Authority in Language : Investigating Standard English

by Milroy,James

• ISBN13: 9780415174138
• ISBN10: 0415174139
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1998-12-22
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Authority in Languageexplores the controversial notion of 'correct' and 'incorrect' language. In this fully revised and updated third edition, the authors offer the most recent arguments in the long-running debate over the teaching of Standard English in the US and Britain. They compare the language ideologies in both countries, including a discussion of the English Only movement and the Ebonics controversy in the US, and consider the historical process of standardization and its social consequences, in particular discrimination against low status and ethnic minority groups on the basis of their language traits. Indispensable for anyone with an interest in how language functions to discriminate,Authority in Languageprovides the most up-to-date treatment of the subject available today.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Preface to the Third Edition	p. x
Key to Symbols and Abbreviations Used in the Text	p. xi
Prescription and Standardisation	p. 1
Standard English and the Complaint Tradition	p. 24
Spoken and Written Norms	p. 47
Grammar and Speech	p. 60
Linguistic Prescription and the Speech Community	p. 77
Linguistic Repertoires and Communicative Competence	p. 99
'planned' and 'unplanned' Speech Events	p. 116
Some Practical Implications of Prescriptivism	p. 131
Two Nations Divided by the Same Language?	p. 150
Bibliography	p. 161
Index	p. 171
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