Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Review Of Social Class In Applied Linguistics By David Block, Frank Bramlett

English Faculty Publications

As Block writes in the prologue and the epilogue, the book is primarily about erasure; his motivation for writing the book is to highlight “the substantial and sometimes complete erasure of social class in applied linguistics research due to the ways in which applied linguists frame their discussions of issues such as identity, inequality, disadvantage and exclusion” (pp. ix–x). Overall, Block achieves his goal of illustrating the widespread absence of social class in applied linguistics; however, the book itself makes some missteps in exploring the very construct it claims as its focus.

The book is divided into five chapters. Chapter …

Review Of Creating Language Crimes: How Law Enforcement Uses (And Misuses) Language By Roger W. Shuy, Frank Bramlett

English Faculty Publications

As he states in his preface, Shuy draws on his 30+ years as a linguistics professor at Georgetown University and his 25+ years as an expert witness and legal consultant to create this text that spans the mundane and the riveting, the commonplace and the esoterica of forensic linguistics. In so doing, his book “describes twelve actual cases in which alleged crimes were actually created by the use of various conversational strategies employed by law enforcement and its representatives, where no such crime is actually indicated by the language evidence” (12). When we read the transcripts associated with these cases, …

Review Of Masquerade And Identities: Essays On Gender, Sexuality, And Marginality By Efrat Tseëlon, Frank Bramlett

English Faculty Publications

In the introduction to this collection of essays, the editor discusses ‘issues of masquerade as identity construction and as identity critique through a range of styles and narrative forms’ (p. 4). All of the scholarship here relies on a performative viewpoint to explore a range of symbolic and literal ‘masks’ in different social settings. In fact, the book’s blurb prepares us to delve into ‘the role of disguise in constructing, expressing, and representing marginalised identities, and in undermining easy distinctions between “true” identity and artifice.’

Review Of Progay/Antigay: The Rhetorical War Over Sexuality By Ralph R. Smith And Russell R. Windes, Frank Bramlett

English Faculty Publications

When I was asked to review Progay/Antigay, I actually felt both trepidation and excitement for two reasons. First, I have a personal interest in the subject matter because I am a gay man who considers himself moderately active in both politics and the gay community. Second, I live in Nebraska, a state whose voters recently banned legal recognition of same-sex relationships, whether they be called ‘marriage’ or ‘domestic partnership’ or ‘civil union.’ For these reasons, I felt that the text could potentially elucidate the bitter struggle that we in the Midwest had just been through.

Review Of Mediated Discourse: The Nexus Of Practice. London: Routledge By Ron Scollon, Frank Bramlett

English Faculty Publications

What I like very much about this book is that it epitomizes the notion of qualitative research. It is a beautifully written exploration of the way mediated discourse gets accomplished, but it also clarifies ways of analyzing discourse with rich discussions of theory and analysis based on a number of illustrations taken from everyday events. Scollon explores an everyday practice that most people probably take for granted, and he proposes a way of examining this ‘practice’ in a new way. This practice is ‘handing’, and it serves as the centerpiece of this book. We ‘hand’ books to each other, we …

Review Of English Grammar: Prescriptive, Descriptive, Generative, Performance By Kathryn Riley And Frank Parker, Frank Bramlett

English Faculty Publications

Riley and Parker's English Grammar served as the text in a dual-level course that I teach called The Structure of English. I had not taught this particular class before, and I was very interested in this book because it presents a variety of approaches to grammar in highly accessible language. The book also appeals to me pedagogically because it assumes little or no background knowledge of linguistics generally or even grammar specifically on the students' part. Riley and Parker (R&P) divide the text by theme; that is, the book begins with prescriptive grammar, continues with descriptive grammar and generative …

Review Of English Syntax: From Word To Discourse By Lynn M. Berk, Frank Bramlett

English Faculty Publications

Berk prefaces this book by stating that her ‘overall approach is loosely discourse/functional’ and that she tries ‘to ensure that students learn the basics of English grammar but that at the same time they come to understand the richness and complexity of the system’ (xv). In the main, B fulfills her promise by exploring a variety of grammatical concepts and the way many of those grammatical structures function discursively.