Words Matter - Meaning and Power

History and current affairs show that words matter - and change - because they are woven into our socio-political lives.

List of contents

Getting Started; 1. Labeling: "What are you, anyway?"; 2. Marking/Erasing: "Instead of saying 'normal Americans', you can just say 'Americans'"; 3. Generalizing: "All the Women were White, All the Blacks were Men, but Some of Us were Brave"; 4. Addressing: "All right, my man...keep your hands on the steering wheel; 5. Putting Down: "[They] aren't people - they're animals"; 6. Reforming/Resisting: "It's like a kind of sexual racism"; 7. Authorizing: "When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean...[but who] is to be master?"; 8. Concluding.

About the author

Sally McConnell-Ginet is Professor Emerita of Linguistics at Cornell University and a Past President of the Linguistic Society of America.

Summary

Featuring current and historical concrete examples and minimising technical vocabulary, Words Matter is for all interested in examining ideas about language and its connections to social conflict and change. Accessible to general readers, the book will also be useful in linguistics, philosophy, anthropology, or other classes featuring language.

Product details

• Authors: Sally McConnell-Ginet, Sally (Cornell University Mcconnell-Ginet, McConnell-Ginet Sally, Mcconnell-Ginet Sally Mcconnell-Ginet
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.08.2020
• EAN: 9781108427210
• ISBN: 978-1-108-42721-0
• No. of pages: 275
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative linguistics; Philosophy of Language, Philosophy, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Semantics, Sociolinguistics, Semantics, discourse analysis, stylistics, Semantics, discourse analysis, etc