ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I explore language ideologies and the construction and attribution of expertise related to linguistic diversity in the BBC Voices website and, in less detail, on the companion website to the PBS programme ‘Do You Speak American?’ (henceforth, DYSA). As several recent publications on language and the media have shown, representations of language and speakers in the media are inherently ideological. They both reflect and shape foundational ideas related to the nature of language, the indexical relations between forms of language and categories of speakers or other cultural or sociopolitical entities (ethnic group; nation) and the evaluation/ranking of codes and speakers (Coupland 2003; Gal and Woolard 2001; Gieve and Norton 2007; Jaffe 2000, 2007; Jaworski 2007; Jaworski et al. 2003; Johnson and Ensslin 2007; Kelly-Holmes and Milani 2011; Lippi-Green 1997; Milani and Johnson 2010).
