This handbook focuses on the interpersonal aspects of language in use, exploring key concepts such as face, im/politeness, identity, or gender, as well as mitigation, respect/deference, and humour in a variety of settings. The volume includes theoretical overviews as well as empirical studies from experts in a range of disciplines within linguistics and communication studies and provides a multifaceted perspective on both theoretical and applied approaches to the role of language in relational work.

This book describes and assesses pronunciation talent in its various dimensions, such as production and perception or the segmental and suprasegmental levels of speech. Special focus is put on the psychological and neural correlates of phonetic performance. Behavioral influences such as empathy or motivation are investigated. The resulting classification of proficiency and talent level is used to select subjects for neuroimaging studies in which differences in brain activity between talented and untalented individuals are observed.

Language without Rights is a book-length critique of the concept of language rights. Synthesizing insights from a variety of disciplines, including linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, sociology and political philosophy, Wee demonstrates how the appeal to language rights faces a number of conceptual and practical problems, particularly because the discourse of rights is fundamentally inconsistent with the socially variable nature of language. The book also explores an alternative that is more in tune with the complexities of language in social life by suggesting that issues involving language are better managed within a model of deliberative democracy

Humour permeates our lives. People tell jokes, make puns, and engage in witty banter. There is written humour in headlines and captions, in ads, on signs, t-shirts, and bumper stickers, and in the form of graffiti. Nowadays humour is available on the web and circulated by e-mail.

Playing with Words shows how every facet of language is exploited for humour. When a word has multiple meanings or sounds like another is the basis for puns (A boiled egg is hard to beat). The word-building rules are used for clever compounds, smart blends and catchy phrases as in 'circulated by word of mouse'.

Lexical inferencing is a central process in both reading comprehension and word learning through reading. This title presents a comprehensive research review on second language lexical inferencing and a fresh study of first and second language lexical inferencing by speakers of Persian, French and English.