Verbal Hygiene - Couverture souple

Cameron, Deborah

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 041510355X ISBN 13 : 9780415103558

Editeur : Routledge, 1995

Synopsis

In this book, Cameron explores popular attitudes towards language and examines the practices by which people attempt to regulate its use. She also argues that popular discourse about language values serves a function for those engaged in it.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

In this book Deborah Cameron takes a serious look at popular attitudes towards language and examines the practices by which people attempt to regulate its use. Instead of dismissing the practice of 'verbal hygiene', as a misguided and pernicious exercise, however, she argues that popular discourse about language values; good and bad, right and wrong, serves an important function for those engaged in it.
A series of case-studies deal with specific examples of verbal hygiene: the regulation of 'style' by editors, the teaching of English grammar in schools, the movements for and against so-called 'politically-correct' language and the recent explosion of advice to women on how they can speak more effectively. In each case she argues that verbal hygiene provides a way of making sense of linguistic phenomena, and that it represents a symbolic attempt to impose order on the social world.
Addressed to linguistics, professional language-users of all kinds, and to anyone interested in language and culture, Verbal Hygiene, calls for legitimate concerns about language and value to be discussed, by experts and lay-speakers alike, in a rational and critical spirit.

Biographie de l'auteur

Deborah Cameron is Professor of Language and Communication in the English Faculty of Oxford University. A sociolinguist and discourse analyst, she is the author of Good to Talk? (2000), On Language and Sexual Politics (2006) and The Myth of Mars and Venus (2007).

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Routledge
• Date d'édition: 1995
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 041510355X
• ISBN 13: 9780415103558
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 284
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible