Martin Montgomery is director of the Programme on Literary Linguistics at the University of Strathclyde where he is also a member of the John Logie Baird Centre for film and television.

"This is an excellent, comprehensive examination of the field of language and society...The writing is clear and concise; understandable for a novice student and without unnecessary technical words. In addition, with the recently updated information and examples in this edition (specifically hip-hop and rap language, and material on the language of the 'war on terror') this could very well provide new information to more advanced students. The author provides a fair and balanced examination of many issues in the field of sociolinguistics."-- Linguist List, June 2009'... this book is very engaging, with fascinating in-depth examples.' - The Journal of Language and Society

• Part 1: The Development of Language 1. The Beginnings of Language Development 2. Dialogue and Language Development Part 2: Linguistic Diversity and the Speech Community 3. Language and Regional Variation: Accent and Dialect 4. Language and Ethnic Identity: British Black English 5. Language and Subcultures: Anti-Language 6. Language and Situation: Register 7. Language and Social Class: Restricted and Elaborated Speech Variants 8. Language and Gender 9. Linguistic Diversity and the Speech Community

Martin Montgomery is director of the Programme on Literary Linguistics at the University of Strathclyde where he is also a member of the John Logie Baird Centre for film and television.

"This is an excellent, comprehensive examination of the field of language and society...The writing is clear and concise; understandable for a novice student and without unnecessary technical words. In addition, with the recently updated information and examples in this edition (specifically hip-hop and rap language, and material on the language of the 'war on terror') this could very well provide new information to more advanced students. The author provides a fair and balanced examination of many issues in the field of sociolinguistics."-- Linguist List, June 2009'... this book is very engaging, with fascinating in-depth examples.' - The Journal of Language and Society

• Part 1: The Development of Language 1. The Beginnings of Language Development 2. Dialogue and Language Development Part 2: Linguistic Diversity and the Speech Community 3. Language and Regional Variation: Accent and Dialect 4. Language and Ethnic Identity: British Black English 5. Language and Subcultures: Anti-Language 6. Language and Situation: Register 7. Language and Social Class: Restricted and Elaborated Speech Variants 8. Language and Gender 9. Linguistic Diversity and the Speech Community