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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 March 2001
This is a great book. In it, Shuy describes some of the applied linguistics consultancy work he has undertaken in the past twenty years, mostly involving legal cases and public institutions in the US. He sets out to show how linguistics is a valuable tool in the analysis of bureaucratic language, in the hopes that that through this, “the intersection of law and linguistics may be furthered” (x), and that more fellow linguists will become involved in similar consultancy. Shuy gives a clear exposition not only of what he and colleagues have done but also of how they have negotiated working relationships. He is particularly strong on the ethics of consultancy, and his clear exposition of how the consultancy relationship should be set up merits attention from people well beyond the area of language study. Shuy's case studies and ethical points would be good preliminary reading for students undertaking language project work (for more on ethics, see BAAL 1994).
