Limit search to available items
Book Cover
Book
Author Romaine, Suzanne, 1951- author

Title Language in society : an introduction to sociolinguistics / Suzanne Romaine
Published Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1994

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  306.44 Rom/Lis  AVAILABLE
Description xii, 235 pages : illustrations, maps ; 21 cm
Contents 1. Language in Society/Society in Language -- 2. Language Choice -- 3. Sociolinguistic Patterns -- 4. Language and Gender -- 5. Linguistic Change in Social Perspective -- 6. Pidgin and Creole Languages -- 7. Linguistic Problems as Societal Problems
Summary She discusses both traditional and more recent issues such as language and social class, language and gender, language in education, pidgins and creoles, and language change. She shows how our linguistic choices are motivated by social factors, and how certain ways of speaking come to be vested with symbolic value. In her examples she draws on studies of cultures all over the world, including her own extensive fieldwork in Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, and Britain
Why have 1500 separate languages developed in the Pacific islands of Melanesia? Why do Danes understand Norwegian better than Norwegians understand Danish? Why is a Cornish accent rated higher than Cockney speech but lower than Oxford English? Are British and American English different languages? Linguistics tends to ignore the relationship between languages and the societies in which they are spoken, while sociology generally overlooks the role of language in the constitution of society. Suzanne Romaine provides a clear, lively, and accessible introduction to the field of sociolinguistics, emphasizing the constant interaction between society and language
Analysis Sociolinguistics
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Subject Sociolinguistics.
LC no. 93006055
ISBN 0198751338
0198751346
9780198751335
9780198751342
Other Titles Introduction to sociolinguistics