This is the first book in the field of workplace discourse to examine the relationships among leadership, ethnicity, and language use. Taking a social constructionist approach to the ways in which leadership is enacted through discourse, Leadership, Discourse, and Ethnicity problematizes the concept of ethnicity and demonstrates the importance of context-particularly the community of practice-in determining what counts as relevant in the analysis of ethnicity. The authors analyse ...

In South America indigenous languages are extremely diverse. There are over one hundred language families in this region alone. Contributors from around the world explore the history and structure of these languages, combining insights from archaeology and genetics with innovative linguistic analysis. The book aims to uncover regional patterns and potential deeper genealogical relations between the languages. Based on a large-scale database of features from sixty languages, the book analys...

This book tells the dramatic and often surprising story of the learning of the Irish language by Irish Republican prisoners held in the infamous H-block cells during the bloody political conflict in Northern Ireland. Using research methods and techniques, the author closely analyses the emergence of the Irish language amongst republican prisoners and ex prisoners in Northern Ireland from the 1970s up until the present. This pioneering study shows how the language was used exclusively in pa...

Historical sociolinguistics is a comparatively new area of research, investigating difficult questions about language varieties and choices in speech and writing. Jewish historical sociolinguistics is rich in unanswered questions: when does a language become 'Jewish'? What was the origin of Yiddish? How much Hebrew did the average Jew know over the centuries? How was Hebrew re-established as a vernacular and a dominant language? This book explores these and other questions, and shows the e...

This book explores what makes a book readable by bringing together the relevant literature and theories, and situating them within a unified account. It provides a single resource that offers a principled discussion of the issues and their applications.

Creating an orthography is often seen as a key component of language revitalisation. Encoding an endangered variety can enhance its status and prestige. In speech communities that are fragmented dialectally or geographically, a common writing system may help create a sense of unified identity, or help keep a language alive by facilitating teaching and learning. Despite clear advantages, creating an orthography for an endangered language can also bring challenges, and this volume debates th...

How can defendants be tried if they cannot understand the charges being raised against them? Can a witness testify if the judges and attorneys cannot understand what the witness is saying? Can a judge decide whether to convict or acquit if she or he cannot read the documentary evidence? The very viability of international criminal prosecution and adjudication hinges on the massive amounts of translation and interpreting that are required in order to run these lengthy, complex trials, and t...

Investigating the 2016 EU Referendum in the UK, The Language of Brexit explores the ways in which 'Brexit' campaigners utilised language more persuasively than their 'Remain' counterparts. Drawing parallels with effective political discourse used worldwide, this book highlights the linguistic features of an increasingly popular style of political campaigning.Concentrating on the highly successful and emotive linguistic strategies employed by the Brexit campaigners against ...

This book investigates first language (L1) and second language (L2) use in Chinese university classrooms, focusing on the experiences of four Chinese EFL teachers who were teaching non-English major students at four different proficiency levels. It examines these four teachers' actual use of L1 and L2, including the distribution of their L1 and L2 use; the circumstances, functions and grammatical patterns of their language use; and their language use across different frames of classroom di...

This book presents the forefront of research in the emerging field of family language policy. This is the first volume to explore the link between family language policy, practice and management in the light of state and community language policy in more than 20 ethno-linguistic communities worldwide. Contributions by leading scholars from eight countries and three continents offer insights in how family language policy might be interpreted from various theoretical perspectives, using inno...

With the impact of accelerated globalization, digital technologies, mobility, and migration, the fields of Applied Linguistics, Language, and Intercultural Education have been shifting. One shift in need of further exploration is that of systematic and coherent reflexivity in researching language and culture. This unique and timely book thus examines the significance of reflexivity as an integral process, particularly when researching the multifaceted notions of multilingualism and intercu...

While much scholarship has been devoted to the interplay between language, identity and social relationships, we know less about how this plays out interactionally in diverse transient settings. Based on research in Indonesia, this book examines how talk plays an important role in mediating social relations in two urban spaces where linguistic and cultural diversity is the norm and where distinctions between newcomers and old timers changes regularly. How do people who do not share expecta...