New books on language

[Bethany K. Dumas]

In case this has not been posted here yet -

Bethany

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Dear Contributors, The books are out --  "Language Alive in the Classroom"
and "The Workings of Language: From Prescriptions to Perspectives" and
they look GREAT! As you likely already know (having probably received your
own copies), the paperbacks are beautiful and the hardbacks, sleek or
serious or scholarly or however you'd like to describe a solid black cover
with  silver lettering. Printing seems very crisp.

Here are links to Greenwood/Praeger's homepage, where they promo the 2 books.
Language Alive in the Classroom
http://info.greenwood.com/books/0275960/0275960552.html
The Workings of Language: From Prescriptions to Perspectives
http://info.greenwood.com/books/0275962/0275962466.html

Here are comments about and contents of the second book:
The Workings of Language From Prescriptions to Perspectives
Edited by Rebecca S. Wheeler
Praeger Paperback. Westport, Conn. 1999. 264 pages
LC . ISBN 0-275-96246-6. B6246 $24.95 [Cheaper at amazon.com]
Available (Status Information Updated 9/30/1999)
A cloth bound edition is available: 0-275-96245-8, $69.50

** Description **
"The gap between the results of linguistic research and commonly held
views about language seems to widen almost daily. Drawing on topics of
immediate public interest--like Ebonics and the differences in
communication styles between men and women--The Workings of Language: From
Prescriptions to Perspectives attempts to build a bridge across the
chasm....[It] will...serve as a welcome addition to the syllabus of any
instructor whose responsibility it is to teach the English language and
linguistics courses."
Susan Steele
Vice Provost
University of Connecticut

Defusing chicken-little prognostications about English, this volume
suggests that dark claims about language are not to be taken at face
value. Instead, these claims function as a signal: time to step back.
Offering just such a time-out, eminent linguists explore the fuller
picture underlying language in our society, examining prescriptivism,
Black English, Ozark English, American Sign Language, English-Only, and
Endangered Languages.

After helping stomp out such linguistic fires, the linguists showcase the
potent workings of language: world englishes, language and politics,
media, prejudice, creativity, gender, and humor, thus opening the way to
better informed views on the function of language in schools, and more
linguistically-sound public policies.

** Table of Contents **
-- Introduction by Rebecca S. Wheeler
-- Ways of Talking
-- The Language Mavens by Steven Pinker
-- North American Varieties of English as By-products of Language Contacts
by Salikoko S. Mufwene
-- African American Vernacular English Is Not Standard English with
Mistakes by Geoffrey K. Pullum
-- Home Speech as Springboard to School Speech: Oakland's Commendable Work
on Ebonics by Rebecca S. Wheeler
-- Southern Mountain English: The Language of the Ozarks and Southern
Appalachia by Bethany K. Dumas
-- On the Other Hand: American Sign Language, Signed Englishes, and Other
Visual Language Systems by Lynn S. Messing
-- Englishes, English-Only, and Languages in Danger of Extinction
-- "From Out in Left Field? That's not Cricket": Finding a Focus for the
Language Curriculum by David Crystal
-- Investigating English around the World: The International Corpus of
English by Gerald Nelson and Bas Aarts
-- Speaking of America: Why English-Only Is a Bad Idea by Geoffrey Nunberg
-- Language Loss, Our Loss by Mari Rhydwen
-- Language and Politics, Prejudice, the Media, Creativity, Humor, and
Gender
-- Metaphor, Morality, and Politics: Or, Why Conservatives Have Left
Liberals in the Dust by George Lakoff
-- Language as a Weapon of Hate by Rae A. Moses
-- Language and the News Media: Five Facts about the Fourth Estate by
Colleen Cotter
-- Life on Mars: Language and the Instruments of Invention by Mark Turner
and Gilles Fauconnier
-- Laughing at and Laughing with: The Linguistics of Humor, and Humor in
Literature by Victor Raskin
-- Women and Men in Conversation by Deborah Tannen
-- Breaking Mythical Bonds: African American Women's Language by Denise
Troutman
-- Index
** Author **
REBECCA S. WHEELER teaches writing, grammar, and linguistics in the
English Department at Christopher Newport University in Virginia.