---

This is the first book to examine the discourse of reality television. Chapters provide rigorous case studies of the discourse practices that characterise a wide range of generic and linguistic/cultural contexts, including dating shows in China and Spain, docudramas in Argentina and New Zealand, and talent shows in the UK and USA.

---

Introduction PART I: THE REALITY OF DISCOURSE AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: THEORY, APPROACHES, PRACTICES 1. The Discourse of Reality Television; Nuria Lorenzo-Dus and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich 2. Discourse Analysis Approaches to the Study of Reality Television; Nuria Lorenzo-Dus and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich PART II: REALITY TELEVISION AND IDENTITY 3. How ´Real´ is Reality Television in China? On the Success of a Chinese Dating Programme; Chris Shei 4. The (inter)play of Nationality, Religiosity and Gender: Textual Mechanisms for the Rich Representation of Israeli Identity on a Reality Race Gamedoc; Michal Hamo 5. ´There´s no harm, is there, in letting your emotions out´: A Multimodal Perspective on Language, Emotion and Identity; Monika Bednarek 6. The Aesthetics of Poverty and Crime on Argentinean Reality Television; Laura Pardo 7. Heroic Endeavours: Flying High in New Zealand Reality Television; Philippa Smith PART III: REALITY TELEVISION AND AGGRESSION 8. (Im)politeness and Exploitative TV in Britain and North America: The X Factor and American Idol ; Jonathan Culpeper and Oliver Holmes 9. Impoliteness in US/UK Talent Shows: A Diachronic Study of the Evolution of a Genre; Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, Patricia Bou-Franch and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich 10. ´No eres inteligente ni para tener amigos... Pues anda que tú´ [´You are not even clever enough to have any friends... Look who´s talking!´]: A Quantitative Analysis of the Production and Reception of Impoliteness in Present-day Spanish Reality Television; José Luis Blas Arroyo 11. ´You are killing your kids´: Understanding Impoliteness on a Family-health-makeover Reality TV Show; Cynthia Gordon 12. Moments of tTruth: Telling it Like it is on the Jeremy Kyle Show; Andrew Tolson Index

---

´Overall, the collection convincingly offers insights into theories, methodologies and topics of relevance to the study of language use in reality TV shows from a discourse analytic perspective. This carefully edited work is highly recommended for scholars working in media linguistics and discourse analysis, especially those who work on identity construction, (im)politeness and genre.´ - Journal of Pragmatics

---

Monika Bednarek, University of Sydney, Australia José Luis Blas-Arroyo, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain Patricia Bou-Franch, University of Valencia, Spain Jonathan Culpeper, Lancaster University, UK Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA Cynthia Gordon, Syracuse University, USA Oliver Holmes, previously of Lancaster University, UK Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, Swansea University, UK María Laura Pardo, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina Philippa K. Smith, AUT University in Auckland, New Zealand Andrew Tolson, De Montfort University, UK

---