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Papers by Johnny Unger

The transformational potential of using social networking sites (SNS) for activism is a highly re... more The transformational potential of using social networking sites (SNS) for activism is a highly researched topic in various academic disciplines, but the topic of ‘success’ has been largely avoided by scholars, much to the detriment of activists themselves, for whom effective use of SNS has become action critical. In this paper, we triangulate findings (incorporating data from surveys, focus groups, and tweets from activists, and combining qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis, chiefly through corpus-based critical discourse analysis) to gain a better understanding of how activists perceive and construct activism on SNS, to describe some features of successful and unsuccessful activist tweets, and to provide some recommendations for heightened impact of activist activities on SNS. To this aim, we describe to what extent certain actions leverage the affordances of digital media and distinguish between categories of action along two dimensions: individualistic vs. collectivistic and persuasive vs. confrontational. We find that activists describe goals that involve individualized, persuasive (and therefore low-risk) activities to be most effectively achieved using Twitter, likely due to fear of police intervention. Activist tweets are found to be retweeted at a dramatically lower rate than a reference corpus of general tweets, and are characterized by lack of original content. We conclude by discussing the various ways in which activists could improve these circumstances and optimize their engagement with SNS by radically increasing their leveraging of the affordances of digital media.

Journal of Language and Politics, 2013

This article examines the change in name of the devolved governing body of Scotland from the Scot... more This article examines the change in name of the devolved governing body of Scotland from the Scottish Executive (1999–2007) to the Scottish Government (2007-present) following the majority result for the Scottish National Party in the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections. In the wider European political landscape this is unusual: while ministries, departments and even political parties change their names relatively frequently, the same cannot be said for top-level political institutions. This paper investigates this discursive act of “rebranding” from a discourse-historical perspective (see Reisigl & Wodak 2009). In addition to critical analysis of various texts about the act of rebranding itself (media reports, political speeches and parliamentary debates, policy documents), the historical, cultural and political contexts are examined in relation to the wider significance of this move for top-down Scottish national identity construction. Keywords: discourse-historical approach; national identity; political branding; Scottish Government; Scottish National Party; Scottish Parliament

European Journal of Cultural Studies, 2010

The Scots language plays a key role in the political and cultural landscape of contemporary Scotl... more The Scots language plays a key role in the political and cultural landscape of contemporary Scotland. From a discourse-historical perspective, this article explores how language ideologies about the Scots language are realized linguistically in a so-called ‘languages strategy’ drafted by the Scottish Executive, and in focus groups consisting of Scottish people. This article shows that although the decline of Scots is said to be a ‘tragedy’, focus group participants seem to reject the notion of Scots as a viable, contemporary language that can be used across a wide range of registers. The policy document also seems to construct Scots in very positive terms, but is shown to be unhelpful or potentially even damaging in the process of changing public attitudes to Scots.

Vienna English Working Papers, 2008

A keek at Scots lang syne: A brief overview of the historical development of the Scots language……... more A keek at Scots lang syne: A brief overview of the historical development of the Scots language……………………………………..91 IMPRESSUM..……………………………………………………….…..….104

Language in Society, 2008

Language in Society, 2006

Books by Johnny Unger

Publication Date: 2016 Publication Name: Discursive Approaches to Language Policy, edited by Eli... more Publication Date: 2016

Publication Name: Discursive Approaches to Language Policy, edited by Elisabeth Barakos and Johann W. Unger

Systematically explores the interconnectedness of language policy and discourseIllustrates how to... more Systematically explores the interconnectedness of language policy and discourseIllustrates how to turn knowledge gained from research into practical applications to expose and remedy social inequalities and injusticesExplores language policy in terms of the multiple layers that are filtered through micro, meso, and macro level discourses This book brings together the fields of language policy and discourse studies from a multidisciplinary theoretical, methodological and empirical perspective. The chapters in this volume are written by international scholars active in the field of language policy and planning and discourse studies. The diverse research contexts range from education in Paraguay and Luxembourg via businesses in Wales to regional English language policies in Tajikistan. Readers are thereby invited to think critically about the mutual relationship between language policy and discourse in a range of social, political, economic and cultural spheres. Using approaches that draw on discourse-analytic, anthropological, ethnographic and critical sociolinguistic frameworks, the contributors in this collection explore and refine the 'discursive' and the 'critical' aspects of language policy as a multilayered, fluid, ideological, discursive and social process that can operate as a tool of social change as well as reinforcing established power structures and inequalities. Elisabeth Barakos is a Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at Aston University, Birmingham, UK. Her research interests focus on language policy discourse and practice, multilingualism and language in the workplace from a critical sociolinguistic perspective. Johann W. Unger is a Lecturer and Academic Director of Summer Programmes at Lancaster University. He researches mainly in the areas of language policy and digitally mediated politics from a critical discourse studies perspective. His 2013 monograph The Discursive Construction of the Scots Language deals extensively with language policy.

Social Media is fast becoming a key area of linguistic research. This highly accessible guidebook... more Social Media is fast becoming a key area of linguistic research. This highly accessible guidebook leads students through the process of undertaking research in order to explore the language that people use when they communicate on social media sites.

This textbook provides:

An introduction to the linguistic frameworks currently used to analyse language found in social media contexts
An outline of the practical steps and ethical guidelines entailed when gathering linguistic data from social media sites and platforms
A range of illustrative case studies, which cover different approaches, linguistic topics, digital platforms, and national contexts
Each chapter begins with a clear summary of the topics covered and also suggests sources for further reading to supplement the initial discussion and case studies. Written with an international outlook, Researching Language and Social Media is an essential book for undergraduate and postgraduate students of Linguistics, Media Studies and Communication Studies.

Conference Presentations by Johnny Unger