Even the simplest of spoken statements may provide far more information about the speaker - his social standing, his immediate situation, his relationship with his audience - than he might ever suspect.sociolinguistics focuses on all the varied aspects of the social organization of speech. We share a linguistic repertoire with members of our social networks (and failure to "fit in" linguistically may have far-reaching consequences); we also alter our speech patterns according to the specific social situation.

First Published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Originally published in 1978. This book provides and explains a framework for understanding and describing variations of style of language in relation to the social context in which it is used. Constant features of language users, such as their temporal, geographical. and social origins, their range of intelligibility, and their individualities, are related to concepts of dialects, but dialects are not the only kind of language variety. There are features of language situations that yield others; the medium used, the roles of the users and their relationships, as well as recurring situations and cultural habits, all relate to the style employed. Variety in language can be seen in terms of the major functions of language, as 'content' as 'inter-action' and as 'texture'. Studying variety in language from sociological and linguistic aspects this book is also interesting for psycholinguistics and literary study.

A genuine introduction to the linguistics of English that provides a broad overview of the subject that sustains students' interest and avoids excessive detail. It takes a top-down approach to language beginning with the largest unit of linguistic structure, the text, and working its way down through successively smaller structures.

Containing new research on social context and social language acquisition, this study covers variation in communication strategies, second language learning through interaction, and language and identity in immigrant acquisition and use.

This text includes a selection of commissioned and classic articles that introduce a range of theories of second language acquisition and the contested explanations of effective language learning.

The last decade has seen a fundamental rethinking of the concept of context. Rather than functioning solely as a constraint on linguistic performance, context is now also analysed as a product of language use. In this new perspective, language and context are seen as interactively achieved phenomena, rather than predefined sets of forms and contents. The essays in this collection, written by many of the leading figures in the social sciences, critically reexamine the concept of context from a variety of different angles and propose new ways of thinking about it with reference to specific human activities such as face-to-face interaction, radio talk, medical diagnosis, political encounters and socialisation practices. Each essay is prefaced by an introduction by the editors which provides relevant theoretical and methodological background and demonstrates its relation to other essays in the volume. The editors' general introduction provides a lucid overview of the issues currently debated. Rethinking Context will be required reading for everyone working within the fields of linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, pragmatics, conversation analysis and the sociology of language.

The chapters in this book all address the significance of the relationship between the aims and methods of language teaching and the contexts in which it takes place. Some consider the implications for the ways in which we research language teaching; others present the results of research and development work.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SOCIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE brings to students, researchers and practitioners in all of the social and language-related sciences carefully selected book-length publications dealing with sociolinguistic theory, methods, findings and applications. It approaches the study of language in society in its broadest sense, as a truly international and interdisciplinary field in which various approaches, theoretical and empirical, supplement and complement each other. The series invites the attention of linguists, language teachers of all interests, sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, historians etc. to the development of the sociology of language.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SOCIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE brings to students, researchers and practitioners in all of the social and language-related sciences carefully selected book-length publications dealing with sociolinguistic theory, methods, findings and applications. It approaches the study of language in society in its broadest sense, as a truly international and interdisciplinary field in which various approaches, theoretical and empirical, supplement and complement each other. The series invites the attention of linguists, language teachers of all interests, sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, historians etc. to the development of the sociology of language.