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Language and Society: What Your Speech Says About You
Language is not a passive means of communication. In fact, it's the active process through which we construct societies, and, within them, our own social lives and realities. Language - as we use it in our day-to-day interactions - fundamentally shapes our experience, our thinking, our perceptions, and the very social systems within which our lives unfold.
Nowhere is the social role of language revealed more clearly than in the fascinating field of sociolinguistics. Among many eye-opening perspectives, the work of sociolinguistics points out
Language is strong social capital, and our linguistic choices carry both costs and benefits we rarely consider. Our identity is strongly tied to the speech we use and our perceptions of the speech we hear. Our children are raised, our relationships are made, and our careers succeed, in large part, through how we use language. Language embodies a Your linguistic system reflects and affects the way you organize and understand the world around you. In these 24 thought-provoking lectures, you'll investigate how social differences based on factors such as region, class, ethnicity, occupation, gender, and age are inseparable from language differences. Further, you'll explore how these linguistic differences arise, and how they both reflect and generate our social systems. You'll look at the remarkable ways in which our society is a reflection of our language, how differences in the way people use language create differences in society, how people construct and define social contexts by their language use, and ultimately why our speech reveals so much about us. Join a brilliantly insightful sociolinguist and teacher in a compelling inquiry that sheds light on how our linguistic choices play a determining role in every aspect of our lives.
Nowhere is the social role of language revealed more clearly than in the fascinating field of sociolinguistics. Among many eye-opening perspectives, the work of sociolinguistics points out
Language is strong social capital, and our linguistic choices carry both costs and benefits we rarely consider. Our identity is strongly tied to the speech we use and our perceptions of the speech we hear. Our children are raised, our relationships are made, and our careers succeed, in large part, through how we use language. Language embodies a Your linguistic system reflects and affects the way you organize and understand the world around you. In these 24 thought-provoking lectures, you'll investigate how social differences based on factors such as region, class, ethnicity, occupation, gender, and age are inseparable from language differences. Further, you'll explore how these linguistic differences arise, and how they both reflect and generate our social systems. You'll look at the remarkable ways in which our society is a reflection of our language, how differences in the way people use language create differences in society, how people construct and define social contexts by their language use, and ultimately why our speech reveals so much about us. Join a brilliantly insightful sociolinguist and teacher in a compelling inquiry that sheds light on how our linguistic choices play a determining role in every aspect of our lives.
Audiobook
Published March 15, 2015
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About the author
Valerie Fridland
6 books31 followersProfessor Valerie Fridland is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Nevada, Reno. She received her Ph.D. in Linguistics, with a specialization in Sociolinguistics, from Michigan State University. Her teaching areas include general linguistics, sociolinguistics, syntax, language and gender, and language and social life.
As a sociolinguist, Professor Fridland’s main focus is on varieties of American English. The goal of her research is to better understand how variability in speech production relates to variability in speech perception and how social identity (such as that related to region, gender, or ethnicity) affects speech. Her research explores links between social factors and speech processing, filling gaps in the speech science literature, which does not typically consider social influences on the understanding of speech. In addition to this main focus, she examines how gender and ethnicity are enmeshed with linguistic variation.
Professor Fridland presents her work at major meetings of the Linguistic Society of America and the American Dialect Society, and at the New Ways of Analyzing Variation conference. Her work is regularly published in such journals as American Speech, the Journal of Sociolinguistics, Language Variation and Change, Lingua, and the Journal of Phonetics, and appears in a number of edited collections. Professor Fridland is currently editing a collected volume on contemporary Western States English for the American Dialect Society.
As a sociolinguist, Professor Fridland’s main focus is on varieties of American English. The goal of her research is to better understand how variability in speech production relates to variability in speech perception and how social identity (such as that related to region, gender, or ethnicity) affects speech. Her research explores links between social factors and speech processing, filling gaps in the speech science literature, which does not typically consider social influences on the understanding of speech. In addition to this main focus, she examines how gender and ethnicity are enmeshed with linguistic variation.
Professor Fridland presents her work at major meetings of the Linguistic Society of America and the American Dialect Society, and at the New Ways of Analyzing Variation conference. Her work is regularly published in such journals as American Speech, the Journal of Sociolinguistics, Language Variation and Change, Lingua, and the Journal of Phonetics, and appears in a number of edited collections. Professor Fridland is currently editing a collected volume on contemporary Western States English for the American Dialect Society.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 3, 2021
This audiobook is from the Great Courses series, where leading experts present lectures at the college level on their field of expertise. Valerie Fridland packs a lot of information into her lectures. They are informative and entertaining. Some of the points she makes are quite surprising. For example, languages are not converging; the world-wide web, entertainment, and social media are not truly bringing languages closer together. Well, maybe superficially, but not substantially.
Some of the early lectures get a bit boring, where she talks about the role of vowels in differentiating speakers from different places and cultures. This got a bit too esoteric for my taste.
Some of the more interesting lecturers deal with how we pre-judge people from the way they speak. We pre-judge using hints from their pronunciations (especially vowels), their accents, their word choices, and their grammar. Valerie Fridland often mentions that she is a southerner. She talks about how she switches back and forth between a southern way of talking when she is at home with family, but a more northern, academic speech pattern when she is in an academic setting.
Two things got under my skin a bit, while listening to the lectures. Fridland constantly switches back and forth between a trying-to-be-humorous, light-hearted speech pattern and a jargon-filled, formal academic speech. Also, she talks very fast, and gets tongue-tied every third sentence. She should actually try to slow down a bit.
Some of the early lectures get a bit boring, where she talks about the role of vowels in differentiating speakers from different places and cultures. This got a bit too esoteric for my taste.
