LINGUIST List 11.1152

Sat May 20 2000

Books: Written Language

Editor for this issue: Scott Fults <scottlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Paul Peranteau, Written Lang: Letter Writing as a Social Practice, Barton/Hall (eds)

This book is new from John Benjamins Publishing.

Letter Writing as a Social Practice.
David BARTON (Lancaster University) and Nigel HALL (Manchester Metropolitan 
University) (eds.)
Studies in Written Language and Literacy 9
US & Canada: 1 55619 207 X / USD 70.00 (Hardcover) 1 55619 208 8 / USD 
29.95 (Paperback)
Rest of world: 90 272 1802 1 / NLG 140.00 (Hardcover) 90 272 1803 X / NLG 
60.00 (Paperback)

This book explores the social significance of letter writing. Letter
writing is one of the most pervasive literate activities in human
societies, crossing formal and informal contexts. Letters are a common
text type, appearing in a wide variety of forms in most domains of
life. More broadly, the importance of letter writing can be seen in
that the phenomenon has been widespread historically, being one of
earliest forms of writing, and a wide range of contemporary genres
have their roots in letters. The writing of a letter is embedded in a
particular social situation, and like all other types of literacy
objects and events, the activity gains its meaning and significance
from being situated in cultural beliefs, values, and practices. This
book brings together anthropologists, historians, educators and other
social scientists, providing a range of case studies that explore
aspects of the socially situated nature of letter writing.

Contributions by: David Barton and Nigel Hall; Charles Bazerman;
Konstantin Dierks; Frances Austin; Tony Fairman; Lucille M. Schultz;
Nigel Hall, Anne Robinson and Leslie Crawford; Janet Maybin; Anita
Wilson; Laura M. Ahearn; Catherine Kell; Simeon J. Yates.


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