Language in the Trump Era
Scandals and Emergencies
Published on 26. August 2020
978-1-108-89713-6 (ISBN)
Description
Early in his campaign, Donald Trump boasted that 'I know words. I have the best words', yet despite these assurances his speech style has sown conflict even as it has powered his meteoric rise. If the Trump era feels like a political crisis to many, it is also a linguistic one. Trump has repeatedly alarmed people around the world, while exciting his fan-base with his unprecedented rhetorical style, shock-tweeting, and weaponized words. Using many detailed examples, this fascinating and highly topical book reveals how Trump's rallying cries, boasts, accusations, and mockery enlist many of his supporters into his alternate reality. From Trump's relationship to the truth, to his use of gesture, to the anti-immigrant tenor of his language, it illuminates the less obvious mechanisms by which language in the Trump era has widened divisions along lines of class, gender, race, international relations, and even the sense of truth itself.
Reviews / Votes
'An indispensable resource for anyone troubled by the polarizing and demagogic political discourse of the Trump era, this book illuminates many features of Trumpian rhetoric and shows how its flagrant misrepresentations, fractured syntax, torrential flow, racist metaphors, and misogyny appeal to some people, co-opt others, and prove resistant to critique. If you hope to counter these forms of current political rhetoric, start by understanding how they work - and start here.' Judith T. Irvine, Edward Sapir Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Linguistic Anthropology, University of Michigan 'Donald Trump's version of making a speech is not only a source of surprise and disgust, but also, for many, confusion. Why does he talk this way? Is it on purpose? And is it contagious? Language in the Trump Era answers all of those questions and more about America's magnificently, manipulatively inarticulate Commander-in-Chief.' John McWhorter, Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University 'This excellent volume is a 'must-read' for scholars and students alike. The first comprehensive, very well researched and well-argued book which allows insight in to the 'Trump-phenomenon'; a phenomenon which dominates politics, media and everyday lives in the US and beyond.' Ruth Wodak, Distinguished Professor and Chair in Discourse Studies, Lancaster University/University Vienna 'Language in the Trump Era is a very topical and most welcome publication on the (negative) effects of the Trump presidency on language use and understanding. The book can be seen as an important contribution to the emerging research on Trump's language that came into being since he ran for the US presidency. It provides an accurate and detailed description of the linguistic transformations brought about by the Trump era while also, importantly, accounting for the range of complex and interlaced motivations for the attested changes in language and indicating possible repercussions of the newly installed linguistic habits on society at large, including the potential legitimization of certain, social behaviors.' Marta Degani, Discourse & Society 'Overall, the book provides fascinating insight into the language of Trump and would be of interest to postgraduate students, scholars/researchers in linguistics, as well as the broader social sciences and/or those who are interested in understanding the discursive features of one of the world's most controversial presidents.' Neda Salashour, Language in SocietyMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
File size
6,57 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-108-89713-6 (9781108897136)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
09/2020
Cambridge University Press
€30.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Book
09/2020
Cambridge University Press
€88.00
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Content
Introduction: A Linguistic Emergency Janet McIntosh; Part I. Dividing the American Public: 1. Part I Introduction: 'Ask the Gays': How to Use Language to Fragment and Redefine the Public Sphere Norma Mendoza-Denton; 2. The Significance of Trump's Incoherence James Slotta; 3. "Get 'Em Out!": The Meaning of Ejecting Protestors Jack Sidnell; 4. Crybabies and Snowflakes Janet McIntosh; Part II. Performance and Falsehood: 5. Part II Introduction: The Show Must Go On: Hyperbole and Falsehood in Trump's Performance Norma Mendoza-Denton; 6. Trump's Comedic Gestures as Political Weapon Donna M. Goldstein, Kira Hall, and Matthew Bruce Ingram; 7. 45 as a Bullshit Artist: Straining for Charisma Marco Jacquemet; 8. Plausible Deniability Adam Hodges; Part III. The Interactive Making of the Trumpian World: 9. Part III Introduction: Collusion: On Playing Along with the President Janet McIntosh; 10. Banter, Male Bonding, and the Language of Donald Trump Deborah Cameron; 11. On Social Routines and That Access Hollywood Bus Bruce Mannheim; 12. 'Cocked and Loaded': Trump and the Gendered Discourse of National Security Carol Cohn; 13. Evaluator in Chief Brion van Over; 14. Fake Alignments Sylvia Sierra and Natasha Shrikant; Part IV. Language, White Nationalism, and International Responses to Trump: 15. Part IV Introduction: Language and Trump's White Nationalist Strongman Politics Janet McIntosh; 16. 'Perfect English' and White Supremacy H. Samy Alim and Geneva Smitherman; 17. Making our Nation Fear the Powerless Otto Santa Ana, Marco Antonio Juarez, Magaly Resendez, John Hernandez, Oscar Gaytan, Kimberly Ceron, Celeste Gomez, and Roberto Solis; 18. We Latin Americans Know a Messianic Autocrat When We See One Norma Mendoza-Denton; 19. Rejoinders from the Shithole Quentin Williams; 20. Muslim Enemies, Rich Arab Friends Aomar Boum.
