LINGUIST List 12.2049

Wed Aug 15 2001

Books: Sociolinguistics

Editor for this issue: Naomi Ogasawara <naomilinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Ryce Publishing, Sociolinguistics: Animal Equality: Language and Liberation by Dunayer

ANIMAL EQUALITY: LANGUAGE AND LIBERATION
By Joan Dunayer
2001, Hardcover, 283 pages, US $25
ISBN: 0-9706475-5-7
Ryce Publishing, 7806 Fairborn Court, Derwood, MD 20855-2227, USA
Phone: 301-330-9547; Fax: 301-869-2079; Email: inforycepublishing.com;
Website: http://www.rycepublishing.com

The first book on language and nonhuman oppression, ANIMAL EQUALITY:
LANGUAGE AND LIBERATION shows that deceptive, biased words sustain
injustice toward nonhuman animals. Speciesism, the failure to accord
other animals equal consideration and respect, survives through lies.
 
Contrasting evolutionary reality with popular notions of human
uniqueness and superiority, Animal Equality discredits the term "lower
animals." Compelling evidence of nonhuman thought and emotion debunks
language that characterizes other animals as unreasoning or
insensitive.
 
Vivid descriptions of hunting, sportfishing, zoos, "aquariums,"
vivisection, and "animal agriculture" reveal the cruelty that
misleading words legitimize and conceal. Animal Equality leaves no
doubt: speciesist abuse relies on euphemism, doublespeak, and other
linguistic ploys.
 
Conventional English pronoun use categorizes other animals as
genderless and inanimate. This usage not only falsifies, Joan Dunayer
shows; it also encourages disregard of nonhuman beings.
 
Dunayer uncovers the speciesist attitudes and practices underlying
much racist and sexist language, such as the epithets "monkey" and
"bitch." "Animal" pejoratives foster both human and nonhuman
oppression, she demonstrates.
 
Every animal--nonhuman or human--deserves equal protection, Dunayer
argues. Representative legal cases illustrate the need to legislate a
new definition of nonhuman animals: as persons, not property.
 
Offering vocabulary and style guidelines, Animal Equality proposes new
language that will bring us closer to nonhuman liberation.

This groundbreaking book lays the foundation for a new area of
sociolinguistics: critical discourse analysis from an animal rights
perspective.

CONTENTS
Foreword by Carol J. Adams
Acknowledgments
Prologue: From Vivisection to Animal Rights
1 Speciesism and Language
2 False Categories: How We Define "Us" and "Them"
3 Animal Attributes: The Verbal Dichotomy
4 Victims Mistaken for Game: The Language of Hunting
5 Cruelty by Deception: The Language of Sportfishing
6 Freedom Denied: The Language of Zoos
7 More Speciesism on Display: The Language of "Aquariums" and "Marine Parks"
8 In the Name of Science: The Language of Vivisection
9 Feeding on Flesh, Milk, Eggs, and Lies: The Language of "Animal Agriculture"
10 Pronoun Politics
11 "Bitches," "Monkeys," and "Guinea Pigs": "Animal" Metaphors
12 Persons of Other Species: Toward Legal Redefinition Style Guidelines: 
 Countering Speciesism
Thesaurus: Alternatives to Speciesist Terms
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index