"Metalanguage" brings together new, original contributions on people's
knowledge about language and representations of language, e.g,
representations of dialects, styles, utterances, stances and goals in
relation to sociolinguistic theory, sociolinguistic accounts of language
variation, and accounts of linguistic usage. Drawing on a variety of data
sources such as lay and linguists' metalanguage, the media, parliamentary
debates, education, and retail shopping, the book comprises four sections
and an integrative commentary. The main thematic parts deal with
metalanguage in relation to the following issues: the theory of
metalanguage, ideology, social evaluation, and stylization. Other key
themes discussed include constructionism, identity formation, in- and
out-grouping, deception, discrimination, manipulation, and the increasing
semiotization of the socio-cultural landscape. Apart from the strictly
linguistic concerns, some contributions focus on discourse in a broader
sense examining meta-commentary construed in modalities other than language.
The book follows from and complements a great tradition of the study of
metalanguage, reflexivity, and metapragmatics, and offers a new,
integrating perspective from various fields of sociolingustics: perceptual
dialectology, variationism, pragmatics, critical discourse analysis, and
social semiotics. The broad range of theoretical issues and accessible
style of writing will appeal to advanced students and researchers in
sociolinguistics and in other disciplines across the social sciences and
humanities including linguists, communication researchers, anthropologists,
sociologists, social psychologists, critical and social theorists. The book
includes chapters by Deborah Cameron, Nikolas Coupland, Dariusz Galasinski,
Peter Garrett, Adam Jaworski, Tore Kristiansen, Ulrike Hanna Meinhof,
Dennis Preston, Theo van Leeuwen, Kay Richardson, Itesh Sachdev, Angie
Williams, and John Wilson.
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