Observing and Analysing Natural Language: A Critical Account of Sociolinguistic Method

Social networks –– those informal and formal social relationships of which any human society is composed –– are distinguished by their own patters of language use. Lesley Milroy is concerned with the manner in which patterns of linguisitic variation characterize particular groups (social and cultural, geographic, male and female) within a complex urban community. First published in 1980, Language and Social Networks has had a great influence on the development of sociolinguistics. The second edition incorporates an extensive new chapter reappraising the original research and discussing other sociolinguistic work in the same paradigm.

Preface. Acknowledgments. 1. Language, Class and Community. 2. Obtaining Data in the Speech Community: Major Principles. 3. Studying Language in teh Community: The Fieldworker and the Social Network. 4. The Social Context of Speech Events. 5. The Quantitative Analysis of Linguistic Data. 6. The Language of the Individual Speaker: Patterns of Variation and Network Structure. 7. Conclusions and Theoretical Implications. Appendix. References. Index.

Lesley Milroy is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

"An impressive book by any standards, and is likely to take its place as a "classic" of sociolinguistics." R.A. Hudson, Journal of Linguistics (of the first edition)