Left to Right: The cultural shift from words to pictures is an in-depth study of the influence digital technology has had on the way we communicate, and the increasingly visual nature of our culture.

This book uses an interdisciplinary approach, integrating frameworks from sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology and emerging strands of research on language and new media, to demonstrate the relationship between language, society, thought, and culture to students with little to no background in linguistics. Couched in this integrative “cultural linguistic” approach, each chapter covers the significant topics in this area, including language structures, language and cognition, and language variation and change, while also presenting future avenues of study by ending each chapter in a description of how language is evolving in online contexts. This new edition includes brand new discussions on social media and the creation of identity; gestural communication; emoji writing; multimodality; and language in the global village. Discussions are supported by a wealth of pedagogical features, including sidebars, activities and assignments, and a glossary. In this second edition of Language, Society, and New Media, Marcel Danesi demonstrates the dynamic connections between language, society, thought, and culture, and how they continue to evolve in today’s rapidly changing digital world. It is ideal for students in introductory courses in sociolinguistics, language and culture, and linguistic anthropology.