Although, language is certainly individualized, most people conform to linguistic norms because of their surroundings. Over time, particular words and phrases are popularized by the media, social trends, or world events; and with emergence of internet technologies, the communication between all types of people is much easier. Communication and Language Analysis in the Public Sphere explores the influence of the World Wide Web on the relationships between ordinary citizens and the ability to communicate with politicians, celebrities, and the media. As some words may gain popularity worldwide, and others may begin to define a specific discipline. This book is essential for linguistics researchers, scholars, and professionals interested in determining these patterns and how they affect groups and individuals.

As you are reading this, you are finding yourself in the ubiquitous public sphere that is the Web. Ubiquitous, and yet not universally accessible. This volume addresses this dilemma of the public sphere, which is by definition open to everyone but in practice often excludes particular groups of people in particular societies at particular points in time. The guiding questions for this collection of articles are therefore: Who has access to the public sphere? How is this access enabled or disabled? Under what conditions is it granted or withheld, and by whom? We regard the public sphere as the nodal point for the discourses of business, politics and media, and this basic assumption is also s reflected in the structure of the volume. Each of these three macro-topics comprises chapters by international scholars from a variety of disciplines and research traditions who each combine up-to-date overviews of the relevant literature with their own cutting-edge research into aspects of different public spheres such as corporate promotional communication, political rhetoric or genre features of electronic mass media. The broad scope of the volume is perhaps best reflected in a comprehensive discussion of communication technologies ranging from conventional spoken and written formats such as company brochures, political speeches and TV shows to emerging ones like customer chat forums, political blogs and text messaging. Due to the books' wide scope, its interdisciplinary approach and its clear structure, we are sure that whether you work in communication and media studies, linguistics, political science, sociology or marketing, you will find this handbook an invaluable guide offering state-of-the -art literature reviews and exciting new research in your field and adjacent areas.

"This book explores the influence of the World Wide Web on the relationships between ordinary citizens and the ability to communicate with politicians, celebrities, and the media"--

The Fifth Edition of the award-winning Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere is the first comprehensive introduction to the growing field of environmental communication. This groundbreaking book focuses on the role that human communication plays in influencing the ways we perceive the environment. It also examines how we define what constitutes an environmental problem and how we decide what actions to take concerning the natural world. The updated and revised Fifth Edition includes recent developments, such as water protectors and the Dakota Access Pipeline, the Flint Water Crisis, and the March for Science, along with the latest research and developments in environmental communication.

This book comprises a range of general discussions on tradition and innovation in the methodology used in discourse studies (Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis, Argumentation Theory, Rhetoric, Philosophy) and a number of empirical applications of such methodologies in the analysis of actual instances of language use in the public sphere - in particular, discourses arising in the context of the debate on the presence of religious symbols in public places.

Inspired by the vision and framework outlined in Christopher Alexander's classic 1977 book, A Pattern Language, Schuler presents a pattern language containing 136 patterns designed to meet these challenges. Using this approach, Schuler proposes a new model of social change that integrates theory and practice by showing how information and communication (whether face-to-face, broadcast, or Internet-based) can be used to address urgent social and environmental problems collaboratively. Each of the patterns that form the pattern language (which was developed collaboratively with nearly 100 contributors) is presented consistently; each describes a problem and its context, a discussion, and a solution. The pattern language begins with the most general patterns ("Theory") and proceeds to the most specific ("Tactics"). Each pattern is a template for research as well as action and is linked to other patterns, thus forming a single coherent whole.

At the heart of modern democracy lies the public sphere, which is most centrally shaped by those actors that integrate it discursively: the mass media. The media draw together the different strands of political debates; they grant access to some actors and arguments while excluding others and thus decisively mould the political process. In this book, Thomas Häussler examines how the media reflect and react to the wider context in which they are embedded. More specifically, he focuses on whether their discourse demonstrates systematic differences with regard to the two main public sphere types that they co-constitute, according to deliberative theory, focussing in particular on the work of Jürgen Habermas. The Media and the Public Sphere promotes a deeper and more detailed understanding of the political process by foregrounding the complex relationships between the media and the public discourse they constitute. It examines how the media co-create relationships of power, analyses the structure of these discursive networks and illuminates the effects that different deliberative coalition types have on political debates.