Скачать или смотреть Piers Kelly: Journalistic cliches versus linguistic research

Journalistic cliches versus linguistic research: A folkloristic approach to keeping the public engaged without losing the message.

Scholars lament that language research is often misrepresented in the news media, but many readers may be less interested in the accuracy of an account than its usefulness in constructing or maintaining a world view. Borrowing a method from folkloristics, this presentation identifies key narratives that recur in language journalism, from stories of the ‘last speaker’ to opinion pieces that associate non-prestige usages with social decline. By making these motifs visible I will suggest ways that they might be navigated, exploited or subverted by those seeking to inspire the public with their research, without yielding (too much!) to sensationalism or moral panic.