Language – The Loaded Weapon
eBook - ePub

Language – The Loaded Weapon

The Use and Abuse of Language Today

  1. 230 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Language – The Loaded Weapon

The Use and Abuse of Language Today

About this book

First published in 1980 and now reissued for the first time as a Routledge Linguistics Classic, Language – The Loaded Weapon is at once an introduction to and a critique of everything we know, or think we know, about language.

This classic text explains in simple terms the essentials of linguistic form and meaning, and applies them to illuminate questions touching on issues related to: correctness; truth; class and dialect; manipulation through advertising and propaganda; sexual and other discrimination; and official obfuscation and the maintenance of power. Bolinger notes that our deepest societal problems are entangled with language, raising questions such as: What kind of English should be taught, or should there be no standard at all? What are the verbal persuasions of technology doing to our children? Which way does information flow, what are its biases, when does it inform and when conceal, and who benefits? Are the people who consider themselves experts in these matters as expert as they pretend to be? In this seminal work, Bolinger addresses all of these concerns in a way which remains as relevant to us today as it was when it was first written.

With a new foreword by James Paul Gee, situating and contextualising the text in the present day, this book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in understanding how language has shaped the world we live in.

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Yes, you can access Language – The Loaded Weapon by Dwight Bolinger in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Languages & Linguistics & Linguistics. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Series Page
  4. Title Page
  5. Copyright Page
  6. Dedication
  7. Contents
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. Preface
  10. Foreword to the Routledge Linguistics Classics Edition
  11. 1. Lo the shaman
  12. 2. The nonverbal womb
  13. 3. Signs and symbols
  14. 4. Above the word
  15. 5. Appointment in Babylon
  16. 6. Stigma, status, and standard
  17. 7. We reduced the size because we didn't want to increase the price
  18. 8. Guns don't kill people, people kill people
  19. 9. A case in point: sexism
  20. 10. Power and deception
  21. 11. Another case in point: the jargonauts and the not-so-golden fleece
  22. 12. Rival metaphors and the confection of reality
  23. 13. A last case in point: bluenoses and coffin nails
  24. 14. School for shamans
  25. 15. An ecology of language
  26. Notes to chapters
  27. Further reading
  28. Index