Some of the more interesting lecturers deal with how we pre-judge people from the way they speak. We pre-judge using hints from their pronunciations (especially vowels), their accents, their word choices, and their grammar. Valerie Fridland often mentions that she is a southerner. She talks about how she switches back and forth between a southern way of talking when she is at home with family, but a more northern, academic speech pattern when she is in an academic setting.
Two things got under my skin a bit, while listening to the lectures. Fridland constantly switches back and forth between a trying-to-be-humorous, light-hearted speech pattern and a jargon-filled, formal academic speech. Also, she talks very fast, and gets tongue-tied every third sentence. She should actually try to slow down a bit.
May 17, 2023
This is a very knowledgeable set of lectures, but someone in production needed to fix the problems with narration. Sometimes there are duplicate sentences or the author got tongue-tied.
Otherwise it's very well done and just a little repetitive. This is the kind of linguistics class I might have taken in college. She has a book that I've put on the wish list.
This was in the Audible Plus catalog free for members. I didn't finish it before it left, but was able to get it from the library. There were a couple of things that should have been included such as a diagram of the Great Vowel Shift. Yes, that's a thing.
Otherwise it's very well done and just a little repetitive. This is the kind of linguistics class I might have taken in college. She has a book that I've put on the wish list.
This was in the Audible Plus catalog free for members. I didn't finish it before it left, but was able to get it from the library. There were a couple of things that should have been included such as a diagram of the Great Vowel Shift. Yes, that's a thing.
August 25, 2021
The only reason I withheld a fifth star for this delightful lecture series was that i had a hard time believing that a serious treatment of linguistics could be so much fun for listening. Surely that quality of the work had to indicate a tiny lack of scholarship. On the other hand she seemed to have all facets of linguistics covered to some degree.
March 29, 2022
Content: 4.0 or even 4.5
Presentation: 2.0...maybe less.
This GC is 12 hours on the social aspects of linguistics. It covers a lot of ground, including The Great Vowel Shift, formation of dialects (in North America), what people perceive about us by how we speak, mechanics of conversation, the social functions of texting/IMs, code-switching, etc. Dr. Fridland packs a lot of information into her lectures. Some of the information about vowel shifting was hard to follow, but she gave lots of examples and had good graphics to assist understanding.
If this had been a print book, I probably wouldn't have had much problem with the presentation. But it was audio, and 12 hours is a lot when listening to someone whose voice you find grating. I find it hard to believe that someone with so much knowledge about how vocal choices affect perception cannot know that her own vocal style is irritating AF. When Dr. Fridland is deep into technical content and using her "academic voice," she's fairly easy on the ears. At least in tone. She does talk extremely fast, so don't even think about trying to take notes. Unfortunately, she can't seem to talk without trying to be funny (and then laughing at her own unfunny jokes) or pointless tag questions/asides. With the asides, she drops down into that annoying vocal fry thing, and with the attempts at humor, she gets extremely loud and sharp-toned. Maybe this works in a cavernous classroom full of college students. It doesn't work in this format. My speaker system works just fine, thanks. I hesitate to use the word "shrill" because that's so often a pejorative about women, but it really is the word that describes her tone once she gets on a roll. If she'd simply slow down and speak in a conversational voice, it would be so much easier to listen to what she has to say.
Presentation: 2.0...maybe less.
This GC is 12 hours on the social aspects of linguistics. It covers a lot of ground, including The Great Vowel Shift, formation of dialects (in North America), what people perceive about us by how we speak, mechanics of conversation, the social functions of texting/IMs, code-switching, etc. Dr. Fridland packs a lot of information into her lectures. Some of the information about vowel shifting was hard to follow, but she gave lots of examples and had good graphics to assist understanding.
If this had been a print book, I probably wouldn't have had much problem with the presentation. But it was audio, and 12 hours is a lot when listening to someone whose voice you find grating. I find it hard to believe that someone with so much knowledge about how vocal choices affect perception cannot know that her own vocal style is irritating AF. When Dr. Fridland is deep into technical content and using her "academic voice," she's fairly easy on the ears. At least in tone. She does talk extremely fast, so don't even think about trying to take notes. Unfortunately, she can't seem to talk without trying to be funny (and then laughing at her own unfunny jokes) or pointless tag questions/asides. With the asides, she drops down into that annoying vocal fry thing, and with the attempts at humor, she gets extremely loud and sharp-toned. Maybe this works in a cavernous classroom full of college students. It doesn't work in this format. My speaker system works just fine, thanks. I hesitate to use the word "shrill" because that's so often a pejorative about women, but it really is the word that describes her tone once she gets on a roll. If she'd simply slow down and speak in a conversational voice, it would be so much easier to listen to what she has to say.
February 5, 2019
It was good for the first 10-15 lectures, but after that it just got way too repetitive. A lot more generalizations than specifics, especially if you've ever stopped and thought about this topic for a few minutes.
December 12, 2021
We get a lot from one another without even having to listen to the words. Our choice of words, grammar, and dialect pretty much paints a billboard of who we are to whoever we are trying to communicate with. If you'd like to understand that better, then you need to listen to this course.
January 5, 2020
(Wrong cover) The course material was interesting and engaging, but I found the professor’s jokes/sense of humor to be a little annoying.
February 26, 2023
It was a great course to take.
July 20, 2024
(Audiobook) A good read for anyone who is a language teacher. This book explores some of the many languages of the world.
August 8, 2025
Absolutely capturing as an audiobook. The narrators dialect - the author, seems to hld pauses which makes you pay attention.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews