New Media Language (review)

This book is a comprehensive guide to media discourse. It explores the changes media language has undergone and the effects it has had on society from technological, historical, political, and social standpoints.

Chs. 1 through 5 relate to changes that have occurred in media discourse. In Ch. 1, ‘Poles apart: Globalization and the development of news discourse across the twentieth century’ (7–17), Allan Bell uses media coverage from two expeditions to the South Pole to study the development of media discourse. In ‘Modern media myths’ (Ch. 2, 18–26), Raymond Snoddy examines the growth and change of mass media and its effects on society. Ch. 3, ‘Globalizing “communication”’ (27–35), by Deborah Cameron, offers examples from Hungarian and Japanese as evidence of how the styles of these languages are becoming more similar to the style of English. In Ch. 4, ‘The new incivility: Threat or promise?’ (36–44), Robin Tolmach Lakoff addresses the concerns of a perceived increase in the amount of incivility in American political and public discourse. Martin Conboy, in ‘Parochializing the global: Language and the British tabloid press’ (Ch. 5, 45–54), uses examples from the British tabloid newspaper The Sun to study language strategies of the tabloid press.

Chs. 6 through 10 examine ways in which modern media communication is achieved. In Ch. 6, John Carey’s ‘Reportage, literature and willed credulity’ (57–64), the relationship between reportage (eyewitness reporting) and literature is analyzed. In Ch. 7, ‘Speaking to Middle England’ (65–74), David Hendy focuses on the language used by BBC radio. Ch. 8, ‘Literacy and the new media: Vita brevis, lingua brevis’ (75–84), by Angela Kesseler and Alexander Bergs, investigates the link between new media modes and literacy using examples from traditional love letters and short text messages. Naomi S. Baron’s ‘Why email looks like speech: Proofreading, pedagogy and public face’ (Ch. 9, 85–94) offers an overview of the language style of email and its relationship to face. In Ch. 10, ‘Online news: A new genre?’ (95–104), Diana M. Lewis investigates online news and its effects on communication.

Chs. 11 through 15 address specific topics that have appeared in the media. In ‘Wine language: Useful idiom or idiot-speak?’ (Ch. 11, 107–15), Malcolm Gluck offers insights on the language of wine writing. Alan Partington contrasts the objectives and methods of the press and the public relations professional in Ch. 12, ‘Rhetoric, bluster and on-line gaffes: The tough life of a spin-doctor’ (116–25). Ch. 13, Jennifer M. Wei’s ‘Politics is marriage and show business: A view from recent Taiwanese political discourse’ (126–35), presents metaphors found in Taiwanese politics. In Ch. 14, ‘Emotional DIY and proper parenting in Kilroy’ (136–45), Nuria Lorenzo-Dus examines how language on the BBC talk show Kilroy is controlled to present the ‘proper’ model of parenting. Ch. 15, ‘Language and American “good taste”: Martha Stewart as a mass-media role model’ (146–55) by Catherine Evans Davies, focuses on how Martha Stewart achieves politeness, credibility, and authenticity.

The final five chapters of the book offer insight into the effects media may be having on language. In Ch. 16, ‘Noun phrases in media texts: A quantificational approach’ (159–68), Yibin Ni compares the use of noun phrases and their effects in various media. Ch. 17, ‘Compressed noun-phrase structures in newspaper discourse: The competing demands of popularization vs. economy’ (169–81) by Douglas Biber, examines how news writing has evolved and adopted a more compressed style. John Ayto’s ‘Newspapers and neologisms’ (Ch. 18, 182–86), studies how English neologisms are popularized by journalists. ‘Reliable authority: Tabloids, film, email and speech as sources for dictionaries’ (Ch. 19, 187–92), by...