Introducing Sociolinguistics

Miriam Meyerhoff has taught sociolinguistics in places as diverse as New Zealand, Hawai'i, the mainland United States, Vanuatu and Scotland. She has consulted on sociolinguistic issues for the print and broadcast media and published books and articles on language variation, language and gender and language contact. She is Professor of Linguistics at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

This third edition of Miriam Meyerhoff's highly successful textbook provides a solid, up-to-date appreciation of the interdisciplinary nature of the field and covers foundation issues, recent advances and current debates. It presents familiar or classic data in new ways, and supplements the familiar with fresh examples from a wide range of languages and social settings. It clearly explains the patterns and systems that underlie language variation in use, as well as the ways in which alternations between different language varieties index personal style, social power and national identity.

New features of the third edition:

• Every chapter has been revised and updated with current research in the field, including material on sexuality, polylanguaging and lifespan change;
• Additional Connections with theory and Facts: No, really? are included throughout;
• Data from sign languages, historical linguistics and Asia-Pacific sociolinguistics have been revised and expanded;
• A brand new companion website featuring more examples and exercises can be found at routledge.com/textbooks/meyerhoff.

Chapters include exercises that enable readers to engage critically with the text, break-out boxes making connections between sociolinguistics and linguistic or social theory, and brief, lively add-ons guaranteed to make the book a memorable and enjoyable read. With a full glossary of terms and suggestions for further reading, this text gives students all the tools they need for an excellent command of sociolinguistics. It can also be used in conjunction with The Routledge Sociolinguistics Reader, Doing Sociolinguistics and the online resources shared by all three books.

This third edition of Miriam Meyerhoff's highly successful textbook is supported by The Routledge Sociolinguistics Reader, Doing Sociolinguistics and online resources shared by all books. It provides a solid, up-to-date appreciation of the interdisciplinary nature of the field covering foundation issues, recent advances and current debates. It presents familiar or classic data in new ways, and supplements the familiar with fresh examples from a wide range of languages and social settings. It clearly explains the patterns and systems that underlie language variation in use, as well as the ways in which alternations between different language varieties index personal style, social power and national identity.

New features of the third edition:

• every chapter revised and updated with current research in the field, including material on sexuality, polylanguaging, and lifespan change;
• additional Connections with theory and Facts: No really? throughout;
• revised and expanded data from signed languages, historical linguistics and Asia-Pacific sociolinguistics;
• brand new companion website featuring more examples and exercises at routledge.com/textbooks/meyerhoff.

Chapters include exercises that enable readers to engage critically with the text, break-out boxes making connections between sociolinguistics and linguistic or social theory, and brief, lively add-ons guaranteed to make the book a memorable and enjoyable read. With a full glossary of terms and suggestions for further reading, this text gives students all the tools they need for an excellent command of sociolinguistics.

List of figures; List of tables; Sounds and symbols used in the text;  Acknowledgements; Maps; Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Variation and language; Chapter 3 Variation and style; Chapter 4 Language attitudes; Chapter 5 Verbal politeness - interactional options; Chapter 6 Multilingualism and language choice; Chapter 7 Real time and apparent time; Chapter 8 Social class; Chapter 9 Social networks and communities of practice; Chapter 10 Gender; Chapter 11 Language contact; Chapter 12 Looking back and looking ahead;  Notes on the exercises; Glossary; Bibliography; Index