Language and Media: A Resource Book for Students

323 Pages·2021·13.964 MB·

by  Rodney H Jones, Sylvia Jaworska, Erhan Aslan

‘Language and Media is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in learning more
about media discourse. It provides a clear foundation in relevant theoretical concepts,
balanced with plenty of engaging examples. In addition, the sections featuring exten-
sion activities and key readings make this an ideal course textbook.’
Camilla Vasquez, University of South Florida
‘This book is a key volume for the new media age: updating, assessing, and expanding
our understanding of media and the many ways language and communication dy-
namics operate across a changed and changing mediascape. The authors characterize
native online media features such as memes, viral spreads, surveillance capacities, and
resistance; as well as resituate longstanding elements of media research such as stories,
participation frameworks, production dimensions, and representation. It is definitely
the go-to resource for understanding the media now.’
Colleen Cotter, Queen Mary University of London

LANGUAGE AND MEDIA
Routledge English Language Introductions cover core areas of language study and are
one-stop resources for students.
Assuming no prior knowledge, books in the series offer an accessible overview
of the subject, with activities, study questions, sample analyses, commentaries, and
key readings—all in the same volume. The innovative and flexible ‘two-dimensional’
structure is built around four sections—introduction, development, exploration, and
extension—which offer self-contained stages for study. Each topic can also be read
across these sections, enabling the reader to build gradually on the knowledge gained.
This second edition of Language and Media:
❑ Provides an accessible introduction and comprehensive overview of the major
approaches and methodological tools used in the study of language and media.
❑ Focuses on a broad range of media and media content from more traditional print
and broadcast media formats to more recent digital media formats.
❑ Incorporates practical examples using real data, including newspaper articles,
press releases, television shows, advertisements (print, broadcast, and digital),
blogs, social media content, internet memes, culture jamming, and protest signs.
❑ Includes key readings from leading scholars in the field, such as Jan Blommaert,
Sonia Livingstone, David Machin, Martin Montgomery, Ruth Page, Ron Scollon,
and Theo van Leeuwen.
❑ Offers a wide range of activities, questions, and points for further discussion.
This book emphasizes the increasingly creative ways ordinary people are engaging
in media production. It also addresses a number of urgent current concerns around
media and media production/reception, including fake news, clickbait, virality, and
surveillance.
Written by three experienced teachers and authors, this accessible textbook is an
essential resource for all students of English language and linguistics.
Rodney H. Jones is Professor of Sociolinguistics, University of Reading, UK.
Sylvia Jaworska is Associate Professor of Language and Professional Communication,
University of Reading, UK.
Erhan Aslan is Lecturer in Applied Linguistics, University of Reading, UK.
ROUTLEDGE ENGLISH LANGUAGE INTRODUCTIONS
SERIES CONSULTANT: PETER STOCKWELL
Peter Stockwell is Professor of Literary Linguistics in the School of English at the
University of Nottingham, UK, where his interests include sociolinguistics, stylistics
and cognitive poetics. His recent publications include The Cambridge Handbook of
Stylistics (2014), Cognitive Grammar in Literature (2014) and The Language and
Literature Reader (2008).
FOUNDING EDITOR: RONALD CARTER
Ronald Carter (1947–2018) was Research Professor of Modern English Language in
the School of English at the University of Nottingham, UK. He was the co-founder
of the Routledge Applied Linguistics, Routledge Introductions to Applied Linguistics
and Routledge Applied Corpus Linguistics series.
TITLES IN THE SERIES:
Child Language
Jean Stilwell Peccei
Sociolinguistics
Peter Stockwell
Researching English Language
Alison Sealey
Stylistics, Second Edition
Paul Simpson
Global Englishes, Third Edition
(previously published as World Englishes)
Jennifer Jenkins
Pragmatics, Third Edition
(previously published as Pragmatics and Discourse)
Joan Cutting
Introducing English Language, Second Edition
Louise Mullany and Peter Stockwell
Language and Law
Alan Durant and Janny HC Leung
English Grammar, Second Edition
Roger Berry
Language and Power, Second Edition
Paul Simpson, Andrea Mayr and Simon Statham
Discourse Analysis, Second Edition
Rodney Jones
Practical English Phonetics and Phonology, Fourth Edition
Beverley Collins, Inger M. Mees and Paul Carley
History of English, Second Edition
Dan McIntyre
Language and Media, Second Edition
Rodney H. Jones, Sylvia Jaworska, and Erhan Aslan
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/series/RELI
A
LANGUAGE AND MEDIA
B
A Resource Book for Students
C
Second Edition
D
RODNEY H. JONES, SYLVIA JAWORSKA,
AND ERHAN ASLAN
Second edition published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Rodney H. Jones, Sylvia Jaworska, and Erhan Aslan
The right of Rodney H. Jones, Sylvia Jaworska, and Erhan Aslan to be identified as authors of this work has
been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any
electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used
only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 2009
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Jones, Rodney H., author. | Jaworska, Sylwia, author. | Aslan, Erhan, author.
Title: Language and media: a resource book for students /
Rodney Jones, Sylvia Jaworska and Erhan Aslan.
Description: 2nd edition. | Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2020. |
Series: Routledge English language introductions |
Revised edition of: Language and media: a resource book for students /
Alan Durant and Marina Lambrou. 2009. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020013891 (print) | LCCN 2020013892 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781138644397 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138644410 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003084211 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Mass media and language. | English language—Discourse analysis. |
