Sociolinguistics Books

Moustapha Safouan, in this courageous and honest book, confronts head-on the problem of Arab despotism, examining it from the point of view of political philosophy, religious argument and linguistic history. A ground-breaking book written by the...

The revised edition of Sociolinguistic Theory presents a critical synthesis of sociolinguistics, centering on the study of language variation and change. A revised introduction to sociolinguistic theory by one of the top scholars in the field ...

American Voices is a collection of short, readable descriptions of various American dialects, written by top researchers in the field. written by top researchers in the field and includes Southern English, New England speech, Chicano English,...

An Introduction to Language Policy: Theories and Method is a collection of newly-written chapters that cover the major theories and methods currently employed by scholars active in the field. provides an accessible introduction to the study of language...

The Handbook of Language and Globalization brings together important new studies of language and discourse in the global era, consolidating a vibrant new field of sociolinguistic research. The first volume to assemble leading scholarship in this rapidly...

Multilingualism in the English-Speaking World is the winner of the BAAL Book Prize 2005. Multilingualism in the English-Speaking World: Pedigree of Nations explores the consequences of English as a global language and multilingualism as a social...

Featuring an international contributor list, this long-awaited and broad-ranging collection examines the key issues, topics and research in pidgin and creole studies. A comprehensive reference work exploring the treatment of core aspects of...

The Ethnography of Communication presents the terms and concepts which are essential for discussing how and why language is used and how its use varies in different cultures. Presents the essential terms and concepts introduced and developed by Dell...

In today's global business environment it is necessary to communicate successfully across cultural boundaries of languages, styles, and values. Professional Communication in International Settings provides a practical way to help individuals deal with a...

Sociolinguistics: Method and Interpretation presents a thorough and practical description of current sociolinguistic methodology while recognizing that methodological decisions can never be separated from questions of theory. Presents a thorough...

Men Talk draws on rich conversational material from a wide range of contexts to illuminate our understanding of men and masculinities at the turn of the millennium. Draws on rich conversational material to illuminate our understanding of men and...

This provocative volume investigates the origins of contemporary African American Vernacular English (AAVE), one of the oldest, yet unsolved, questions in sociolinguistics.

Much scholarly work assumes that the structure of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) derives from an earlier plantation creole. This volume explores an alternative hypothesis: that the characteristic features were acquired from the varieties of...

In response to the flood of interest in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) following the recent controversy over "Ebonics," this book brings together sixteen essays on the subject by a leading expert in the field, one who has been researching and...

In 28 newly- commissioned chapters, distinguished contributors provide an up-to-date overview of sociolinguistics.

This book presents a theory of how the psychology and neurobiology of stimulus appraisal influences the variability in second language acquisition. It then extends the notion of affect developed for second language acquisition to primary language...

Language Crimes tells the story of some of the remarkable criminal court cases in which Roger Shuy has served as a consultant or expert witness. These intriguing cases show how linguistic analysis can help the courts unravel the ambiguities of taped...

This collection brings together in one volume current leading approaches to the study of media discourse.

This volume provides an ethnographically rich account of sociolinguistic variation in an adolescent population.

This book challenges the age-old myth that women's talk is trivial and unimportant. Drawing on a corpus of spontaneous conversation between friends, Jennifer Coates demonstrates the richness and complexity of the language used in such talk, focusing on...

This volume presents the long-anticipated results of several decades of inquiry into the social origins and social motivation of linguistic change. Written by one of the founders of modern sociolinguistics Features the first complete report on the...

Written by a linguist who is himself a journalist, this is a uniquely informed account of the language of the news media. Based in the frameworks of sociolinguistics and discourse analysis its concerns are with the notion of the news story, the...

Directions in Sociolinguistics is a now classic collection of pioneering essays by leading sociolinguists. It is published here for the first time in paperback and incorporates an extensive new bibliography.

A companion to the author's Sociolinguistics of Society, this textbook, examines the influence of social interaction in language use and discusses a variety of facts about language from the commonplace to the exotic.

Does the language we speak create and sustain a sexist culture? This controversial and exciting proposal has fascinated feminists, psychologists and linguists alike for well over a decade. The authors of Gender Voices explore in a clear and comprehensive...

Social networks -- those informal and formal social relationships of which any human society is composed -- are distinguished by their own patters of language use. Lesley Milroy is concerned with the manner in which patterns of linguisitic variation...

This is an introduction to those aspects of sociolinguistics broadly described as the sociology of language; the effect of language and dialect differences on society. Beginning with a general description of the social consequences of several languages...

Reflecting a multitude of developments in the study of language change and variation over the last ten years, this extensively updated second edition features a number of new chapters and remains the authoritative reference volume on a core research area...

This is a guide to the various frameworks, concepts, and methods available for the analysis of discourse within linguistics. It compares six dominant approaches to discourse analysis: speech act theory, pragmatics, ethnomethodology, interactional...

Written by the world-renowned pioneer in the field of modern sociolinguistics, this volume examines the cognitive and cultural factors responsible for linguistic change, tracing the life history of these developments, from triggering events to driving...

Popular discourse around British Muslims has often been dominated by a focus on Muslim women and their sartorial choices, particularly the hijab and niqab. This book takes a different angle and focuses on Muslim men, examining how factors like the global...

An essential book on California's Indigenous languages, updated for the first time in over 25 years.Before outsiders arrived, about one hundred distinct Indigenous languages were spoken in California, and many of them are in use today. Since its original...

This book provides an innovative and critical view into the linkages between discourse and politics and between culture and policies within the United States looking at various critical moments in the history of the development of the American Empire...

It is the 1960s, and Ireland is hoping to join what will later become the European Union. The government has devised a plan to protect Ireland's cultural identity and strengthen the Irish language by supporting small factories in the Gaeltacht,...

Has some mishagas been driving you crazy? Bubbala, listen to me: go steal your kinder's crayons and pencils. It's time for you to start potchkeying with these fun, Yiddish inspired coloring pages. Trust me, all your tsuris will melt away from the...

Canada's official languages policy makes English and French the country's official languages in federal institutions. The policy has succeeded in fostering equitable representation of both official language groups in the federal public service and has...

This important book, the first of its kind, is a historical, social, cultural and linguistic study of Indonesian. Indonesia is the fourth most populous nation in the world, and one of the most linguistically complex. Its ethnic groups speak more than 500...