1 Introduction 1

Key Topics 1

The Nature of Language 2

Knowledge of Language 3

Competence and performance 4

Variation 6

Variants and the linguistic variable 7

Language Users and Their Groups: Identities 8

Language and Culture 10

Directions of influence 11

The Whorfian hypothesis 11

Correlations 13

The Interdisciplinary Legacy of Sociolinguistics 14

Overview of the Book 16

Chapter Summary 16

Exercises 17

Further Reading 18

References 19

Part I Languages, Communities, and Contexts 23

2 Languages, Dialects, and Varieties 25

Key Topics 25

What is a Language? 25

Language or Dialect? 26

Mutual intelligibility 27

The role of social identity 29

Standardization 30

The standard as an abstraction 30

The standardization process 31

The standard and language change 32

Standard language? 33

The standard–dialect hierarchy 33

Regional Dialects 34

Dialect geography 34

Everyone has an accent 35

Social Dialects 36

Kiezdeutsch ‘neighborhood German’ 37

Ethnic dialects 39

African American Vernacular English 40

Features of AAVE 41

Development of AAVE 42

Societal aspects of AAVE Use 43

Styles and Indexes: The Social Meanings of Linguistic Forms 43

Chapter Summary 47

Exercises 47

Further Reading 48

References 49

3 Defining Groups 55

Key Topics 55

Speech Communities 56

Linguistic boundaries 56

Shared norms 57

Communities of Practice 60

Social Networks 62

Social Identities 64

Beliefs about Language and Social Groups 65

Language ideologies 66

The standard language ideology 66

The purist ideology 67

Monoglossic ideologies 67

Iconicity, erasure, and recursivity 68

Language attitudes 69

Perceptual dialectology 69

Matched/verbal guises 70

Implicit association task (IAT) 71

Chapter Summary 72

Exercises 72

Further Reading 73

References 74

4 Language in Context: Pragmatics 79

Key Topics 79

Speech Acts 79

Performatives 80

Implicature 83

Maxims 83

Politeness 85

Face 85

Positive and negative politeness 86

Beyond politeness theory 87

Politeness and indirectness 88

Pronouns 89

Tu and vous: power and solidarity 89

Pronouns and positioning 92

Naming and Titles 92

Fluidity and change in address terms 94

Chapter Summary 97

Exercises 97

Further Reading 100

References 100

Part II Theory and Methods 105

5 Language Variation and Change 107

Key Topics 107

Variables and Correlations 107

Types of linguistic variables 108

Indicators, markers and stereotypes 109

Independent variables 109

Data Collection and Analysis 110

The observer’s paradox 110

The sociolinguistic interview 110

Sampling 111

Apparent time and real time 112

Doing Quantitative Research: What Do the Numbers Really Mean? 112

Regional Variation 113

Mapping dialects 114

Methods in dialectology 115

Dialect mixture and free variation 117

Linguistic atlases 117

Social Variation 118

Social class membership 118

The First Wave of Variation Studies 120

Early work on gender variation 121

The fourth floor 121

Variation in Norwich 124

Variation in Detroit 124

Variation in Glasgow 125

Linguistic constraints on variation 126

Language Variation and Change 127

Change from above and below 127

Some changes in progress 127

Change across space: urban centers and physical barriers 129

Change over time or age-grading? 129

Martha’s Vineyard 131

Gender and language change 132

Language change and the linguistic marketplace 136

The Second Wave of Variation Studies 137

Social networks 138

Social network theory and language change 139

Gender variation in the second wave 140

Jocks and burnouts 141

The Third Wave of Variation Studies 142

Stance, style, and identity 142

Change across the lifespan 144

Chapter Summary 144

Exercises 144

Further Reading 146

References 146

6 Ethnographic Approaches in Sociolinguistics 153

Key Topics 153

Ethnography: Participant Observation 153

The Ethnography of Communication 155

Communicative competence 156

The communicative event and communicative acts 157

The SPEAKING device 157

Ethnography and beyond 160

Ethnomethodology 161

Background knowledge as part of communication 161

Commonsense knowledge and practical reasoning 162

Garfinkel and his students: studies in ethnomethodology 163

Ethnomethodology and conversation analysis 164

Critical Ethnography 164

(Socio)linguistic Ethnography 165

Digital Ethnographies: Research in Online Communities 167

Ethnography in Combination with Other Sociolinguistic Methods 168

Chapter Summary 169

Exercises 169

Further Reading 171

References 172

7 Discourse Analysis 175

Key Topics 175

Conversation Analysis 176

Adjacency pairs 177

Openings 178

Closings 179

Turn-taking 181

Repair 182

Institutional talk 183

Membership categorization 185

