Our favorite movies and TV shows feature indelible characters who tell us about themselves not just in what they say but in how they say it. The creative decisions behind these voices—such as what accent or dialect to use—offer rich data for sociolinguistic study. Ideal for students of language variation as well as general readers interested in media, Vox Popular is an engaging tour through the major issues of sociolinguistic study as heard in the voices from mass media. –Wiley Publishers

Robin Queen is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Linguistics, English Languages and Literatures, and Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Michigan. In addition to her research on language variation in the mass media, Queen has extensively researched language, gender, and sexuality; intonation and prosody; and contact-related language change. She is the co-author of Through the Golden Door: Educational Approaches for Immigrant Adolescents with Limited Schooling (1998).

Anne Curzan is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of English at the University of Michigan. She also holds faculty appointments in the Department of Linguistics and the School of Education. She can be found talking about language in short videos on the LSA Wire, in the column "Talking About Words" in Michigan Today, and on the segment "That's What They Say" on Michigan Radio.

The Author's Forum is a collaboration between the U-M Institute for the Humanities, University Library, & Ann Arbor Book Festival.