Bad language
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Bad language
Basil Blackwell, 1990
Available at 69 libraries
Note
First published 1990 by arrangement with Penguin Books Ltd
"Parts of this book are based on L.G.Anderson's Fult Språk.(Carlssons Bokförlag, Stockholm, 1985)"--Acknowledgements
Bibliography: p. 197-198
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Generations of school teachers have railed bitterly against the bad grammar and slovenly pronunciation of their pupils. Parents have for decades bemoaned the swearing and sloppy diction of their children. Public figures become enraged about jargon and linguistic corruption in the nation's press. Employers deplore the inarticulacy and limited vocabularies of their staff. And everyone knows that spelling and punctuation are not what they were. What is all this complaining about? Why do otherwise sane people become so apoplectic about other people's language? What are the roots of this linuistic prejudice? The authors of this book take a dispassionate look at negative attitudes to language use and try to account for the various types of hostility. They argue that most types of "bad" language have their place, and should be seen as valuable parts of the nation's linguistic repertoire. Linguistic discrimination, they suggest, should be no more acceptable in an enlightened and tolerant society than discrimination on grounds of race or sex. The work is aimed at undergraduates and specialists in English language and linguistics and the general reader.
Table of Contents
- Introduction - who gives a damn?
- good or bad?
- attitudes
- swearing
- slang
- sort of meaningless?
- right or wrong?
- bad accents
- change or decay?
- bad language and education
- moral.
by "Nielsen BookData"