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Dr. Jon Aske 
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| My Sociolinguistics Page |
As a well-known sociolinguist, Roger W. Shuy, mentions in the foreword to a series of sociolinguistics books:
"The term sociolinguistics has been used since approximately the mid-1960s to designate the complex intersection of the fields of language and society. Sociologists have used linguistic data, often referring to the expression, the sociology of language, to describe and explain social behavior. Linguists, on the other hand, have tended to make use of social behavior to interpret linguistic variation. Still others have conceived of sociolinguistics in a more practical or applied sense, usually related to social dialects in an educational setting or language teaching. These three perspectives, sociological, linguistic and educational, are all legitimate ..."
In: Peñalosa, Fernando, Chicano sociolinguistics : A brief introduction, Newbury House. 1980
To this tri-partite view, we can probably add others, two of them in particular, which lie at the intersection of linguistics (pragmatics), anthropology (ethnolinguistics), and psychology (psycholinguistics), namely how language reflects the world, and thus the speakers' world-view, and how language is used to communicate meanings in particular cultures and subcultures.
Thus we can say that sociolinguistics is the study of language in its societal and cultural contexts. Several main topics of study are:
- How language reflects or creates reality and culture
- How language variation reflects and perpetuates divisions in society
- How different cultures have different patterns of communication
- Language and gender
- The politics of language
- Language planning
- etc.
In this page I will post interesting links related to sociolinguistics that I find, as well as pointers to books on the topic that are of of general interest and that are currently in print.
Up to the topLanguage Politics
James Crawford's Language Policy Web Site & Emporium
Terrific site with lots of information and links: "English Only movement, English Plus, bilingual education, efforts to save endangered languages, and language rights in the U.S.A." And much more. Read recent Papers, Speeches, Articles, book excerpts.
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Language Loyalties: A Source Book on the Official English Controversy Crawford James Crawford (Editor). Format: Paperback, 522pp. ISBN: 0226120163 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: April 1992. (At Barnes&Noble: $17.95; At amazon.com: $.) |
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Hold Your Tongue: Bilingualism and the Politics of English Only by James Crawford Addison-Wesley, 1992 324pp.; $14.95 (paperback)At James Crawford's web site. Read excerpts from Chapter 6: Hispanophobia |
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Bilingual Education: History, Politics, Theory, and Practice By James Crawford Bilingual Educational Services, 4th ed., 1999 341 pp.; $26.95 (paperback). At James Crawford's web site. |
Language and gender
Language and gender course
at the University of Colorado at Boulder (Linguistics 2400, Spring 1997. Instructor: Barbara Fox)
Review of Mars and Venus on a Date
by John Gray, in TIME magazine (JUNE 16, 1997 VOL. 149 NO. 24). By Elizabeth Gleick/Mill Valley.
How You Speak Shows Where You Rank
Harvard University's Sarah McGinty contends that our speaking style greatly influences how we are perceived by colleagues--for better or worse. In Fortune Magazine, February 2, 1998.
Language and culture
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Language Shock: Understanding the Culture of Conversation Michael Agar Format: Paperback, 288pp. ISBN: 0688149499 Publisher: Morrow,William & Co Pub. Date: November 1996. (At Barnes&Noble: $11.20; At amazon.com: $11.20.) |
Endangered/Minority languages
The Endangered Language Fund
"Human Languages Are Becoming Extinct. Of the more than 6,000 languages currently being spoken, less than half are likely to survive the next century. When a language is gone, it is gone forever."
Terralingua
"an international, nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the world's linguistic diversity and to investigating connections between cultural and biological diversity."
International Clearinghouse for Endangered Languages Newsletter
The Endangered Languages List (Endangered-Languages-L) web page
Plus their list of related web pages.
SSILA
The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas website.
