The Business of Words: Wordsmiths, Linguists, and Other Language Workers

Author:   Crispin Thurlow
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
ISBN:  

9781138485242


Pages:   210
Publication Date:   13 August 2019
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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The Business of Words: Wordsmiths, Linguists, and Other Language Workers


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Overview

The Business of Words examines the practices of ‘high-end’ language workers or wordsmiths where we find words being professionally designed, institutionally managed, and, inevitably, objectified for status and profit. Aligned with existing work on language and political economy in critical sociolinguistics and discourse studies, the volume offers a novel, complementary insight into the relatively elite practices of language workers such as advertisers, dialect coaches, publishers, judges, translators, public relations officers, fine artists, journalists, and linguists themselves. In fact, the book considers what academics might learn about language from other wordsmiths, opening a space for ‘dialogue’ between those researching language and those who also stake a claim to linguistic expertise and a way with words. Bringing together an array of leading international scholars from the cognate fields of discourse studies, sociolinguistics, and linguistic anthropology, this book is an essential resource for researchers, advanced undergraduate, and postgraduate students of English language, linguistics and applied linguistics, communication and media studies, and anthropology.

Full Product Details

Author:   Crispin Thurlow
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.453kg
ISBN:  

9781138485242


ISBN 10:   1138485241
Pages:   210
Publication Date:   13 August 2019
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors Chapter 1 – The (Grubby) Business of Words: What ‘George Clooney’ Tells Us Part 1: Language Work and the Business of Words Chapter 2 – Unequal Language Work(ers) in the Business of Words Chapter 3 – The Linguistic Business of Marketing Part 2: Wordsmiths and Professional Language Work Chapter 4 – Unwriteable Discourse? Co-crafting the Language of Science News Chapter 5 – Voice Work: Learning About and From Dialect Coaches Chapter 6 – EAT, LOVE and Other (Small) Stories: Tellability and Multimodality in Robert Indiana’s Word Art Chapter 7 – Judges as Wordsmiths: Crafting Clarity and Neutrality in Summing-up for Juries Chapter 8 – Making (up) the News: The Artful Language Work of Journalists in ‘Reporting’ Taboo Part 3: Linguists and Political Economies of Expertise Chapter 9 – Framing Elite Knowledge in Shifting Linguistic Economies: The Case of Minority Language Translation Chapter 10 – Beyond the Academic ‘But’: The Pleasures and Politics of Collaborative Language Work in the Publishing Industry Chapter 11 – The Commercialisation of Linguistic Expertise in the Asylum Vetting Process Chapter 12 – Engaging with School Principals as Language Policy Workers Index

Reviews

'In 1956, the French philologist Marcel Cohen suggested that language practices could usefully be understood as a form of work. Finally, decades later, we have a volume which takes up this idea seriously, exploring what language work/language as work tells us about questions of value, the social construction of reality, and social inequality in contemporary conditions. You won't look at a keyboard - or a pen - the same way after you have read this book.' Monica Heller, Editor of the Journal of Sociolinguistics 'This pioneering volume on the production of high-end wordsmithery explores previously unengaged aspects of the political economy of language. In detailed examinations of the work of journalists, PR writers, marketers, linguists, and others, we see their word-craft in ways that clarify their critical and often invisible roles as semiotic brokers.' Bonnie Urciuoli, Hamilton College (Emeritus), USA


In 1956, the French philologist Marcel Cohen suggested that language practices could usefully be understood as a form of work. Finally, decades later, we have a volume which takes up this idea seriously, exploring what language work/language as work tells us about questions of value, the social construction of reality, and social inequality in contemporary conditions. You won't look at a keyboard - or a pen - the same way after you have read this book. Monica Heller, Editor of the Journal of Sociolinguistics This pioneering volume on the production of high-end wordsmithery explores previously unengaged aspects of the political economy of language. In detailed examinations of the work of journalists, PR writers, marketers, linguists, and others, we see their word-craft in ways that clarify their critical and often invisible roles as semiotic brokers. Bonnie Urciuoli, Hamilton College (Emeritus), USA


Author Information

Crispin Thurlow is Professor of Language and Communication in the Department of English at the University of Bern, Switzerland.

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