Peter Trudgill is Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of Agder, Norway. He has held Chairs in Linguistics at the Universities of Reading, Essex, Lausanne, and Fribourg (where he is now Emeritus). He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Research Centre for Linguistic Typology at La Trobe University and Honorary Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of East Anglia. His many books include Sociolinguistics: an Introduction to Language and Society (Penguin, 1974, 4th edn 2000), On Dialect (Blackwell, 1983), Dialects in Contact (Blackwell, 1986), The Dialects of England (Blackwell 1990, 2nd end 1999), New-Dialect Formation: on the Inevitability of Colonial Englishes (Edinburgh, 2004), and Investigations in Sociohistorical Linguistics: Stories of Colonisation and Contact (CUP 2010).

this thought-provoking work ... offers a fresh and compelling reason for linguists to focus on less commonly studied endangered languages. We therefore recommend this stimulating book to anyone interested in exploring possible connections between sociolinguistcs, language change, and typology.

• Prologue: Social Correlates of Linguistic Structures ; 1. Sociolinguistic Typology and the Speed of Change ; 2. Complexification, Simplification, and Two Types of Contact ; 3. Isolation and Complexification ; 4. Mechanisms of Complexification ; 5. Contact and Isolation in Phonology ; 6. Mature Phenomena and Societies of Intimates ; Epilogue: On the Future of Linguistic Complexity ; Bibliography ; Index

Peter Trudgill is Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of Agder, Norway. He has held Chairs in Linguistics at the Universities of Reading, Essex, Lausanne, and Fribourg (where he is now Emeritus). He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Research Centre for Linguistic Typology at La Trobe University and Honorary Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of East Anglia. His many books include Sociolinguistics: an Introduction to Language and Society (Penguin, 1974, 4th edn 2000), On Dialect (Blackwell, 1983), Dialects in Contact (Blackwell, 1986), The Dialects of England (Blackwell 1990, 2nd end 1999), New-Dialect Formation: on the Inevitability of Colonial Englishes (Edinburgh, 2004), and Investigations in Sociohistorical Linguistics: Stories of Colonisation and Contact (CUP 2010).

this thought-provoking work ... offers a fresh and compelling reason for linguists to focus on less commonly studied endangered languages. We therefore recommend this stimulating book to anyone interested in exploring possible connections between sociolinguistcs, language change, and typology.

• Prologue: Social Correlates of Linguistic Structures ; 1. Sociolinguistic Typology and the Speed of Change ; 2. Complexification, Simplification, and Two Types of Contact ; 3. Isolation and Complexification ; 4. Mechanisms of Complexification ; 5. Contact and Isolation in Phonology ; 6. Mature Phenomena and Societies of Intimates ; Epilogue: On the Future of Linguistic Complexity ; Bibliography ; Index

Peter Trudgill is Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of Agder, Norway. He has held Chairs in Linguistics at the Universities of Reading, Essex, Lausanne, and Fribourg (where he is now Emeritus). He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Research Centre for Linguistic Typology at La Trobe University and Honorary Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of East Anglia. His many books include Sociolinguistics: an Introduction to Language and Society (Penguin, 1974, 4th edn 2000), On Dialect (Blackwell, 1983), Dialects in Contact (Blackwell, 1986), The Dialects of England (Blackwell 1990, 2nd end 1999), New-Dialect Formation: on the Inevitability of Colonial Englishes (Edinburgh, 2004), and Investigations in Sociohistorical Linguistics: Stories of Colonisation and Contact (CUP 2010).

this thought-provoking work ... offers a fresh and compelling reason for linguists to focus on less commonly studied endangered languages. We therefore recommend this stimulating book to anyone interested in exploring possible connections between sociolinguistcs, language change, and typology.

• Prologue: Social Correlates of Linguistic Structures ; 1. Sociolinguistic Typology and the Speed of Change ; 2. Complexification, Simplification, and Two Types of Contact ; 3. Isolation and Complexification ; 4. Mechanisms of Complexification ; 5. Contact and Isolation in Phonology ; 6. Mature Phenomena and Societies of Intimates ; Epilogue: On the Future of Linguistic Complexity ; Bibliography ; Index