1An Introduction to Sociolinguistics
1.1What is Sociolinguistics?
1.2History of Sociolinguistics in the West
1.3Language and Society
1.3.1Language as Social Behavior
1.3.2Language as a Communicative Means
1.3.3Language as an Information System
1.4Sociolinguistics and English Learning
1.5Summary
2 Language Change
2.1Introduction
2.1.1Linguistic Item
2.1.2Variety
2.1.3Linguistic Variable
2.1.4Speech Community
2.1.5Networks and Repertoires
2.2Forms of Language Change
2.2.1Phonological Change
2.2.2Morphological Changes
2.2.3Lexical Semantic Change
2.2.4Grammatical Change
2.3Nature of Change
2.3.1Internal and External Change
2.3.2Family Tree
2.3.3Wave Diffusion
2.4Factors of Change
2.4.1Imitation of the Prestigious
2.4.2Slang and Dialects
2.4.3Simplification
2.4.4Politeness
2.4.5Stratum Terms
2.5General Conclusions
3Language Variety Space
3.1Language and Dialect
3.1.1Dialecte and Patois
3.1.2Size and Prestige
3.1.3Social and Political Factors
3.1.4Dialect and Intelligibility
3.2Standard Languages
3.2.1Standardization
3.2.2Historicity and Vitality
3.2.3Autonomy and Acceptance
3.2.4Reduction and Mixture
3.3Pidgin and Creole
3.3.1Lingua Francas
3.3.2Pidgins
3.3.3Creoles
3.3.4Theories of Origin
3.4Language Loss and Revival
3.5General Conclusions
4 Language and Gender
4.1Male/Female Language
4.1.1Male/Female Lexical Forms
4.1.2Male/Female Language Differences
4.2Sexism in Languages
4.2.1Marked and Unmarked Terms
4.2.2Female Vocabulary
4.2.3Sexist Language
4.3Sex Differences and Possible Reasons
4.3.1Social Division of Labour
4.3.2Social Prejudice
4.3.3Power and Control
4.3.4Role Relations
4.4Language Bias in English
4.5General Conclusion
5Varieties in the English World
5.1English and Social Class
5.1.1Class and Status
5.1.2Social Class and Language Variation
5.1.3Social Status and ‘Prestige’ Norms
5.2Black English in America
5.2.1Characteristics of Black English
5.2.2Three Views on Black English
5.3American English
5.3.1History of American English
5.3.2Characteristics of American English
5.3.3American English and British English
5.4Good English and Bad English
5.5Summary
6Language and Context
6.1Context Views
6.2Linguistic Context
6.2.1Conceptual Meaning
6.2.2Grammatical Meaning
6.2.3Topic Meaning
6.2.4Collocative Meaning
6.3Nonlinguistic Context
6.3.1Cultural Meaning
6.3.2Stylistic Meaning
6.3.3Status Meaning
6.3.4Temporal and Spatial Meaning
6.4Style of English in Application
6.4.1Style
6.4.2English in Advertisements
6.4.3Features in Political English
6.5Register
6.5.1Context and Register
6.5.2Features of Register
6.6Summary
7Cultural Variety of Language
7.1Language and Culture
7.2Linguistic and Cultural Relativity
7.2.1The SapirWhorf Hypothesis
7.2.2Reaction to Linguistic and Cultural Relativity
7.3Address Forms and Culture
7.3.1Kinship Term and Kinship System
7.3.2Social Address
7.4Jargon, Taboo & Euphemism
7.4.1Jargon
7.4.2Taboo
7.4.3Euphemism
8Language Contact
8.1Diglossia
8.1.1Definitions of Diglossia
8.1.2Features of Diglossia
8.1.3Extended Meanings of Diglossia
8.2Bilinguals & Bilingualism
8.2.1Descriptive Analysis of Bilingualism
8.2.2Bilingual Competence
8.3Code Choosing and Code Switching
8.3.1Code Switching
8.3.2CodeMixing
8.3.3Attitudes to Code Switching and Code Mixing
8.4Concluding Remarks
9Configurations of Language
9.1Spoken and Written Language
9.2Differences and Similarities Between the Two Modalities
9.3Continua from Written to Spoken
9.4Variation Across Speech and Writing
9.5Literacy and Literacies
9.6General Conclusions
10Communicative Use of Language
10.1Ethnography of Speaking
10.1.1Descriptive Analysis of Speaking
10.1.2The Norms Governing Speech
10.2Speech Acts and the Cooperative Principle
10.2.1Properties of Speech Acts
10.2.2Indirect Speech Acts
10.2.3Conversational Maxims
10.3Conversational Structure and Strategies
10.3.1Adjacency Pairs
10.3.2Turntaking
10.3.3Openings, Topics and Closings
10.4Face and Politeness
10.4.1The Face Theory
10.4.2Politeness Principle
10.5Concluding Remarks