Introducing Sociolinguistics

Rajend Mesthrie is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and Senior Research Scholar at the University of Cape Town. He was Head of the Linguistics Section (1998 – 2009), and holder of an NRF research chair in migration, language, and social change. He was President of the Linguistics Society of Southern Africa (2002-2009) and President of the International Congress of Linguists (2013-2018). He is an elected honorary life member of SALALS (South African Linguistic and Applied Linguistics Society) and the LSA (Linguistic Society of America). He is a past co-editor of English Today (2008-2012). Amongst his book publications are Language in Indenture: a Sociolinguistic history of Bhojpuri-Hindi in South Africa (1992, reprinted. 2019), Introducing Sociolinguistics (with Swann, Deumert & Leap, Edinburgh University Press 2009), Language in South Africa (ed., 2002) and Youth Language Practices & Urban Language Contact in Africa (ed., with Hurst-Harosh & Brookes, 2021). Joan Swann is a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Language and Communication in the School of Education at the Open University, UK.

The international team behind this new edition draws deeply on global scholarship. The book delivers exceptional technical and theoretical training with vivid and diverse data. It reflects the true breadth of the field — spanning classic and new media, cultures, and insights in a fast-changing world.

• List of Tables, Maps and FiguresAbbreviationsAcknowledgementsPhonetic Note to Readers1. Clearing the Ground: Basic Issues, Concepts and ApproachesRajend Mesthrie1.1 Introduction1.2 Relations between Language and Society1.3 Prescriptivism1.4 Standardisation1.5 Speech, Sign, Writing and Digital Communication1.6 Societies and Communities1.7 Monolingualism and Multilingualism1.8 ConclusionNotes2. Regional DialectologyRajend Mesthrie2.1 Introduction2.2 A Multilingual Project: The Linguistic Survey of India2.3 Monolingual Dialectology in Europe2.4 Modern Approaches to Dialect2.5 Other Facets of Dialect Variation2.6 ConclusionNotes3. Social DialectologyRajend Mesthrie3.1 Introduction3.2 Principles and Methods in Variationist Sociolinguistics3.3 Fieldwork Methods in Variationist Sociolinguistics3.4 More on Social Categories and Language3.5 Sociolinguistics on Trial: An Application of Urban Dialectology3.6 ConclusionNotes4. Language Variation and ChangeRebecca Lurie Starr4.1 Introduction4.2 The Relationship between Variation and Change4.3 Patterns of Change4.4 Approaches to Studying Change4.5 Social Factors and Language Change4.6 Social Networks and Language Change4.7 Other Factors in Change4.8 Conclusion5. Style and Stylistic VariationRebecca Lurie Starr5.1 Introduction5.2 Style, Register and Enregisterment5.3 Attention Paid to Speech5.4 Audience-Focused Approaches5.5 The Third Wave Tradition and the Speaker-Focused Approach5.6 Style and Social Groups: Communities of Practice5.7 Stylisation and Language Crossing5.8 Conclusion6. Language Choice and Code-switchingRajend Mesthrie and Joan Swann, with contributions by Barbara Mayor6.1 Introduction6.2 Language Choice in Multilingual Communities6.3 Code-switching in Multilingual Communities6.4 Code-switching and Script Play6.5 Multilingual Ecologies: The Study of Linguistics Landscapes6.6 From Code-switching to (Trans)Languaging6.7 ConclusionNotes7. Language in InteractionJoan Swann7.1 Introduction7.2 The Organisation of Everyday Conversation7.3 Narrative and Voice7.4 Long Conversations and Text Trajectories7.5 ConclusionNotes8. Media, Modes, MobilitiesCaroline Tagg8.1 Introduction8.2 Media8.3 Modes8.4 Mobilities8.5 ConclusionNotes9. Gender and Language UseJoan Swann9.1 Introduction9.2 Women's and Men's Language9.3 Language Variation and Change9.4 Gender in Interaction9.5 Contextualised Approaches: Performance and Performativity9.6 Reconceptualisations: Intersectionality Bodies, Modes and Media, and the Global South9.7 ConclusionNotes10. Language Contact and its OutcomesRajend Mesthrie10.1 Introduction10.2 Contact, Borrowing and Lexical Creativity10.3 Language Maintenance, Shift, Decline and Revival10.4 Revitalising Endangered Languages10.5 Pidgin and Creole Formation10.6 Bilingual Mixed Languages10.7 ConclusionNotes11. Globalisation and LanguageRebecca Lurie Starr11.1 Introduction11.2 Phenomena Associated with Globalisation11.3 Globalisation, Media and Language Change11.4 World Languages, World Englishes11.5 Globalisation, Language and Tourism11.6 Globalisation, Language and Music11.7 Conclusion12. Language and PowerRajend Mesthrie12.1 Introduction12.2 Power12.3 Critical Discourse Analysis12.4 Critical Language Awareness in Action12.5 Resistance to Powerful Language12.6 Language and Symbolic Power12.7 Coloniality and Decoloniality12.8 ConclusionNoteBibliographyGlossaryIndex