Exploring Language, 8th Edition, collects 84 selections in nine chapters to focus on some provocative aspects of American culture as they are revealed by language. Among the timely topics: the media and bias, computers and writing, black English, gender differences, "warspeak, " advertising (as manipulation or art?), political double talk, and bilingualism.

Table of Contents:
1. Coming to Language. Language Basics And Beginnings. Language and Thought, Susanne K. Langer. The Language Instinct, Steven Pinker. A Brief History of English, Paul Roberts. Some Personal Beginnings. Wordstruck, Eudora Welty. Homemade Education, Malcolm X. The Man That Spelt Knife Was a Fool, Johnny Connors. The Language of Silence, Maxine Hong Kingston. Talking in the New Land, Edite Cunha Pedrosa. 2. Some Words On Writing. Getting Started. Freewriting, Peter Elbow. Finding The Right Words. Simplicity, William Zinsser. How to Write with Style, Kurt Vonnegut. Selection, Slanting, and Charged Language, Newman P. Birk and Genevieve B. Birk. Revising The Product. The Makers Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscript, Donald M. Murray. *The Writer, Richard Wilbur. 3. Media And Advertising. Making The News: Journalism Or Entertainment? Journalese as a Second Tongue, John Leo. TV News: All the World in Pictures, Neil Postman and Steve Powers. In Depth, but Shallowly, Dave Barry. Dumbing Down: TV Talk-Show Talk, Tom Shachtman. Remaking The News: Journalism Or Bias? Collective Bias, Charles G. Russell and Paul Many. Read All About It! (But Dont Believe It), Caryl Rivers. Terrorism: Civilized and Barbaric, Edward S. Herman. Two-Headed Monsters From the Columbia Journalism Review. Making Consumers: Advertising - Manipulation or Art. With These Words I Can Sell You Anything, William Lutz. The Language of Advertising, Charles A. ONeill. Case Study: Advertising. Printed Noise, George F. Will. Euphemisms for the Fat of the Land, Diane White. A Word from Our Sponsor, Patricia Volk. 4. The Language Of Politics. Propaganda: How It Bends Language. How to Detect Propaganda, Institute for Propaganda Analysis. Political Double Talk: How It Bends Minds. Politics and the English Language, George Orwell. Words Matter, Anthony Lewis. Everyspeech, Robert Yoakum. Next to of Course God America, i e.e. cummings. Case Study: Warspeak. Dehumanizing People and Euphemizing War, Haig A. Bosmajian. Wars, Wimps and Women: Talking Gender and Thinking, War, Carol Cohn. When Words Go to War, Bella English. Eleven Ways of Looking at the Gulf War, Arthur Asa Berger. 5.Language And Cultural And Ethnic Identity. What Language Is American? Bilingualism in America: English Should Be the Only Language, S. I. Hayakawa. Viva Bilingualism, James Fallows. Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, Richard Rodriguez. What Do Americans Call Themselves? Coloring Lessons, David Updike. African and American, Ellen Goodman. Innocent and Presumed Ethnic, John Yemma. Theme for English, B Langston Hughes. Case Study: Black English. From Africa to the New World and into the Space Age, Geneva Smitherman. Whats Wrong with Black English, Rachel L. Jones. 6. Slurs, Stereotypes, Swears, And Free Speech. Whats Politically Correct? Bias-Free Language: Some Guidelines, Rosalie Maggio. The Word Police, Michiko Kakutani. What Do We Call Others? 'Nigger': The Meaning of a Word, Gloria Naylor. Heard Any Good Jews Lately? Thomas Friedmann. The Etymology of the International Insult, Charles F. Berlitz. Defining the 'American Indian': A Case Study in the Language of Suppression, Haig A. Bosmajian. On Being a Cripple, Nancy Mairs. Queer, Lillian Faderman. Discrimination at Large, Jennifer A. Coleman. Telephone Conversation, Wole Soyinka. Whats Dirty Language? Mind Your Tongue, Young Man, Sandra Flahive Maurer. What 'Dirty Words' Really Mean, Dr. Joyce Brothers. Case Study: Freedom Of Speech? Regulating Racist Speech on Campus, Charles R. Lawrence III. Free Speech on Campus, Nat Hentoff. 7. Language, Gender, And Sexism. How Does English Prejudice Us Against Women And Men? Sexism in English: A 1990s Update, Alleen Pace Nilsen. English Anyone? Spiro T. Agnew. Gender Benders, Jack Rosenthal. Life as a Female Gentleman, Lani Guinier. Real Men Dont: Anti-Male Bias in English, Eugene R. August. How Do Women And Men Talk? Sex Differences, Ronald Macaulay. 'Ill Explain It to You': Lecturing and Listening, Deborah Tannen. Gender Wars in Cyberspace, Nathan Cobb. Hills Like White Elephants, Earnest Hemingway. Case Study: Sexism And The Bible. Is God Purple?, Mary Jo Meadow. The Creation of Man and Woman, from Genesis. Revised Standard Version of the Bible. God Creates Humankind, from Genesis. An Inclusive Language Lectionary. Dont Rewrite the Bible, Michael Golden. 8. Double Talk, Euphemisms, And Professional Jargon. Bureaucratic Double Talk. Doubts About Doublespeak, William Lutz. Euphemisms: Sugarcoating Reality. Euphemisms, Hugh Rawson. Talking DOWN, Nathan Cobb. Professional Jargon: Language Of The Trades. Doctor Talk, Diane Johnson. It May Not Be English, but Its Strictly Legal, George Gordon Coughlin. Case Study: Little Red Riding Hood Revisited, Russell Baker. 9. Standard And Nonstandard English. Whats 'Good' English? Good English and Bad, Bill Bryson. Why Good English Is Good for You, John Simon. Simonspeak, Jim Quinn. Whats Not 'Good' English? Slang And Dialects. It Aint No Big Thing, Paul Dickson. Are Accents Out? Hey Dude, Like NEH-oh Way! Patrick Cooke. Like, Uptalk? James Gorman.