This market-leading language reader features thought-provoking readings that explore the various interconnections between language and American society. For more than 25 years, this engaging reader has challenged students to critically examine how language affects and constructs culture and how culture constructs and affects language. This thirteenth edition maintains the integrity of past editions while reflecting the new and fascinating language issues that exist in today's culture. Provocative selections are organized around nine major topics, and then broken into stimulating sub-themes like the connections between gender and language differences, hate speech, the language of war, and censorship on campus, inviting students to debate current social and cultural issues that are inseparable from language.

Table of Contents:
  *Chapter 1: Critical Thinking and Reading                       What Is Critical Thinking? Why Read Critically? How to Read Critically Logical Fallacies—What They Are and How to Avoid Them Exploring the Language of Visual Arguments Analyzing Visual Arguments                                                                                *Chapter 2: Critical Writing Finding Topics to Write About The General Audience The Writing Process Developing Your Ideas Why Essays Need Supporting Evidence Forms of Evidence Some Tips About Supporting Evidence Structuring Your Essay   ·                                                        *Chapter 3: Researching Your Papers Sources of Information Locating Sources Evaluating Sources Drafting Your Paper Revising and Editing Your Paper Plagiarism   *Chapter 4 Documentation Guide Where Does the Documentation Go Documentation Style A Brief Guide to MLA and APA Style Sample Student Research Paper   Chapter 5: The Evolution of Language: Learning to Communicate   From Hand to Mouth, Michael C. Corballis                                                Language and Thought, Susanne K. Langer Horton Heared A Who!, Steven Pinker *Bilingual Mind: Understanding How the Brain Speaks Two Languages, Jeffrey Kluger *Visual: Four Letter Words Chunking, Ben Zimmer                                             Another Language for the Deaf, Margalit Fox                                            Visual: SignWriting                                                       Chapter 6: Language Awareness: Personal Recollections Homemade Education, Malcolm X                                       A Word for Everything, Helen Keller  Visual: American Sign  Language Alphaet *Coming into Language, Jimmy Santiago Baca * Living with Dyslexia, Gareth Cook  Spanish Lessons, Christine Marín  The Language of Silence, Maxine Hong Kingston             Chapter 7: Language Use: What’s Your Language?  Why the U.S. Needs an Official Language, Mauro E. Mujica ·Visual: Speak American Do You Speak American? Robert MacNeil                                      Everyone Has an Accent but Me, John Esling                                            Good English and Bad, Bill Bryson  Why Good English Is Good For You, John Simon The Like Virus, David Grambs Lost in America, Douglas McGray                                                 Chapter 8: Language and Technology: Our Digital Discourse                                  In the Beginning Was the Word, Christine Rosen *Much ado about blogging, Scott Rosenberg Texting, David Crystal  r u online?: The evolving lexicon of wired teens, Kris Axtman                            Visual: I Like Your Hoodie . . . (photograph)  I Tweet, Therefore I Am, Peggy Orenstein                                      *Note to Selfie, John Dickerson,                                     Chapter 9: Language Dynamics: A Failure to Communicate?        Women Talk Too Much, Janet Holmes What Language Barrier? Deborah Cameron Oh, Mom. Oh, Honey, Deborah Tannen Nonverbal Behavior, Teri Kwal Gamble & Michael W. Gamble Small-Scale Communication, Jennifer Akin Some Friends and I Started Talking, Margaret J. Wheatley                         Chapter 10: Language Sensitivity: You Can’t Say That      Hate Speech, Robin Tolmach Lakoff Hate Speech, Robin Tolmach Lakoff The Word Police, Michiko Kakutani *Excised by the Language Police, Dianne Ravich Hate Speech Cannot Be Tolerated, Richard Delgado Visual: Free Speech Area Nigger: The Meaning of a Word, Gloria Naylor  *There Is No Such Thing as Free Speech, Stanley Fish                                   Chapter 11: The Language Advertising: Why We Buy      The Language of Advertising Claims, Jeffrey Schrank The Language of Advertising, Charles A O’Neill Be All That You Can Be: The Company Persona and Language Alignment, Frank Lunt *I Can’t See Clearly Now, Martin Lindstrom Visual: Current Advertisements                                                   Chapter 12: Language and Government: Political Wordplay                        How to Detect Propaganda, Institute for Propaganda Analysis   Doubts About Doublespeak, William Lutz            Politics and the English Language, George Orwell Fighting Words: The War over Language, Jon Hooten     Do You Speak Presidential?, Anna Marie Trester                                              *Writing a Great Campaign Speech, James T. Snyder Freedom of Speech and the Editorial Cartoon, Doug Marlette    Visual: Political Cartoons                                                                         Chapter 13: Language of Change: Challenging the Status Quo Aren’t I a Woman? Sojourner Truth *Nelson Mandela's Inaugural speech as State President *Speech at the March on Washington, Josephine Baker VISUAL: Elizabeth Eckford at Little Rock Central High School Inaugural Address, John F. Kennedy *Living the Revolution, Gloria Steinem Chapter 14: Language and Thought: Shaping the Brain Does Language Shape How You Think?, Guy Deutscher                                                  Chomsky’s Universal Grammar, Bruno Dubuc                                                     Nothing Is Missing, Tom Munnecke                                                        Visual: Calvin and Hobbs (cartoon)                                                          You Say Up, I Say Yesterday, Joan O’C. Hamilton                                                               Lost in Translation, Lera Boroditsky                                                         *Is the Internet Changing the Way We Think?, John Naughton Mind over Mass Media, Steven Pinker