Discourse analysis.
Classification: LCC P96.L34 J66 2020 (print) | LCC P96.L34 (ebook) |
DDC 302.2301/4—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013891
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013892
ISBN: 978-1-138-64439-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-64441-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-08421-1 (ebk)
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Visit the companion website: https://routledgetextbooks.com/textbooks/reli/
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
The Routledge English Language Introductions are ‘flexi-texts’ that you can use to suit
your own style of study. The books are divided into four sections:
A Introduction—sets out the key concepts for the area of study. The units of this sec-
tion take you through the foundational concepts, providing you with an initial toolkit
for your own study. By the end of the section, you will have a good overview of the
whole field.
B Development—adds to your knowledge and builds on the key ideas already intro-
duced. Units in this section also introduce key analytical tools and techniques. By the
end of this section, you will already have a good and fairly detailed grasp of the field,
and will be ready to undertake your own exploration and thinking.
C Exploration—provides examples of language data and guides you through your
own investigation of the topic or area. The units in this section will be more open-
ended and exploratory, and you will be encouraged to try out your ideas and think for
yourself, using your newly acquired knowledge.
D Extension—offers you the chance to compare your expertise with key readings in
the area. These are taken from the work of important writers, and are provided with
guidance and questions for your further thought.
You can read this book like a traditional textbook, ‘vertically’ straight through from
beginning to end. So, you would establish a broad sense of the key ideas by reading
through section A and deepen your knowledge by reading section B. Section C would
then present you with one or more Activities to test out different aspects of your broad
knowledge. Finally, having gained a good level of competence, you can read the sec-
tion D extracts from books and scholarly articles about language and media. However,
the Routledge English Language Introductions have been designed so that you can read
them in another dimension, ‘horizontally’ across the numbered units. For example,
units A1, B1, C1, and D1 constitute a strand, then developing your knowledge, then
testing out and exploring some key ideas, and finally offering you a key case study to
read. The strand across A2, B2, C2, D2, and the other strands 3, 4, 5, and so on, all
work in the same way. Reading across the strands will take you rapidly from the key
concepts of a specific topic to a level of expertise in that precise topic, all with a very
close focus. You can match your way of reading with the best way that you work. The
glossarial index at the end will help to keep you orientated.
This book covers the vast field of the Language and Media. Strand 1 gives a general
introduction to media and mediation. Strands 2–4 provide tools that students can use
to analyze media texts in terms of their structure, style, and used a semiotic mode.
viii HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
Strands 5 and 6 focus on the production and use of media texts. Strands 7–9 deal more
with the psychological, social, and political dimensions of language and media.
Media are dynamic and rapidly changing and affect our lives in a variety of ways:
nearly every observation we have made about language and media in this book is likely
to change as new media or new ways of using old media develop. The real aim of this
book is to provide you with the basic background to be able to engage in debates about
language and media and to assemble a toolkit of analytical techniques that will help
you to understand the media you use in your everyday life and how they affect how
you talk, how you think, and how you interact with others. If you wish to know more
about the ways this topic fits into or relates to other approaches to the study of English,
other books in the RELI series such as Introducing English language: A resource book
for students by Louise Mullany and Peter Stockwell, Discourse analysis: A resource book
for students by Rodney H. Jones, and Language and power: A resource book for students
by Paul Simpson, Andrea Mayr, and Simon Statham.
The RELI books do not aim to replace your teacher or lecturer, but instead they offer
both student and expert a resource for you to adapt as you think most appropriate. You
will want to take issue with what is presented here, test out the assumptions, and—we
hope—feel motivated to read and explore further. There is always space for tutors to
mediate the material and for students to explore beyond the book.
CONTENTS
Contents cross-referenced xii
List of figures xv
List of tables xvii
Acknowledgements xix
A Introduction: key topics in
the study of language and media 1
1 Language and mediation 2
2 Media, modes, and materialities 8
3 Media, genre, and style 14
4 Media storytelling 21
5 Media and discourse processes 28
6 Audiences, interaction, and participation 34
7 Media and the attention economy 41
8 Truth, lies, and propaganda 48
9 Media, censorship, and resistance 55
B Development: approaches
to language and media 61
1 Language, mediation, and sites of engagement 62
2 Making meaning with modes and materialities 68
3 Analyzing genres and styles in media 77
4 Telling and retelling stories 84
5 Production formats and discourse representation 91
6 Participation frameworks 99
7 Virality and memetics 107
8 Persuasive discourse and media rhetoric 115
9 Censorship and semiotic democracy 123
C Exploration: analyzing language and media 133
1 Media uses and users 134
2 Analyzing intersemiotic relations 140
3 Analyzing news stories and media interviews 149
4 Analyzing narratives in the media 157
5 Analyzing media production 162
6 Analyzing participation in media 169
7 Analyzing spreadable media 174
8 Detecting biased, fallacious, and fake news 179
9 Offensive language and tactics of resistance 185