Description
Book SynopsisLanguage and Society is a broad introduction to the interaction of language and society, intended for undergraduate students majoring in any academic discipline. The book discusses the complex socio-political roles played by large, dominant languages around the world and how the growth of major national and official languages is threatening the continued existence of smaller, minority languages. As individuals adopt new ways of speaking, many languages are disappearing, others are evolving into hybrid languages with distinctive new forms, and even long-established languages are experiencing significant change, with young speakers creating novel expressions and innovative pronunciations. Making use of a wide range of case studies selected from the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa, Andrew Simpson describes and explains key factors causing language variation and change which relate to societal structures and the expression of group and personal identity. The volume also examines how spea
Trade Reviewa behemoth undertaking ... a suitable textbook with a copious amount of captivating language-oriented examples and illustrations for students not yet familiar with studies concerned with language and society. * Tyler Barrett, Australian Review of Applied Linguistics *
Professor Simpson's book is one of the best introductions to sociolinguistics to come out in recent years, and exactly the kind of textbook that I was hoping to assign to my students. It is extraordinarily comprehensive, with a wide range of topics explored thoroughly and illustrated with case studies and examples from across the world and from many linguistic contexts. It is a truly global textbook. Perhaps most significantly, the book opens with chapters of multilingualism and language contact, establishing these as central to sociolinguistics, and this focus on multilingualism is sustained throughout the book, which is a very refreshing and long overdue approach. * Dominika M. Baran, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Duke University *
Table of ContentsForeword Chapter 1: Languages and Dialects Chapter 2: Languages with Special Roles/functions: National and Official Languages Chapter 3: Languages Under Pressure: Minority Groups and Language Loss Chapter 4: Diglossia and Code-Switching Chapter 5: Pidgins and Creoles: The Birth and Development of New Languages Chapter 6: The Globalization of English Chapter 7: Language(s) in the USA Chapter 8: Bilingualism Chapter 9: Language and Thought: The Linguistic Relativity Controversy Chapter 10: Language and Gender Chapter 11: Language Variation and Change References Subject Index
