Language and Society: What Your Speech Says About You
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Language and Society: What Your Speech Says About You
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Narrated by:
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Valerie Fridland
About this listen
Language is not a passive means of communication. In fact, it's the active process through which we construct societies, and, within them, our own social lives and realities. Language - as we use it in our day-to-day interactions - fundamentally shapes our experience, our thinking, our perceptions, and the very social systems within which our lives unfold.
Nowhere is the social role of language revealed more clearly than in the fascinating field of sociolinguistics. Among many eye-opening perspectives, the work of sociolinguistics points out that:
- Language is strong social capital, and our linguistic choices carry both costs and benefits we rarely consider.
- Our identity is strongly tied to the speech we use and our perceptions of the speech we hear.
- Our children are raised, our relationships are made, and our careers succeed, in large part, through how we use language.
- Language embodies a worldview: Your linguistic system reflects and affects the way you organize and understand the world around you.
In these 24 thought-provoking lectures, you'll investigate how social differences based on factors such as region, class, ethnicity, occupation, gender, and age are inseparable from language differences. Further, you'll explore how these linguistic differences arise, and how they both reflect and generate our social systems. You'll look at the remarkable ways in which our society is a reflection of our language, how differences in the way people use language create differences in society, how people construct and define social contexts by their language use, and ultimately why our speech reveals so much about us. Join a brilliantly insightful sociolinguist and teacher in a compelling inquiry that sheds light on how our linguistic choices play a determining role in every aspect of our lives.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
©2014 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2014 The Great CoursesListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Language and Society: What Your Speech Says About You
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Joshua Smart
- 03-01-18
Interesting topic, but terrible lecturer
Is there anything you would change about this book?
The lecturer, full stop.
Would you ever listen to anything by The Great Courses again?
Definitely.
How did the narrator detract from the book?
Constant rapid fire presentation that's too hard to follow, annoying tone, and cringe worthily unfunny jokes being made constantly. I nearly stopped listening numerous times.
Any additional comments?
Some acknowledgement of how autistic folks struggle with social subtext wouldn't have gone amiss.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Julia
- 02-01-21
Great!
I noticed that some people complain in the reviews about the delivery of the lectures but I find that is is of fantastic quality with plenty of passion showing through.
I will for sure re-listen to this.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Eder Souza
- 04-01-23
The narrator’s voice is very peculiar
The content of the book seems to be great but I couldn’t carry on listening. Her voice is like a hammer hitting my ears. Perhaps I might give it a another try if they publish the book again with another narrator.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- lorraine
- 11-05-15
Narration far too fast
Narration was far too fast to hear clearly and without pauses, therefore no time to consider what had been discussed.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- DAVID
- 18-03-18
Lecturer's delivery is absolutely awful
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
A lecturer who did not do the following: make silly, immature jokes as asides during presentation, speak too rapidly, trip over their words, and inexplicably suddenly raise the volume of delivery
Would you ever listen to anything by The Great Courses again?
Absolutely - I'm delighted to have found the Great Courses. This has been my first experience of a course being completely ruined by the style of delivery
Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Professor Valerie Fridland?
Professor Gary K. Wolfe, who narrates 'How Great Science Fiction Works' has the perfect style of delivery
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Anger, annoyance, frustration
Any additional comments?
I was really surprised at how this series made it into the Great Courses.
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3 people found this helpful