Language and Creativity: The Art of Common Talk

by Carter,Ronald

• ISBN13: 9780415234481
• ISBN10: 0415234484
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-04-09
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Language and Creativityexplores the creativity inherent in everyday spoken language. Creativity in language has conventionally been regarded as the preserve of institutionalized discourses such as canonical literature and the discourse of advertising. InLanguage and CreativityRonald Carter analyzes naturally-occurring spoken language to reveal that ordinary people in everyday speech contexts demonstrate creative capacities for sensitivity to their contexts. Illustrated with examples, and integrating current theory in both language and literature studies, the book underlines the importance of the creative choice, automaticity and repetition which is involved in informal communication.

Author Biography

Ronald Carter is Professor of Modern English Language in the School of English Studies, University of Nottingham.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	vii
Acknowledgements	xi
Introduction	1	(14)
PART I Backgrounds and theories	15	(72)
1 Approaches to creativity	17	(36)
2 Lines and clines: linguistic approaches	53	(34)
PART II Forms and functions	87	(58)
3 Creativity and patterns of talk	89	(26)
4 Figures of speech	115	(30)
PART III Contexts and variations	145	(74)
5 Creativity, language and social context	147	(23)
6 Creativity, discourse and social practice	170	(49)
Appendix 1 A note on transcription and corpus analysis	219	(3)
Appendix 2 New words for old	222	(5)
Appendix 3 CANCODE publications 1994-2003	227	(4)
References	231	(18)
Index	249