Language in culture : lectures on the social semiotics of language / Michael Silverstein, University of Chicago ; completed with the editorial assistance of E. Summerson Carr, University of Chicago, Susan Gal, University of Chicago, Constantine V. Nakassis, University of Chicago.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Silverstein, Michael, 1945-2020, author.

Contributor:

Carr, E. Summerson, 1969- editor.

Gal, Susan, 1949- editor.

Nakassis, Constantine V., 1979- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Language and culture.

Communication.

Discourse analysis.

Genre:

lectures.

Lectures

Lectures.

Physical Description:

xv, 353 pages : illustrations (some color) ; c 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2023.

Summary:

"Language enables us to represent our world, rendering salient the identities, groups, and categories that constitute social life. Michael Silverstein (1945-2020) was at the forefront of the study of language in culture, and this book unifies a lifetime of his conceptual innovations in a set of seminal lectures. Focusing not just on what people say but how we say it, Silverstein shows how discourse unfolds in interaction. At the same time, he reveals that discourse far exceeds discrete events, stabilizing and transforming societies, politics, and markets through chains of activity. Presenting his magisterial theoretical vision in engaging prose, Silverstein unpacks technical terms through myriad examples - from brilliant readings of Marcel Marceau's pantomime, the class-laced banter of graduate students, and the poetics/politics of wine-tasting, to Fijian gossip and US courtroom talk. He draws on forebears in linguistics and anthropology while offering his distinctive semiotic approach, redefining how we think about language and culture"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Foreword / by Mara Tapp

Preface

Introduction: getting

and getting across

the message

Lecture 1: Text

Lecture 2: Event

Lecture 3: Context

Lecture 4: Enregisterment

Lecture 5: Variation

Lecture 6: Categorically

Lecture 7: Relativity

Lecture 8: Knowledge.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Silverstein, Michael, 1945-2020. Language in culture

ISBN:

9781009198837

1009198831

9781009198844

100919884X

OCLC:

1321819900