The present volume investigates the representation and use AV

of multilingualism, language variation in English and other

languages in a variety of media and cultural production

(standup comedy shows, drag shows, musical genres, TV

series, sports commentary, to name some). Scholars from

various disciplines - from literary or cultural studies, from

linguistics, language teaching, and media studies - discuss

a (dis)harmony of voices, identity formation, (media)

representation, power distribution and awareness. They

look at the (linguistic) representations of (marginalized)

groups or communities in films, TV series, novels, songs

etc. and some include the analysis of the language(s) and

language varieties used. They discuss the visibility, agency,

empowerment, stereotyping or ridiculing of different social

groups and treat issues of authenticity, (self-)identity formation,

styleshifting, audiences, media types and genres.

With this, the present volume explores and expands

the concept of polyphony as it was famously employed by

Mikhail Bakhtin in 1929.