 | The Language War Subjects: Sociolinguistics -- United States; United States -- Languages -- Political aspects; Mass media and language -- United States; Power (Social sciences) -- United States; In a series of provocative, dazzlingly argued essays, Lakoff charts how the media's use of language shapes both public attitudes and social policies on current events, including the "political correctness" debate, the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings, the O.J. Simpson trial and the debate over "ebonics." A professor of linguistics at the University of California-Berkeley, she discusses how specific words and linguistic constructs have adopted political meaning--such as George Will's use of an unidentified "we" in his columns, with the presumption that all readers share his ideas and values. Lakoff shines in her careful reading of how declarative sentences paraded as questions in the Hill/Thomas hearings or of how jokes about "Hebonics" (the Jewish-American language) underlined the unspoken racism in the media's attack on ebonics. She is also especially adept in her investigation of the language used in the media to "construct" the public image of Hillary Rodham Clinton, in which she exposes how subtle changes in word usage, grammatical construction and tone have helped create multiple personas for the First Lady--from a sexually predatory monster to a contemporary Eleanor Roosevelt--to suit the emotional and psychological needs of different constituencies. Witty and illuminating, Lakoff's analysis is an important addition to both linguistic and political studies. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved Lakoff Robin Tolmach : Robin Lakoff is Professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Talking Power: The Politics of Language in Our Lives (1990), Face Value: The Politics of Beauty (1984), and Language and Woman's Place (1975). |
