An Introduction To English Sociolinguistics

This textbook aimed primarily at beginning undergraduates obtaining degreesin English provides an introduction to a range of sociolinguistic theories andtheir i... » 

This textbook aimed primarily at beginning undergraduates obtaining degreesin English provides an introduction to a range of sociolinguistic theories andtheir insight into varieties of English past and present. Drawing on bothqualitative and quantitative approaches to sociolinguistic variation the bookprovides a systematic overview of topics such as Englishas a social andlinguistic concept the relationship between regional and social dialectologyand their application to the study of English English historicalsociolinguistics from Old English to late Modern English sociolinguistics andongoing change in English Englishes as contact varieties English as anofficial language and English sociolinguistics and linguistic theory. Thebook draws from studies of English as it is spoken around the worldfacilitating a deeper understanding of linguistic variation in English and thesocial political and cultural contexts in which speakers and writers ofEnglish operate. «