Description
Book SynopsisHow is our language affected by our ethnicity, gender, and region? How are our conversations and other interactions structured? How does society view and regulate language? How do we use language to present ourselves to others? In this revised and updated second edition of the popularWhat Is Sociolinguistics?Gerard Van Herk explores these and other intriguing questions about language, how we use it, and its relationships to society. Van Herk guides the reader on a tour through the major issues that define the field, including region, status, gender, time, language attitudes, interaction, and style, at the same time exploring the sociolinguistics of multilingualism, culture and ethnicity, language contact, and education.
This second edition has been revised and updated to include new and more exercises, discussion questions, and suggested readings, as well as expanded chapters exploring gender duality and Latino English. Key readings are introduced in Van Herk's clear a
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vi
About the Companion Website vii
1 Introduction 1
2 Language and Society 11
3 Place 27
4 Social Status 51
5 Time 64
6 Ethnicity 81
7 Gender 96
Interlude 117
8 Style 120
9 Interaction 134
10 Multilingualism 146
11 Language Contact 158
12 Attitudes and Ideologies 171
13 Language as a Social Entity 187
14 Education 203
Epilogue. What is Sociolinguistics? 217
Glossary 220
Bibliography 238
Index 261
