Languages and Their Status

An introduction both to languages themselves and to their social role, Languages and Their Status gives insight into the meaning, value, and function of language within culture and into the ways language behavior varies and changes. It examines the part languages play in the evolution and structure of communities and, in turn, the ways languages are shaped by the social forces impinging on their speakers.

Each chapter discusses what it means to be a speaker of a particular language and puts that language in context among the languages of the world.

This volume is complemented by a second volume entitledLanguages and Their Speakers, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

About the author

Edited by Timothy Shopen

Product details

• Authors: Timothy Shopen
• Assisted by: Timothy Shopen (Editor)
• Publisher: University of pennsylvania pr
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 29.01.1987
• EAN: 9780812212495
• ISBN: 978-0-8122-1249-5
• No. of pages: 352
• Subjects: Education and learning > Schoolbooks, general education schools; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative linguistics; LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Sociolinguistics, Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy