The Linguistic Individual: Self-Expression in Language and Linguistics (Oxford Studies in Sociolinguistics) - Softcover

Johnstone, Barbara

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195101855 ISBN 13: 9780195101850

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1996

Synopsis

Linguists usually discuss language or dialects in terms of groups of speakers. Believing that patterns can be seen more clearly in the group than the individual, researchers often present group scores with no indication of the variation within the group. Even though they all acknowledge that no two individuals speak alike, few study individual variation and voice. The individual has always been thought to be outside the purview of linguistic theory.

Johnstone makes the case for the importance of the role of the individual, and the individual's idiosyncrasies, in language and linguistics. Using theoretical arguments and discourse analysis, along with linguistic examples from a wide variety of speakers and settings, Johnstone illustrates how speakers draw on linguistic models associated with class, ethnicity, gender, region, among others, to construct individual ways of sounding. In doing so,she shows that certain important questions in sociolinguistics and pragmatics can only be fully answered with reference to individual speakers. Her study is important not only for the understanding of speech as expressive of self,but for the study of of variation and the mechanisms of linguistic choice and change.

About this title

About the Author

Barbara Johnstone is Associate Professor of Linguistics at Texas A&M University.

From the Back Cover

Barbara Johnstone makes a case for the individual's importance and idiosyncrasies in language and linguistics. Using theoretical arguments and discourse analysis, along with linguistic examples from a variety of speakers and settings, Johnstone illustrates how speakers draw on linguistic models associated with class, ethnicity, gender, and region, among others to construct an individual voice.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195101855
• ISBN 13: 9780195101850
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 234