Scottish Newspapers Language And Identity

The first decade of the new Scottish Parliament has seen the emergence of a new-found national confidence. 'Scottishness' is clearly alive and flourishing. This book offers new and detailed insights into Scottish language and its usage by the Scottish press. To what extent does the use of identifiably Scottish lexical features help them to maintain their distinctive Scottish identity and appeal to their readership? Which Scottish words and phrases do the papers use and where, is it a symbolic gesture, do they all behave in the same way, and has this changed since devolution?Combining analysis of broad trends with detailed discussion of individual Scottish words and phrases, its timely publication coincides with a period when interest in things Scottish is at an all time high.

This book examines the part played by Scottish newspapers in constructing identity during the key period of the devolution process from 1997-2011. It uses insights from cultural and media studies, sociology, cognitive science and narratology into the ways in which culturally defined knowledge and notions of identity have been constructed.

This monograph is about how the Scots language is discursively constructed, both from ‘above’ (through texts such as educational policies, debates in parliament and official websites) and from ‘below’ (in focus group discussions among Scottish people). It uses the interdisciplinary discourse-historical approach to critical discourse analysis to examine what discursive strategies are used in different texts, and also to investigate salient features of context. This allows a broader discussion of the role of this language in Scotland, and how different ways of constructing a language can percolate through society, appearing in both important, elite texts and discussions among ordinary people. It thus contributes to the body of knowledge about contemporary Scots, but also expands the range of possible applications for critical discourse analysis approaches.

Northern English has been the object of much attention linguistically over the last thirty years but scholars have had a tendency to focus on the phonology of the dialects and varieties encountered. The purpose of the present volume is to complement and enrich the existing studies by providing readers with a kaleidoscopic perspective, allowing for a holistic interpretation and understanding of Northern English. It includes studies not only on phonology but also on semantics, syntax and sociolinguistics from a synchronic and diachronic point of view, with a special emphasis on the process of enregisterment. The varieties covered include Scottish Standard English, Shetland and Northern Ireland as well as varieties from the North of England.

Written by a leading sociologist of Scotland, this ground-breaking new introduction is a comprehensive account of the social, political, economic and cultural processes at work in contemporary Scottish society. At a time of major uncertainty and transformation The New Sociology of Scotland explores every aspect of Scottish life. Placed firmly in the context of globalisation, the text: examines a broad range of topics including race and ethnicity, social inequality, national identity, health, class, education, sport, media and culture, among many others. looks at the ramifications of recent political events such as British General Election of 2015, the Scottish parliament election of May 2016, and the Brexit referendum of June 2016. uses learning features such as further reading and discussion questions to stimulate students to engage critically with issues raised. Written in a lucid and accessible style, The New Sociology of Scotland is an indispensable guide for students of sociology and politics.

The chapters in this volume take as their focus aspects of three of the languages of Scotland: Scots, Scottish English, and Scottish Gaelic. They present linguistic research which has been made possible by new and developing corpora of these languages: this encompasses work on lexis and lexicogrammar, semantics, pragmatics, orthography, and punctuation. Throughout the volume, the findings of analysis are accompanied by discussion of the methodologies adopted, including issues of corpus design and representativeness, search possibilities, and the complementarity and interoperability of linguistic resources. Together, the chapters present the forefront of the research which is currently being directed towards the linguistics of the languages of Scotland, and point to an exciting future for research driven by ever more refined corpora and related language resources.

This book brings together academics, writers and politicians to explore the range and nature of the media in Scotland. The book includes chapters on the separate histories of the press, broadcasting and cinema, on the representation and construction of Scotland, the contemporary communications environment, and the languages used in the media. Other chapters consider television drama, soap opera, broadcast comedy, gender, the media and politics, race and ethnicity, gender, popular music, sport and new technology, the place of Gaelic, and current issues in screen fiction. Among the contributors are David Bruce, Myra Macdonald, Brian McNair, Hugh O'Donnell, Mike Russell, Philip Schlesinger and Brian Wilson.

Your user-friendly study and revision guide to Scots criminal law, written specially for students by a law lecturer with over 20 years of teaching experience.