An Introduction to Sociolinguistics

Thoroughly updated and revised, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 7th Edition presents a comprehensive and fully updated introduction to the study of the relationship between language and society. Building on Ronald Wardhaugh’s classic text, co–author Janet Fuller has updated this seventh edition throughout with new discussions exploring language and communities, language and interaction, and sociolinguistic variation, as well as incorporating numerous new exercises and research ideas for today’s students. Taking account of new research from the field, the book explores exciting new perspectives drawn from linguistic anthropology, and includes new chapters on pragmatics, discourse analysis, and sociolinguistics and education. With an emphasis on using examples from languages and cultures around the world, chapters address topics including social and regional dialects, multilingualism, discourse and pragmatics, variation, language in education, and language policy and planning. A new companion website including a wealth of additional online material, as well as a glossary and a variety of new exercises and examples, helps further illuminate the ideas presented in the text. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 7th Edition continues to be the most indispensable and accessible introduction to the field of sociolinguistics for students in applied and theoretical linguistics, education, and anthropology.

Ronald Wardhaugh is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Toronto. He is the author of a number of books, including Proper English (Wiley–Blackwell, 1998) and Understanding English Grammar, 2 nd Edition (Wiley–Blackwell, 2003). Janet M. Fuller is Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She has recently published two books dealing with multilingualism, discourse and identity: Bilingual Pre–Teens: Competing ideologies and multiple identities in the U.S. and Germany (2012) and Spanish Speakers in the USA (2013), and was the editor of the sociolinguistics section of the Language and Linguistics Compass (Wiley–Blackwell) from 2010–2013.