Books

Stefania M. Maci, Massimiliano Demata, Mark McGlashan, Philip Seargeant (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Discourse and Disinformation Routledge, 2023, pp. 454. ISBN: 9781032124254 This handbook offers a comprehensive overview of research into discourses of disinformation, misinformation, post-truth, alternative facts, hate speech, conspiracy theories, and “fake news”. Divided into two sections, it provides a detailed look at the methodological challenges and approaches for studying disinformation, along with a wide range of case studies covering everything from climate change denial to COVID-19 conspiracies. The studies address how discourses of disinformation are constructed and developed, what rhetorical and persuasive strategies they employ, how disinformation can be discerned from real news, and what steps we might take in order to create a more trustworthy news environment. Authored by leading experts from around the world, and showcasing the most up-to-date methodological approaches to the topic, the volume makes a significant contribution to current linguistic research on politics, and is an essential guide to the discourses of disinformation for advanced students and researchers of English language studies, linguistics, and media and communication studies. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003224495/routledge-handbook-discourse-disinformation-stefania-maci-massimiliano-demata-philip-seargeant-mark-mcglashan

Ersilia Incelli, Renzo Mocini, Judith Turnbull (eds.) The Research-Practice Interface in English for Specific Purposes. Past, Present and Future Cambridge Scholars, 2022, pp. 297. ISBN: 1-5275-8910-2 This volume, edited by Ersilia Incelli, Renzo Mocini and Judith Turnbull, is a Festschrift in honor of Professor Rita Salvi, acclaimed scholar of English and English linguistics in the Faculty of Economics at ‘Sapienza’ University of Rome for many years. The book, made up of fourteen chapters, stems from the work of scholars, researchers and colleagues who have been working with Professor Salvi throughout her long career. These numerous research projects have dealt with a wide range of topics revolving around English linguistics, from Global English to business discourse, from teaching and testing techniques to ESP and corpus linguistics. ESP represents the main focus of this book, including both theoretical and practical aspects connected to the teaching of specialized English. To be sure, in a globalized and hyperspecialized world, an English language course based merely on the four basic skills that mainly involves everyday language is simply not enough to prepare students to be proficient English users in their future professional lives. The pedagogical benefits of ESP expose students to real-life specific occupations and practices. Undoubtedly, the book proves to be a valuable tool for researchers and particularly for language teachers and educators in their key role as mediators between research and teaching. https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-8910-0

Carmen Ciancia Beyond Standard English. Variation and Change in Eastern England Carocci, 2023, pp. 104. ISBN: 978-88-290-2028-7 When foreign learners of English take up an English course, they are commonly taught the standard form of the language. However, when they visit an English speaking country for the first time (e.g. the UK), they face difficulties in understanding the real English, mostly in terms of pronunciation differences. Why? This and many other questions are answered in this book, which explores the hidden mechanisms of how language works, the complex relationship between language and ideologies, and describes language as a social phenomenon by showing how societal structures affect the way people talk, particularly in Eastern England. Other topics covered include fieldwork and data analysis for students and researchers embarking on research projects in Sociolinguistics.

Arianna Maiorani, C. Bruna Mancini (eds) Space and Place as Human Coordinates: Rethinking Dimensions across Disciplines Cambridge Scholars, 2021, 1-5275-7462-8, 1-5275-9873-X This truly multidisciplinary book explores how culture-founding terms like ‘space’ and ‘place’ have been reconsidered, re-elaborated and how they have acquired new meanings through academic research that crosses the traditional borderline between the humanities and social sciences. All chapters explore from different perspectives how the notions of space and place are still modelling our sense of reality by investigating social and cultural phenomena of various types that evolved between the 20th and 21st centuries. The essays collected here provide evidence of the growing necessity of building bridges across disciplines to allow knowledge, in general, and academic work, in particular, to work towards new forms of epistemology. The book will be of particular interest to scholars and students in the areas of cultural studies, discourse analysis, multimodality, communication and media, linguistics, literary and film studies, anthropology and ethnography. https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-7462-5/

David Punter, C. Bruna Mancini (eds) Space(s) of the Fantastic. A 21st Century ManifestoRoutledge, 2021, ISBN Hardback: 9780367680282, ISBN Paperback: 9780367681692 This book provides a series of new addresses to the enduring problem of how to categorize the Fantastic. The approach taken is through the lens of spatiality; the Fantastic gives us new worlds, although of course these are refractions of worlds already in being. In place of ‘real’ spaces (whatever they might be), the Fantastic gives us imaginary spaces, although within those spaces historical and cultural conflicts are played out, albeit in forms that stretch our understanding of everyday location, and our usual interpretations of cause and effect. Many authors are addressed here, from a variety of different geographical and national traditions, thus demonstrating how the Fantastic – as a mode, a genre, a way of thinking, imagining and writing – continually traverses borders and boundaries. We hope to move the ongoing debate about the Fantastic forward in a scholarly as well as an engaging way. https://www.routledge.com/Spaces-of-the-Fantastic-A-21st-Century-Manifesto/Punter-Mancini/p/book/9780367681692#

Girolamo Tessuto, Richard Ashcroft, Vijay, K. Bhatia (eds.) Professional Discourse across Medicine, Law, and Other Disciplines: Issues and Perspectives Cambridge Scholars, 2023, pp. 385. ISBN: 1-5275-9471-8 This volume provides a stage for an extensive exploration of the interface between medicine, law and other disciplines or professions. It offers the reader opportunities to understand how this integrative, interactive interdisciplinary process can be examined through the lenses of language, discourse, and communication. Grown out from the newly established CIRLaM (Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Language and Medicine) that builds upon extensive research done by CRILL (Centre for Research in Language and Law), contributions in this volume cover cross-wise issues raised by paradigmatic cases of bioethics and law, nursing ethics and law, pharmacy ethics and law, bioethics and religion, risk management and ethics, social inclusion and bioethics, and environmental ethics. This book is part of the Medical Discourse and Communication international, double-blind referred series (formerly Legal Discourse and Communication) – Editor-in Chief: G. Tessuto. https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-9471-5