Our favorite movies and TV shows feature indelible characters who tell us about themselves not just in what they say but in how they say it. The creative decisions behind these voices—such as what accent or dialect to use—offer rich data for sociolinguistic study. Vox Popular describes the ways in which language is employed to further characterization or narrative plot, offering insightful and engaging analyses of dialogue from sitcoms like Modern Family and The Office to classic and contemporary films like Coming to America and The Help. Queen argues that linguistic register and language variation are as central to these works as costume, scenery, and musical score.
The book provides a general sociolinguistic understanding of what variation, wherever it might occur, can tell us about the social world. It addresses the common perception that the media are destroying language by using “bad language,” and gives a linguist’s take on what this means. Queen also addresses the perception that the media are a poor source of information about ‘real’ life and ‘real’ language and instead shows what a rich source of linguistic and cultural data the mass media can provide, tapping into linguistic depictions of race and class that are coded for a certain understanding by the audience, even if it’s unconscious. By looking to popular culture’s representations of language in works we consume,
Vox Popular provides a novel and engaging understanding of the major issues of sociolinguistics for those new to the field.
