Studying Language: English in Action Book

List of Figures and Tables     viii
Series Preface     ix
Acknowledgements     xi
Introduction     1
Variation and Change in English     3
Introduction     3
Language, dialect, accent and variety     4
Language     4
The Ebonics debate     6
Dialect, accent and variety     7
Standards of English     8
What is standard English?     8
A brief history of the standardisation of English in England     10
A brief history of the standardisation of English in the United States     16
Studies in variation and change     22
Linguistic variation     22
Social variation     24
Variation and social networks     27
Studying variation in English     30
Selecting a topic for research     30
Project design and sampling     32
Methods of data collection     34
Sound and video recording equipment     41
Transcribing data     42
Analysing data     44
Writing your report     46
Sample projects     47
Further reading     49
Pragmatics andDiscourse     50
Introduction     50
Language, meaning and communication     51
Language in context     52
Language as action     56
Speech act theory     56
The cooperative principle     59
Discourse analysis     63
The structure of talk     64
Conversation analysis     66
Turn-taking     68
Adjacency pairs     68
Presupposition     73
Politeness     75
Context     77
Language, action and interaction     80
Grammar and interaction     82
Studying speech     86
Selecting a topic for research     86
Choosing and collecting data     88
Conventions of transcription     90
Analysing data     91
Sample projects     92
Further reading     93
Stylistics     94
Introduction     94
What is stylistics?     95
Units of language and grammar     97
Stylistic methods and categories of analysis     101
Cohesion     101
Deixis and fictional worlds     113
Similes and metaphors     116
Narrative     118
Representing speech and thought     123
Dialogue in drama     126
Studying stylistics     129
Selecting a topic for study     129
Choosing and collecting data     131
Analysing data     133
Sample projects     135
Further reading     135
Critical Discourse Analysis     137
Introduction     137
Language, society and ideology     138
Language, linguistics and ideology     139
Words and meaning     140
Language and reality     143
Language as discourse     144
Critical linguistics     145
Transitivity     147
Modality     151
A framework for critical discourse analysis     153
Schema theory and members' resources     157
CDA, written discourse analysis and stylistics     162
Studying CDA     164
Selecting a topic for study     165
Choosing and collecting data     165
Analysing data     166
Sample projects     168
Further reading     168
Bibliography      169
Index     177