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Host: St Catherine's College, University of Oxford
Homepage: http://www.english.ox.ac.uk/language/
Email: enquiries.oxconf@pop3.hiway.co.uk
Description:
The language of the media has increasingly become a focus of attention in recent years. This
conference plans to explore two aspects of the topic.
1. The use of language by the media, and its possible effect on language as a whole. The media - and politicians - are skilled at handing over information in a quick, easily absorbable format. But to what extent do they oversimplify or even falsify their message by inventing false dichotomies and using misleading metaphors? Is their communication a skill, or is it dishonesty? And what effect is this having on the language as a whole? Do sound-bites, buzz-words, pithy phrases leave a permanent linguistic legacy? Has elegant, literary language passed out of ordinary usage?
2. Globalization. The use of relatively few languages, especially English, in the world-wide media and the Internet, is a factor which may be hastening the death of numerous languages. Is this a disaster, or inevitable progress? English is spreading, but is it also disintegrating, splitting into numerous incomprehensible dialects? And how is the Internet affecting English as a whole? Is it holding it together, or pulling it apart and destroying it with its emphasis on informal, fast communication?
Speakers: Invited speakers include, Allan Bell (Auckland University of Technology), Douglas Biber (Northern Arizona University), Caroline van den Brul (BBC), Ian Hislop (Private Eye), Robin Lakoff (University of California at Berkeley), Raymond Snoddy (The Times), C
Date received: November 21, 2000
© 2008 Atlas Conferences Inc.