Introduction to Sociolinguistics

AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLINGUISTICS
 
The new eighth edition of An Introduction to Sociolinguistics brings this valuable, bestselling textbook up to date with the latest in sociolinguistic research and pedagogy, providing a broad overview of the study of language in social context with accessible coverage of major concepts, theories, methods, issues, and debates within the field. This leading text helps students develop a critical perspective on language in society as they explore the complex connections between societal norms and language use. The eighth edition contains new and updated coverage of such topics as the societal aspects of African American Vernacular English (AAVE), multilingual societies and discourse, gender and sexuality, ideologies and language attitudes, and the social meanings of linguistic forms.
 
Organized in four sections, this text first covers traditional language issues such as the distinction between languages and dialects, identification of regional and social variation within languages, and the role of context in language use and interpretation. Subsequent chapters cover approaches to research in sociolinguistics--variationist sociolinguistics, ethnography, and discourse analytic research--and address both macro- and micro-sociolinguistic aspects of multilingualism in national, transnational, global, and digital contexts. The concluding section of the text looks at language in relation to gender and sexuality, education, and language planning and policy issues. Featuring examples from a variety of languages and cultures that illustrate topics such as social and regional dialects, multilingualism, and the linguistic construction of identity, this text provides perspectives on both new and foundational research in sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology.
 
An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, Eighth Edition, remains the ideal textbook for upper-level undergraduate and graduate course in sociolinguistics, language and society, linguistic anthropology, applied and theoretical linguistics, and education. The new edition has also been updated to support classroom application with a range of effective pedagogical tools, including end-of-chapter written exercises and an instructor website, as well as materials to support further learning such as reading suggestions, research ideas, and an updated companion student website containing a searchable glossary, a review guide, additional exercises and examples, and links to online resources.

List of contents

List of Figures xiii
 
List of Tables xiv
 
Acknowledgments xv
 
About the Companion Website xvii
 
1 Introduction 1
 
Key Topics 1
 
The Nature of Language 2
 
Knowledge of Language 3
 
Competence and performance 4
 
Variation 6
 
Variants and the linguistic variable 7
 
Language Users and Their Groups: Identities 8
 
Language and Culture 10
 
Directions of influence 11
 
The Whorfian hypothesis 11
 
Correlations 13
 
The Interdisciplinary Legacy of Sociolinguistics 14
 
Overview of the Book 16
 
Chapter Summary 16
 
Exercises 17
 
Further Reading 18
 
References 19
 
Part I Languages, Communities, and Contexts 23
 
2 Languages, Dialects, and Varieties 25
 
Key Topics 25
 
What is a Language? 25
 
Language or Dialect? 26
 
Mutual intelligibility 27
 
The role of social identity 29
 
Standardization 30
 
The standard as an abstraction 30
 
The standardization process 31
 
The standard and language change 32
 
Standard language? 33
 
The standard-dialect hierarchy 33
 
Regional Dialects 34
 
Dialect geography 34
 
Everyone has an accent 35
 
Social Dialects 36
 
Kiezdeutsch 'neighborhood German' 37
 
Ethnic dialects 39
 
African American Vernacular English 40
 
Features of AAVE 41
 
Development of AAVE 42
 
Societal aspects of AAVE Use 43
 
Styles and Indexes: The Social Meanings of Linguistic Forms 43
 
Chapter Summary 47
 
Exercises 47
 
Further Reading 48
 
References 49
 
3 Defining Groups 55
 
Key Topics 55
 
Speech Communities 56
 
Linguistic boundaries 56
 
Shared norms 57
 
Communities of Practice 60
 
Social Networks 62
 
Social Identities 64
 
Beliefs about Language and Social Groups 65
 
Language ideologies 66
 
The standard language ideology 66
 
The purist ideology 67
 
Monoglossic ideologies 67
 
Iconicity, erasure, and recursivity 68
 
Language attitudes 69
 
Perceptual dialectology 69
 
Matched/verbal guises 70
 
Implicit association task (IAT) 71
 
Chapter Summary 72
 
Exercises 72
 
Further Reading 73
 
References 74
 
4 Language in Context: Pragmatics 79
 
Key Topics 79
 
Speech Acts 79
 
Performatives 80
 
Implicature 83
 
Maxims 83
 
Politeness 85
 
Face 85
 
Positive and negative politeness 86
 
Beyond politeness theory 87
 
Politeness and indirectness 88
 
Pronouns 89
 
Tu and vous: power and solidarity 89
 
Pronouns and positioning 92
 
Naming and Titles 92
 
Fluidity and change in address terms 94
 
Chapter Summary 97
 
Exercises 97
 
Further Reading 100
 
References 100
 
Part II Theory and Methods 105
 
5 Language Variation and Change 107
 
Key Topics 107
 
Variables and Correlations 107
 
Types of linguistic variables 108
 
Indicators, markers and stereotypes 109
 
Independent variables 109
 
Data Collection and Analysis 110
 
The observer's paradox 110
 
The sociolinguistic interview 110
 
Sampling 111
 
Apparent time and real time 112
 
Doing Quantitative Research: What Do the

About the author

RONALD WARDHAUGH is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Toronto, Canada. He is the author of number of books, including Proper English (Wiley Blackwell, 1998) and Understanding English Grammar, Second Edition (Wiley Blackwell, 2003).
JANET M. FULLER is Professor and Chair of Language and Society, Department of European Languages and Cultures, University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Her previous publications have explored many aspects of multilingualism, with a recent focus on language ideologies, social identities, and discourses of national belonging. She is the author of Spanish Speakers in the USA and Bilingual Pre-Teens: Competing Ideologies and Multiple Identities in the US and Germany, and co-author of Speaking Spanish in the US and co-editor of Studies in Contact Linguistics.

Product details

• Authors: Janet M Fuller, Janet M. Fuller, Fuller Janet M., Ronald Wardhaugh, Ronald (University of Toronto) Fuller Wardhaugh, Wardhaugh Ronald
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 22.04.2021
• EAN: 9781119473428
• ISBN: 978-1-119-47342-8
• No. of pages: 480
• Series: Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Other languages / Other literatures; Anthropologie, Soziolinguistik, Linguistics, Anthropology, Sociolinguistics, Sprachwissenschaften, Linguistic Anthropology, Allg. Sprachwissenschaften, Linguistische Anthropologie