The Workings of Language: From Prescriptions to Perspectives

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The essays in this book help to make sense of the workings of language in our everyday worldon the personal, local, national, and international levels. The authors are all linguists, seeking to help readers free themselves of language prejudices, thus opening the way to better informed views on the function of language in society, a more balanced treatment in schools, and more linguistically-sound public policies. Defusing Chicken-Little prognostications about English, this volume suggests that dark claims about language are not to be taken at face value. Instead, these claims function as a signal: time to step back. Offering just such a time-out, eminent linguists explore the fuller picture underlying language in our society, examining prescriptivism, Black English, Ozark English, American Sign Language, English-Only, and Endangered Languages. After helping stomp out such linguistic fires, the linguists showcase the potent workings of language: world englishes, language and politics, media, prejudice, creativity, gender, and humor, thus opening the way to better informed views on the function of language in schools, and more linguistically sound public policies.

Reviews

"The gap between the results of linguistic research and commonly held views about language seems to widen almost daily. Drawing on topics of immediate public interest--like Ebonics and the differences in communication styles between men and women--The Workings of Language: From Prescriptions to Perspectives attempts to build a bridge across the chasm....[It] will...serve as a welcome addition to the syllabus of any instructor whose responsibility it is to teach the English language and linguistics courses."-Susan Steele Vice Provost University of Connecticut

Author Bio

REBECCA S. WHEELER teaches writing, grammar, and linguistics in the English Department at Christopher Newport University in Virginia.