The Language Work of Speechwriters

Gwynne Mapes (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

232 Seiten

2025
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-1-009-53985-2 (ISBN)

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Drawing on interview data and other sources, this book examines how speechwriters talk about their work, illuminating not only what it is they do, but also why it matters. It is essential reading for academic researchers and students in applied linguistics, discourse studies, linguistic and cultural anthropology, and sociolinguistics.

The work of speechwriters is prominent in political discourse, yet the writers themselves remain in the shadows of the powerful, public figures they work for. This book throws the spotlight on these invisible wordsmiths, illuminating not only what they do, but also why it matters. Based on ethnographic research in the US American speechwriting community, it investigates the ways in which speechwriters talk about their professional practices, and also the material procedures which guide the production of their deliverables. Relying on a robust collection of various genres of discursive data, Mapes focuses on the primary rhetorical strategies which characterize speechwriters' discourse, neatly exposing how they are beholden to a linguistic marketplace entrenched in ideological and socioeconomic struggle. Providing fascinating insights into an understudied and relatively misunderstood profession, this book is essential reading for academic researchers and students in applied linguistics, discourse studies, linguistic and cultural anthropology, and sociolinguistics.

Gwynne Mapes is a senior researcher in the Department of English at the University of Bern, Switzerland. She is a critical scholar who has published widely on the topic of food and language. Her recent publications include Elite Authenticity (Oxford University Press, 2021).

1. Introduction: wordsmiths and the business of rhetoric; 2. Parameters of professionalism: invisibility, craft, virtue; 3. Invisibility, materiality, and erasure; 4. Craft, creativity, and distinction; 5. Virtue, transgression, and value; 6. Reappraising language work: status competition and elite precarity; Glossary; Appendices.

Erscheinungsdatum	05.08.2025
Reihe/Serie	Key Topics in Applied Linguistics
Zusatzinfo	Worked examples or Exercises
Verlagsort	Cambridge
Sprache	englisch
Gewicht	421 g
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Beruf / Finanzen / Recht / Wirtschaft ► Briefe / Präsentation / Rhetorik
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Sprachwissenschaft
ISBN-10	1-009-53985-X / 100953985X
ISBN-13	978-1-009-53985-2 / 9781009539852
Zustand	Neuware