This volume concerns linguistic practices in which linguistic choices function to stabilize, reproduce, or change ideas about language. Such practices entail a dialectical relationship between representations of language, on one level, and broader societal, cultural, and economical factors on the other. Media discourse, with its special status in society, constitutes the main area in which the construction, reproduction, and contestation of such ideologies proceeds. Following this theoretical assumption and taking a materialist view, this collection aims to tease out the social mechanisms through which particular ideas or beliefs about linguistic practices are produced.

The volume has four sections. Part 1, “Standards and standardization in national and global context,” mainly discusses the role of the national press and broadcast media in protecting the so-called proper or correct language. The three chapters in this part deal with discourse practices in the Greek and German press, mainstream newspapers in Spain, and two game shows in Korea. Part 2, “Planning and policy in media programming,” continues to investigate linguistic ideological practices on television, with a focus on the conditions and constraints of broadcasting. Ch. 5 illustrates how programs targeted at the Brazilian diaspora are constrained by a monoglot ideology; Ch. 6 depicts the changing conditions media producers are facing in Cyprus; and Ch. 7 illustrates how Singapore's government capitalized on Singlish in helping the country out of the SARS crisis in 2003.

Part 3, “Media, ethnicity and the racialization of language,” concerns the dialectical relations between linguistic representations and other axes of social categorization. Both Chs. 8 and 9 aim to describe the links between language and race in British society. The last chapter of this part observes the linguistic representations in a combination of German media with the purpose of discovering ethnic practices in this country. Part 4, “Language ideologies in new media technologies,” concludes this collection with a review of the relationship between new media and language ideology. Ch. 11 discusses the usage of Received Pronunciation and Standard North American in two computer games. The authors of Ch. 12 depict the discursive practices through which the national British public-service providers aim to celebrate linguistic diversity. Ch. 13 explores historical change in communicative practices and experiences. The volume ends with an epilogue, revisiting the theme of language ideology and media discourse and focusing again on the importance of studying social change through the observation of media practices in relation to linguistic matters.

This collection provides many useful concepts, workable approaches, and valuable findings. It will be of great interest to scholars and students from a wide range of fields including sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, media studies, communication, and cultural studies.