Synopses & Reviews
People use different ways of speaking - styles - in different situations. This book explains the concept of style in speech and examines ways of studying accents and dialects. It explains, theoretically and with copious examples, how style in language creates social meanings, for example by changing the quality of social relationships or allowing speakers to project different identities. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary studies, the book emphasises the value of interpreting style as speech performance, using insights from anthropological linguistics and discourse analysis. In this account, 'style' is a focal concern for sociolinguistics, analysing how very different social meanings are made by drawing on the linguistic resources that accent and dialect variation provides. The emphasis is on how these meanings are made locally, in specific relationships, genres, groups and cultures.
Synopsis
People use different ways of speaking - styles - in different situations. This book explains the concept of style in speech and examines ways of studying accents and dialects. It explains, theoretically and with copious examples, how style in language creates social meanings, for example by changing the quality of social relationships or allowing speakers to project different identities. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary studies, the book emphasises the value of interpreting style as speech performance, using insights from anthropological linguistics and discourse analysis.
Synopsis
Explains the concept of style in speech and examines ways of studying accents and dialects.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction; 2. Style and meaning in sociolinguistic structure; 3. Style for audiences; 4. Sociolinguistic resources for styling; 5. Styling social identities; 6. High performance and identity stylisation; 7. Coda: style and social reality.