Voices in Texts and Contexts

Voices in Texts and Contexts presents different perspectives of ‘voice’, a concept emerging from language choices, social and cultural phenomena, and psychology. In weaving a tapestry of linguistic experiences, from analyses of language phenomena including localised English to explanations of human behaviour, this book offers insights into how we use language, construct discourse, and express ourselves in light of selected texts and specific contexts.

Voice is a fundamental instrument to interpret human behaviour and the mind. In this book, readers will learn about uses of language, or perceptions of uses, and a wide range of messages enshrined therein.

This book grew out of the 6th and 7th International Conferences on Discourse and Society organised by the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia. It contains chapters that give special focus to Malaysia at the macro level - such as the naming of disabled people, mastery of the Malay language by migrants, loanwords of Sanskrit origin in Malaysian - as well contributions by invited scholars whose academic interests intersect with the theme of the volume. It is suitable for scholars, educators, researchers, and the interested general public.