Celebrity Accents and Public Identity Construction

<p>Geordie Stylizations is a short-focused research work which builds on the renovated interest on the nexus between accent-identity-prestige-prejudice offering an analysis of celebrities' use of the Geordie variety in a series of public performances as a reflection instrument for scholars but also for neophyte readers with an interest in Sociolinguistics Pragmatics Celebrity Studies Cultural Studies Anthropology Sociology and Gender Studies. Of interest are the individual instances of Geordieness performed on specific occasions i.e. the ways in which people construct their unique and constantly evolving language repertoires sometimes appropriating some other times distancing themselves from linguistic traits that would characterize them as members of specific communities in other people's perceptions. The material investigated is provided by the artistic world: engaging with the arts and culture and in particular with music is not just a solitary event but also a participatory one which many people feel is worthwhile sharing through ordinary conversation and interaction via social networks every day. </p>