Media linguistics

Key takeaways

Media linguistics belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Media linguistics to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Media linguistics from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Media linguistics is the linguistic study of language use in the media. It studies the functioning of language in the media sphere, or modern mass communication presented by print, audiovisual, digital, and networked media. Media linguistics investigates the relationship between language use, which is regarded as an interface between social and cognitive communication practice, and public discourse conveyed through media. Media linguistics is being formed in the process of the differentiation of linguistics as a general theory of language, and is a sub-field of linguistics similar to other fields such as psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, developmental linguistics, legal linguistics, political linguistics, etc.

Definition

Modern media linguistics examines not only the written language of media, but also media speech. Media linguistics includes media speech studies that examine (1) the speech behavior of mass communication participants and (2) specific areas, textures, and genres of media texts. Media linguistics analyses texts, as well as their production and reception. Thus, in principle, media linguistics seeks to explain the particular case of the functioning of language—in mass communication with its complex structure and changing properties—amid the overall trends of language and speech culture. It studies language in relation to medium-specific aspects, such as the specific properties of media texts or platforms, and sometimes includes analysis of multimodality. Other purposes include analyzing patterns of language use within certain historical contexts, and establishing differences between "normal" language and media language. Media linguistics is closely related to contemporary media practices and intends to impact them, in particular, by means of media education. Studying language use in the media can be used to help develop critical media literacy, for example in relation to stereotypes. Media linguistics includes the study of traditional mass media texts (typically print or broadcast news) as well as social media and other digital media such as blog posts or SMS messages. Advertisements, amongst other multimodal media, are commonly analyzed in the context of media linguistics. The study of fictional film and television has recently emerged as an important area of media linguistics. In recent years, media linguistics has been influenced by "transnational and translocal" communication and the relationship between a country's culture and its use of language.

Importance Media linguistics includes the use of the media as a source of both historical and contemporary data for research. It is critical in examining regional language and regional dialect models of media involving the portrayal of society and culture. Media linguistics is crucial for understanding how the media broadcasts language ideologies and is able to strengthen representation of a less common, minority language or maintain representation of a dominant language. Media language is used in second language courses given its ties to culture and its surrounding context as well as its role in exposing students to native-speaker syntax and vocabulary.

Impact The study of media linguistics can address questions surrounding power, resistance, societies and identities. A study conducted by Peng in 2020 utilised online surveys and principal component analysis to analyse the results, subsequently finding "an intertwined relationship in which the effects of media exposure on acceptability judgments are moderated by language attitudes."

Applications The advent of digital communication technologies from the mid-1990s onwards blurred the boundaries between individual and mass communication. Since the early 21st century, linguists have been studying how "computer-mediated communication (CMC)" differs from older forms of media communication. While the level of interactivity between readers and writers remains the same, CMC shows increasing evidence of the media attempting to gain more and more of their reader's attention. The variables that have some of the strongest effect on how language changes over time are the number of speakers of a language and how connected they are to the other speakers. This is especially evident within social media, which has the ability to connect many speakers of the same language. CMC also shows how people might form exclusive "groups" online, and form a sense of relatedness with these groups or other online users. A technical medium (or device) can have different communication forms, so it is not enough to just study the medium. This is even more apparent with the emergence of new media. Language and media ideologies intertwine in complex ways. People's ideas about different communicative media and different media functions shape the ways they use these media, similar to how language ideologies impact the way people speak. Some scholars found that the perception of message in new media environments was highly influenced by ideologies surrounding the generic type. For example, text messages from prominent political figures were reconstructed in TV newscasts to be more standard, adult, and official than the original transcripts.

Participation frameworks The phrase 'participation framework' originated from Erving Goffman in 1981. With the advent of new media, the interactions that take place in media discourse has changed, and therefore the way we approach media participation framework also has to change. Traditionally, in written discourse, the participation framework is made up of the author(s), who disseminate their message through the written medium to the reader(s), and their work can be read at any time after publication. However, at the current stage of media discourse, there are greater levels of intertextuality, with a blurring of lines between spoken and written media. Readers are no longer reading works in protracted isolation, and can send the articles to others or post their own comments, oftentimes also eliciting a response from the journalist.

Theories

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Media linguistics

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Media linguistics claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Media linguistics before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Media linguistics ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Media linguistics

In research: Media linguistics appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Media linguistics in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Media linguistics is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Linguistics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Media linguistics outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Media linguistics in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Media linguistics means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Media linguistics out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Media linguistics in simple terms?

Media linguistics is the linguistic study of language use in the media. It studies the functioning of language in the media sphere, or modern mass communication presented by print, audiovisual, digital, and networked media.

Why does Media linguistics matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Media linguistics?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Media linguistics.