Language in Society An Introduction to Sociolinguistics

by Romaine, Suzanne

• ISBN13: 9780198731924
• ISBN10: 0198731922
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-01-25
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Why have 1500 separate languages developed in the Pacific region? Why do Danes understand Norwegians better than Norwegians understand Danish? Is Ebonics a language or a dialect? Linguistics tends to ignore the relationship between languages and the societies in which they are spoken, while sociology generally overlooks the role of language in the constitution of society. In this book Suzanne Romaine provides a clear, lively, and accessible introduction to the field of sociolinguistics and emphasizes the constant interaction between society and language. She shows how our linguistic choices are motivated by social factors, and how certain ways of speaking come to be vested with symbolic value, drawing from evidence from studies of cultures and languages all over the world. This new edition incorporates new material on current issues in the study of gender as well as other topics such as the linguistic dimension to the ethnic conflict in the Balkans, and the controversy over Ebonics in the United States.

Author Biography

Professor Suzanne Romaine is Merton Professor of English Language at the University of Oxford and author of a number of books.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	vii
List of Tables	viii
Preface	ix
Acknowledgements	xii
Language in Society/Society in Language	1	(31)
Language v. dialect	2	(1)
Language and dialect in Papua New Guinea	2	(9)
Language and dialect in Europe	11	(6)
English: language and dialect	17	(2)
Accent v. dialect	19	(2)
Register and style	21	(2)
Speech communities and communicative competence	23	(3)
Language, society, and reality: different words, different worlds?	26	(6)
Language Choice	32	(32)
Societal multilingualism	35	(9)
Domains	44	(2)
Diglossia	46	(3)
Language shift and death	49	(6)
Code-switching	55	(9)
Sociolinguistic Patterns	64	(37)
Language and social class	67	(7)
Style	74	(1)
Language and style	75	(3)
Gender	78	(4)
Language and age	82	(1)
Language and social network	83	(4)
Standardization	87	(5)
Standardization and its effects in Papua New Guinea	92	(9)
Language and Gender	101	(34)
Sex and gender	103	(3)
Man-made language?	106	(16)
Learning to talk like a lady	122	(4)
Gossip v. shop talk	126	(2)
Language reform: a msguided attempt to change herstory?	128	(7)
Language Change in Social Perspective	135	(32)
Dialectology and language change	135	(7)
The relationship between variation and change	142	(2)
Using the present to explain the past and the past to explain the present	144	(6)
Change in real v. apparent time	150	(5)
Language change and social ideology	155	(12)
Pidging and Creole Languages	167	(38)
Distribution	169	(8)
Origins and structure	177	(14)
The creole continuum	191	(2)
Pidgins and creoles in social context	193	(12)
Linguistic Problems as Societal Problems	205	(35)
Language and educational failure	205	(8)
Difference v. deficit	213	(1)
Language differences in the classroom	214	(5)
Testing: who decides what is right?	219	(1)
Taking appropriate action	220	(4)
One flag--one nation?	224	(3)
Bilingual education: maintenance or assimilation?	227	(3)
Immersion or submersion	230	(3)
Semilingualism: a new deficit theory	233	(7)
Conclusions	240	(9)
References	249	(14)
Index	263