Language in its Social Context, 1st ed. 2024 An Introduction to Sociolinguistics

This textbook provides an accessible overview of the field of sociolinguistics. Blending qualitative and quantitative approaches and including examples drawn from different contexts and societies all over the world, the author introduces progressively complicated topics to help students build their confidence and understanding gradually as they work through the book. The chapters cover all the core topics on an introductory sociolinguistics course, including language and power, dialects, language and gender, language planning and multilingualism, and each chapter ends with a set of exercises, suggestions for small-scale projects which the author has used successfully with his own students and suggested further readings (both classic and more recent). This book assumes no background in Linguistics and is intended as an introduction to sociolinguistics that can be used at any level of undergraduate or graduate study, or by interested outsiders to the field.

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Studying Language in its Social Context.

Chapter 2: Beliefs about Language.

Chapter 3: One Society, Many Languages.

Chapter 4: Language and Interpersonal Relationships.

Chapter 5: Language and Culture.

Chapter 6: Language Variation and Place.

Chapter 7: The Sociolinguistic Variable.

Chapter 8: Language Variation and Style.

Chapter 9: Language Variation and Social Status.

Chapter 10: Language Variation and Sex.

Chapter 11: Language Variation and Ethnicity.

Chapter 12: Language Variation and Time.

Chapter 13: Languages in Contact.

Chapter 14: Language, Mode and Media.

Glossary

Index

James A. Walker is Professor of Linguistics at La Trobe University, Australia. After completing degrees in Linguistics and Anthropology at the University of Toronto and University of Ottawa, Canada, he was Professor of Linguistics at York University, UK until 2017. He is the author of Variation in Linguistic Systems (2010) and Canadian English: A Sociolinguistic Perspective (2015).

Ranges across different languages and societies, such as North and South America, Europe, Asia, & Africa

Draws on examples of real-life interaction taken from the author's and others' fieldwork & travels

Includes exercises and small-scale projects that students can conduct in their own communities