Table of Contents

1. Introduction

Moral talk: forms, functions and value

Emotivism

Moral philosophy and moral talk

Post-crisis Britain, the moral economy and moral panic

Outline of the book

2. The social, ethical and political lives of language

Introduction

Social life of language

Michael Meacher’s speech

Ethical life of language

Political life of language

Conclusion

3. Form: what counts as moral talk?

Introduction

Stance, evaluation and moral talk

Quotability

Specificity

Determinacy

Checklist

Conclusion

4. Function: what does moral talk do?

Introduction

Evaluative language, stance, fact and value

Hobart and the multifunctionality of moral talk

Cotext

Situations and ideologies

Cameron’s speech

Eric’s call

Conclusion

5. Moral systems and ethical life

Introduction

Moral systems and ethical life

The linguistic distinction

Moral systems, ethical life and radio phone-ins

Modest moralising

Conclusion

6. Critiquing moral talk

Introduction

What is critique?

Bias

Power

Illegitimate power

Immanent critique

Moral realism

Veracity

Explanatory critique

Lay normativity

Conclusion

7.? Critiquing interpretation

Introduction

Interpretative agency

Language ideologies

Hymes’ ethical sociolinguistics

Emotivism as a corporate technology

Emotivism in political communications

Linguistic expertise and arguments for emotivism

Conclusion

8. Conclusion

Introduction

What is moral talk?

What does moral talk do?

What is moral talk good for?

Methodology: the field, the meta-field, and the armchair

Theory: linguistic interpretivism and moral realism

References

Index