Interactional Sociolinguistics 185

Data and methodologies 186

Contextualization and stance 188

Identities 189

Critical Discourse Analysis 192

Contrasts and critiques 193

Methodologies and connections 193

Corpus Linguistics 196

Chapter Summary 198

Exercises 198

Further Reading 199

References 200

Part III Multilingual Matters 207

8 Languages in Contact: Multilingual Societies and Multilingual Discourse 209

Key Topics 209

Multilingualism as a Societal Phenomenon 210

Language competencies in multilingual societies 211

Language ideologies surrounding multilingualism 211

Linguistic landscapes 213

Language attitudes in multilingual settings 216

Language Maintenance and Shift 218

Diglossia 219

Domains 220

Language attitudes and ideologies 220

Language learning 220

The statuses of the H and L varieties 221

Extended diglossia and language maintenance 222

Questioning diglossia 223

Multilingual Discourse 224

Metaphorical and situational codeswitching 225

Communication accommodation theory 225

The markedness model 226

Multilingual identities 227

Bricolage 230

Chapter Summary 231

Exercises 231

Further Reading 235

References 235

9 Contact Varieties: Structural Consequences of Social Factors 243

Key Topics 243

The Structure of Codeswitching 243

Loanwords and Calques 245

Convergence 246

Ethnicized and Social Dialects as Contact Varieties 247

Latinx Englishes 248

Straattaal ‘street language’ 249

Mixed Languages 250

Lingua Francas 252

Pidgin and Creole Languages: Definitions 253

Connections between P/C languages and second language acquisition 254

Creole Formation 255

Theories of creole genesis 256

Geographical Distribution 258

Linguistic Characteristics of P/C Languages 259

Phonology 260

Morphosyntax 260

Vocabulary 261

From Pidgin to Creole and Beyond 262

Creole continuum? 263

Chapter Summary 265

Exercises 265

Further Reading 266

References 266

10 Language, the Nation, and Beyond 273

Key Topics 273

Language and Nation 273

Nationalism and language 274

Language and national identity categories 278

Belonging beyond the nation 280

Language and Migration 282

Identity construction in the context of migration 282

Identity over time and space 284

Diversity and superdiversity 287

Discourses of migration and integration 288

LADO 291

Language and Globalization 293

Global English: threat or promise? 295

Language and the Digital World 296

Chapter Summary 298

Exercises 298

Further Reading 298

References 299

Part IV Sociolinguistics and Social Justice 305

11 Language, Gender, and Sexuality 307

Key Topics 307

Defining Terms: Sex Category, Gender, and Sexuality 307

Sexist Language 309

Grammatical gender marking 310

Language change 312

Deficit, Dominance, and Difference 313

Women’s language as a deficit 314

Dominance 315

Difference 316

Gender and Sexuality Identities 317

Multiple identities 318

The role of hegemonic ideologies in gender and sexuality identity construction 319

Context-specific identity construction: the workplace 321

Discourses of Gender and Sexuality 323

Normative discourses 323

Discourses about language use 325

Chapter Summary 326

Exercises 326

Further Reading 327

References 327

12 Sociolinguistics and Education 335

Key Topics 335

Social Dialects and Education 336

Restricted codes and the language gap 336

Difference not deficit 337

Role of the home dialect in education 340

An achievement gap? 342

Education in Multilingual Contexts 343

Ideologies 343

Use of minoritized languages in the classroom 345

Elite and immigrant bilingualism 348

Education and World-Wide English 349

Circles of English 350

English in world-wide education 350

Elite closure 351

English in Europe 353

Chapter Summary 354

Exercises 355

Further Reading 356

References 356

13 Language Policy and Planning 365

Key Topics 365

Terminology, Concepts, and Development of the Field 365

Types of language planning 366

The intellectual history of LPP 369

Data and methods 370

LPP and Nationalization 372

LPP in Turkey: orthography and purity 372

LPP in the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet era: from Russification to nationalization 373

Official monolingualism in France 375

LPP in Post- and Neo-Colonial Contexts 376

Kenya 376

India 377

Multilingual Countries and LPP 378

Canada 379

Belgium 380

Papua New Guinea 381

Singapore 381

Feminist Language Planning 382

Endangered Languages and the Spread of English 384

Endangered languages 384

Family language policy, new speakers, and LPP 385

English world-wide 387

Language policy … or lack thereof 389

Chapter Summary 389

Exercises 389

Further Reading 390

References 391

Glossary 397

Index 421