Approaches to Videogame Discourse
Lexis, Interaction, Textuality
Published on 28. January 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-1-5013-7544-6 (ISBN)
Description
The first significant collection of research in videogame linguistics, Approaches to Videogame Discourse features an international array of scholars in linguistics and communication studies exploring lexis, interaction and textuality in digital games.
In the first section, "Lexicology, Localisation and Variation," chapters cover productive processes surrounding gamer slang (ludolects), creativity and borrowing across languages, as well as industry-, genre-, game- and player-specific issues relating to localization, legal jargon and slang. "Player Interactions" moves on to examine communicative patterns between videogame players, focusing in particular on (un)collaborative language, functions and negotiations of impoliteness and issues of power in player discourse. In the final section, "Beyond the 'Text'," scholars grapple with issues of multimodality, paratextuality and transmediality in videogames in order to develop and enrich multimodal theory, drawing on key concepts from ludonarratology, language ideology, immersion and transmedia studies.
With implications for meaningful game design and communication theory, Approaches to Videogame Discourse examines in detail how video games function as means and objects of communication; how they give rise to new vocabularies, textual genres and discourse practices; and how they serve as rich vehicles of ideological signification and social engagement.
In the first section, "Lexicology, Localisation and Variation," chapters cover productive processes surrounding gamer slang (ludolects), creativity and borrowing across languages, as well as industry-, genre-, game- and player-specific issues relating to localization, legal jargon and slang. "Player Interactions" moves on to examine communicative patterns between videogame players, focusing in particular on (un)collaborative language, functions and negotiations of impoliteness and issues of power in player discourse. In the final section, "Beyond the 'Text'," scholars grapple with issues of multimodality, paratextuality and transmediality in videogames in order to develop and enrich multimodal theory, drawing on key concepts from ludonarratology, language ideology, immersion and transmedia studies.
With implications for meaningful game design and communication theory, Approaches to Videogame Discourse examines in detail how video games function as means and objects of communication; how they give rise to new vocabularies, textual genres and discourse practices; and how they serve as rich vehicles of ideological signification and social engagement.
Reviews / Votes
Often, one's unique background and diversity shapes experiences in a way that poses significant challenges to such tasks as language translation or situational meaning design. The essays in this book will help readers understand how video games are shaping experiences. Summing up: Recommended * Choice * Approaches to Video-Game Discourse is a field-shaping collection of essays which show how interesting and varied the study of online gaming can be. The book is impressive in its scope, including research about the micro-level features such as word formation and moving through to broader concerns such as the narrativity of particular games. The book should be commended for reaching beyond the study of individual games and paying attention to various paratexts such as video walkthroughs, manuals and the legal language relating to games. The scholars who have contributed to this collection embrace the full range of approaches that are found in discourse studies, using corpus driven analyses, ethnography, pragmatics, and multimodality to explore the texts and interactions of game-playing from empirically informed perspectives. The book will be of interest to linguists and new media scholars alike as a timely resource which helps us all understand how gaming is meaningful in many different ways. * Dr. Ruth Page, Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics, University of Birmingham, UK * Finally! A concerted take on the richly, intricately discursive world of gaming. Edited collections have proved to be defining moments in digital discourse studies; this one will be no exception. * Crispin Thurlow, Professor of Language and Communication, University of Bern, Switzerland * Fueled by a new generation of scholars, this volume sketches out videogame discourse studies as a new field of research that extends from corpus-assisted lexical analysis to the multimodal study of paratexts that surround games. The authors draw on concepts and questions from applied, media and sociolinguistics, such as language ideologies, (im)politeness, plain language, and localization. This volume offers an accessible introduction to a field of practice that is massively popular on a global scale, yet quite understudied from a language and discourse perspective. * Jannis Androutsopoulos, Professor of German and Media Linguistics, Universitaet Hamburg, Germany *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
30 tables, 19 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 238 mm
Width: 154 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
480 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5013-7544-6 (9781501375446)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
05/2019
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic USA
€36.99
Available for download
E-Book
05/2019
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic USA
€36.99
Available for download
Persons
Astrid Ensslin is Professor in Digital Humanities and Game Studies at the University of Alberta, Canada.
Isabel Balteiro is Senior Lecturer in English Linguistics at the University of Alicante, Spain.
Isabel Balteiro is Senior Lecturer in English Linguistics at the University of Alicante, Spain.
