The Language War - Hardcover

Robin Tolmach Lakoff

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0520222962 ISBN 13: 9780520222960

Publisher: University of California Press, 2000

Synopsis

Lakoff, a Berkeley linguist, examines several recent controversies from a linguistic point of view. She has chapters on speech codes, Anita Hill, Hillary Rodham Clinton, O. J. Simpson, Ebonics, and Monicagate, but she doesn't discuss the events themselves (although her viewpoint is usually quite clear); rather, she concentrates on the national discourse on the events. Her overarching thesis is that each of these controversies is part of a language war, in which previously downtrodden groups (especially blacks and women) are trying to seize the right to define themselves away from the traditional holders of power over language (i.e., white middle-class men). She speaks from a post-modern point of view, but much more rationally than I normally associate with the po-mo crowd. Through this book, I have developed much more sympathy for some of the underlying tenets of post-modern thought, if not for the more extreme examples that have turned post-modernism into self-parody (e.g., believing an article claiming that gravity is a social construct). Although Lakoff is somewhat out there at times, she's not too far out, and not all that often; and even when I don't agree with her, I still find myself understanding better the different sides of these very divisive issues, which in itself is a noble goal. And the book is a pure delight to read; Lakoff's style is breezy and pleasant, and she usually remembers to define linguistics jargon for her general audience. She is, however, a self-confessed unrepentant liberal, and more conservative readers may find her point-of-view somewhat hard to take.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

"Robin Lakoff is a national treasure. She is one of the most astute and knowledgeable linguists in the country (indeed, in the world), and one of the few who turns her analytic eye to the role of language in popular and political culture. It was she who pioneered the field of gender and language. She is poised to be recognized among the general reading public as she has long been recognized in the field of linguistics."--Deborah Tannen, author of You Just Don't Understand and The Argument Culture

"An excellent book. Robin Lakoff shows that if we do not understand how language is put to work in our world, we cannot understand our world, nor live in it effectively."--John Fiske, author of Media Matters

About the Author

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).

Edition details

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520222962
• ISBN 13: 9780520222960
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 322