I am interested in the social, cultural, and political dimensions of language use, particularly the way discourse intersects with power to shape the social world in which we live. My research draws from a number of disciplines engaged in the critical study of language, including sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, and discourse analysis. Reflective of my interdisciplinary background and interests, I have taught in a variety of departments, including the English Department at Carnegie Mellon University, the Linguistics Department at Stanford University, the Anthropology Department at Colorado State University, and the Linguistics Department as well as the Program for Writing & Rhetoric at the University of Colorado. The following topics as they intersect with language and discourse drive much of my research and/or teaching: power, politics, war, peace, narrative, identity, ideology, language ideologies, language policy, gender, ethnicity, race, racism, the media.
Books
Discourses of War and Peace (2013)
Given the prevalence of war around the world, it is vital to understand the way...
The "War on Terror" Narrative: Discourse and Intertextuality in the Construction and Contestation of Sociopolitical Reality (2011)
The War on Terror Narrative analyzes three types of data--presidential speeches, U.S. media discourse, and...
Discourse, War & Terrorism (with Chad Nilep) (2007)
Discourse since September 11, 2001 has constrained and shaped public discussion and debate surrounding terrorism...
Linguistic Diversity and Language Theories (with Zygmunt Frajzyngier and David Rood) (2005)
From the refinement of general methodology, to new insights of synchronic and diachronic universals, to...
Journal Articles
The Dialogic Emergence of 'Truth' in Politics: Reproduction and Subversion of the 'War on Terror' Discourse, Colorado Research in Linguistics (2008)
Truth claims in political discourse are implicated in a dialogic process whereby political actors "assimilate,...
The Politics of Recontextualization: Discursive Competition over Claims of Iranian Involvement in Iraq, Discourse & Society (2008)
The representation of issues, especially those that are highly contested or ambiguous, is an ongoing...
The Political Economy of Truth in the 'War on Terror' Discourse: Competing Visions of an Iraq/al Qaeda Connection, Social Semiotics (2007)
The textual analysis in this paper examines an interview with Vice-President Dick Cheney by Gloria...
A Corpus Study on the Item-based Nature of Early Grammar Acquisition. (with Valerie Krugler and Deborah Law), Colorado Research in Linguistics (2004)
This paper explores the item-based nature of child language acquisition by examining data from the...
Book Chapters
The Generic U.S. Presidential War Narrative: Justifying Military Force and Imagining the Nation, Discourses of War and Peace (2013)
Discursive Constructions of Global War and Terror, Handbook of Language and Globalization (2010)
In this chapter, I examine the dialogic connections involved in the global interchange of ideas...
Introduction: Discourse, War and Terrorism (with Chad Nilep), Discourse, War & Terrorism (2007)
The Narrative Construction of Identity: The Adequation of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden in the 'War on Terror, Discourse, War & Terrorism (2007)
At stake in this chapter is the power of narrative to shape sociopolitical reality. Against...
Book Reviews
Review of A. Hoskins and B. O’Loughlin’s (2007) Television and Terror: Conflicting Times and the Crisis of News Discourse, Journal of Sociolinguistics (2010)
Review of Jan Blommaert's (2005) Discourse: A Critical Introduction, Discourse & Society (2007)
Audio & Video
The 'War on Terror' Narrative (Video Presentation) (2012)
The “War on Terror” Narrative analyzes three types of data—presidential speeches, U.S. media discourse, and...
New Books in Language Interview, Discussions with Scholars of Language about their New Books (2011)
Many entries in our lexicon have an interesting history, but it’s very seldom the case...
Discursive Tactics of Resistance against the ‘War on Terror’ Narrative, Regime (of Language) Change: How to Retool the Rhetoric of War (2010)
The tenure of the Bush administration represented not only a regime of government, but also...
Course Syllabi
Language and Culture (Spring 2012 Syllabus) (2012)
In this course, we will take an ethnographic approach to examine language as a form...
History of English (Prospective Syllabus) (2012)
In this course, we will examine the linguistic and historical factors that have influenced the...
Intertextuality (Prospective Syllabus) (2012)
Intertextuality is a term coined by Julia Kristeva in articulating Mikhail Bakhtin’s ideas on dialogism....
Introduction to Linguistics (Prospective Syllabus) (2012)
Linguistics is the study of the various dimensions of language structure and language use. In...
Language in the USA (Prospective Syllabus) (2012)
Americans grapple with a number of issues related to language in the areas of education,...