Includes index and glossary.

Contents:What is language:Introduction -- Why study language -- What is language -- Power -- Summary -- Language thought and representation:Introduction -- Language as a system of representation -- The sapir-whorf hypothesis -- One language, many words -- Other angels of telling -- Newspeak and political correctness -- Summary -- Language and politics:Introduction -- What do we mean by politics -- Tools fpr persuasion -- Hidden in plain sight -- Ideological choice as political choice -- Analysing everyday conversations -- Language and the media:Introduction -- News coverage -- Media voices:accents, dialect and register -- Public participation in the media -- Mobile and online interaction -- Language and gender:Introduction -- Views of gender -- Sexism in the language system -- How is English used in sexiest ways -- The talk of women and men -- Conducting conversations -- Possible explanations -- Language and ethnicity:Introduction -- What do we mean by ethnicity -- Ethnicity, the nation state and multilingualism -- Ethnicity and racsim -- Ethnolect -- What makes an authentic ethnicity -- Language as a marker of ethnicity -- Code-switching and crossing.