 1

Mad Men in a Modern Family World 1

Why Does a Linguist Care about Mad Men or Modern Family? 3

Narrative Media as a Site for Linguistic Exploration 12

Language Variation in the Narrative Media 20

2 Exploring Language and Language Variation 25

Introduction 25

Languages and Dialects 27

The Components of a Grammar 32

All the Systems Work as a System 34