Content
Acknowledgements
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Introduction
Locating Videogames in Medium-specific, Multilingual Discourse Analyses, Astrid Ensslin (University of Alberta, Canada) and Isabel Balteiro (University of Alicante, Spain)
PART I. Lexicology, Localization, Variation
1. Videogames: A Lexical Approach, Carola Alvarez-Bolado (Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain) and Inmaculada Alvarez de Mon (Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain)
2. Lexical and Morphological Devices in Gamer Language in Fora, Isabel Balteiro (University of Alicante, Spain)
3. Phraseology and Lexico-grammatical Patterns in Two Emergent Paragame Genres: Videogame Tutorials and Walkthroughs, Christopher Gledhill (Paris Diderot, France)
4. Playing with the Language of the Future: the Localization of Science Fiction Terms in Videogames, Alice Ray (Universite d'Orleans, France)
5. End-user Agreements in Videogames: Plain English at Work in an Ideal Setting, Miguel Angel Campos-Pardillos (University of Alicante, Spain)
PART II. Player Interactions: (Un)collaboration, (Im)politeness, Power
6. Bad Language and Bro-up Cooperation in Co-sit Gaming, Astrid Ensslin (University of Alberta, Canada) and John Finnegan (Falmouth University, UK)
7. 'Shut the fuck up re! Plant the Bomb Fast!': Reconstructing language and identity in First Person Shooter Games, Elisavet Kiourti (University of Nicosia, Cyprus)
8. 'I cut it and I ... well now what?': (Un)collaborative Language in Timed Puzzle Games, Luke A. Rudge (University of the West of England, Bristol, UK)
9. 'Watch the Potty Mouth': Negotiating Impoliteness in Online Gaming, Sage L. Graham (University of Memphis, USA) and Scott Dutt (University of Memphis, USA)
PART III. Beyond the 'Text': Multimodality - Paratextuality - Transmediality
10. On the Procedural Mode, Jason Hawreliak (Brock University, Canada)
11. The Player Experience of Bioshock: A Theory of Ludonarrative Relationships, Weimin Toh (National University of Singapore, Singapore)
12. Language Ideologies in Videogame Discourse: Forms of sociophonetic Othering in Accented Character Speech, Tejasvi Goorimoorthee (University of Alberta, Canada), Adrianna Csipo (Ludwig Maximilian University, Germany), Shelby Carleton (University of Alberta, Canada) and Astrid Ensslin (University of Alberta, Canada)
13. Playing it by the Book: Instructing and Constructing the Player in the Videogame Manual Paratext, Michael Hancock (University of Waterloo, Canada)
Afterword, James Paul Gee (Arizona State University, USA)
Bibliography
Index
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Introduction
Locating Videogames in Medium-specific, Multilingual Discourse Analyses, Astrid Ensslin (University of Alberta, Canada) and Isabel Balteiro (University of Alicante, Spain)
PART I. Lexicology, Localization, Variation
1. Videogames: A Lexical Approach, Carola Alvarez-Bolado (Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain) and Inmaculada Alvarez de Mon (Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain)
2. Lexical and Morphological Devices in Gamer Language in Fora, Isabel Balteiro (University of Alicante, Spain)
3. Phraseology and Lexico-grammatical Patterns in Two Emergent Paragame Genres: Videogame Tutorials and Walkthroughs, Christopher Gledhill (Paris Diderot, France)
4. Playing with the Language of the Future: the Localization of Science Fiction Terms in Videogames, Alice Ray (Universite d'Orleans, France)
5. End-user Agreements in Videogames: Plain English at Work in an Ideal Setting, Miguel Angel Campos-Pardillos (University of Alicante, Spain)
PART II. Player Interactions: (Un)collaboration, (Im)politeness, Power
6. Bad Language and Bro-up Cooperation in Co-sit Gaming, Astrid Ensslin (University of Alberta, Canada) and John Finnegan (Falmouth University, UK)
7. 'Shut the fuck up re! Plant the Bomb Fast!': Reconstructing language and identity in First Person Shooter Games, Elisavet Kiourti (University of Nicosia, Cyprus)
8. 'I cut it and I ... well now what?': (Un)collaborative Language in Timed Puzzle Games, Luke A. Rudge (University of the West of England, Bristol, UK)
9. 'Watch the Potty Mouth': Negotiating Impoliteness in Online Gaming, Sage L. Graham (University of Memphis, USA) and Scott Dutt (University of Memphis, USA)
PART III. Beyond the 'Text': Multimodality - Paratextuality - Transmediality
10. On the Procedural Mode, Jason Hawreliak (Brock University, Canada)
11. The Player Experience of Bioshock: A Theory of Ludonarrative Relationships, Weimin Toh (National University of Singapore, Singapore)
12. Language Ideologies in Videogame Discourse: Forms of sociophonetic Othering in Accented Character Speech, Tejasvi Goorimoorthee (University of Alberta, Canada), Adrianna Csipo (Ludwig Maximilian University, Germany), Shelby Carleton (University of Alberta, Canada) and Astrid Ensslin (University of Alberta, Canada)
13. Playing it by the Book: Instructing and Constructing the Player in the Videogame Manual Paratext, Michael Hancock (University of Waterloo, Canada)
Afterword, James Paul Gee (Arizona State University, USA)
Bibliography
Index