Written by Monika Bednarek

I am pleased to announce the publication of my new book, Corpus-based Sociocultural Linguistics and the Representation of Linguistic Diversity on Television. The book brings together several of my research interests, including corpus linguistics, sociolinguistics, and media linguistics, to explore how linguistic diversity is represented in Australian television dialogue.

Language variation and diversity are central to how people construct, negotiate and interpret social identities. At the same time, many people’s exposure to linguistic variation doesn’t only happen through everyday interaction, but also through media. Television dialogue therefore plays an important role in shaping our understandings of language, identity and social difference.

To analyse such dialogue, the book introduces an approach that I call corpus-based sociocultural linguistics. This approach combines corpus linguistic methods, including keyword analysis, lexical profiling and concordancing, with concepts drawn from sociocultural linguistics, such as indexicality, enregisterment and language ideology.

Specifically, the book explores representations of marginalised varieties (Australian Aboriginal English) in contemporary mainstream television series. What are the possibilities for linguistic representations in this context? How are viewers exposed to linguistic variation and diversity? By analysing patterns across multiple television series, the study demonstrates how linguistic forms become associated with particular social meanings and identities, while highlighting the possibilities and limitations of media representation.

The book also explores ways of bringing together corpus linguistics with sociocultural linguistics, showing the value of combining the two. Although the focus is on Australian television, the broader issues discussed in the book are relevant beyond this context. Researchers interested in media representations of language, linguistic diversity, social identity and language ideology may find the approach useful for analysing other media genres and cultural settings.

I hope the book will contribute to ongoing discussions about linguistic diversity in the media and inspire further corpus-based sociocultural research.