Center For World Indigenous Studies' Fourth World Documentation Project
THE FOURTH WORLD DOCUMENTATION PROJECT, organized by the Center For World Indigenous Studies (CWIS) in 1992, attempts to document and make available to tribal governments, researchers and organizations, important documents relating to the social, political, strategic, economic and human rights situations being faced by Fourth World nations and create a historical archive of the political struggles waged by Indigenous Peoples to assert their rights as sovereign nations. The FWDP gathers documents from nations and organizations around the world and processes them into electronic text for distribution on the Internet. (borrowed from Scott DeLancey's page)
Indigenous Studies World Wide Web Virtual Library
From the Center For World Indigenous Studies in conjunction with the Australian National University's Aboriginal Studies WWW Virtual Library. (borrowed from Scott DeLancey's page)
CILC List of tribes and languages of California
Stabilizing Indigenous Languages
Handout on endangered languages
Randy LaPolla has "put together a ten-page handout on endangered languages for a talk ... It is mostly information and links on organizations involved in the problem of endangered languages and various other resources culled from the web, particularly from _Iatiku_ (which is itself mostly culled from other sources)." He has made it available for others in html and rtf formats.
The Endangered Languages Preservation and Revitalization Project
"Languages Can Be Saved. The purpose of The Endangered Languages Preservation and Revitalization Project is to make it economically feasible to create a world class learning system for an Endangered or Less Commonly Taught language. Through this initiative, Transparent Language, Inc. is making its technology and development expertise available to create powerful language learning tools that pass the richness of today's endangered languages to a new generation."
Languages of Native North America Marianne Mithun Format: Hardcover, 770pp. ISBN: 0521232287 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: September 1999. (At Barnes&Noble: $74.95; At amazon.com: $.) See description.
Discussion Lists
Language Use
The internet discussion list 'Language Use' is dedicated to issues relevant to the study and analysis of discourse, conversation, talk-in-interaction, and social action in general. Issues regularly covered on the list are interdisciplinary in nature, and reflect the breadth and dynamism of contemporary research into discourse and spoken interaction in a wide variety of social contexts.
To subscribe, send an email message to:
Majordomo@sprog.auc.dk.
In the body (*not* the 'subject' line) of the email, write:
subscribe languse. After that, The address for all correspondence will be: languse@sprog.auc.dk.
Other links
Sociolinguistics
"This introduction to some exciting aspects in the field of social linguistics is designed to encourage you to read further. There are many fascinating and odd phenomena that occur in the social aspects of language." SOCIAL FACTORS, PIDGINS AND CREOLES, POLITENESS STRATEGIES, POLITENESS AND GENDER, WHO TALKS MORE, MEN OR WOMEN?, DO MEN AND WOMEN SPEAK DIFFERENTLY?
Bibliographie Sociolinguistique de Langue Française
Ethnomethodology & Conversation Analysis In The 1990s
Books (general)
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The Handbook of Sociolinguistics
Florian Coulmas (Editor).
Format: Paperback, 532pp.
ISBN: 0631211934
Publisher: Blackwell.
Pub. Date: August 1998. (At Barnes&Noble: $34.95; At amazon.com: $34.95.)
"In 28 newly commissioned chapters distinguished contributors provide an up-to-date overview of sociolinguistics. This invaluable work of reference identifies the most important issues of sociolinguistics, makes primary sources more accessible, and provides orientation for future research. Reflecting the main division within the discipline, the two key sections deal with the social dimensions of language and the linguistic dimensions of society. In addition, there is an introductory section taking issue with theoretical and methodological foundations of sociolinguistics. The final part introduces four areas in which the application of sociolinguistic knowledge has proved to be especially fruitful in recent years; education, bilingual education, the legal profession, and language planning. The Handbook is equipped with a comprehensive bibliography which can be used as a research tool in its own right." |
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Language, Culture, and Communication : The Meaning of Messages. Nancy Bonvillian. Paperback - 400 pages 2nd edition (June 1997) Prentice Hall College Div; ISBN: 0131924931. (At amazon.com: $38.60; At Barnes&Noble: $36.75.) |
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An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (Learning About Language) by Janet Holmes Paperback (July 1992) Addison-Wesley Pub Co; ISBN: 0582060621. (At amazon.com: $35.62; At Barnes&Noble: $35.62.) At the publisher's. |
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Sociolinguistics: A Reader (Modern Linguistics Series) by Nikolas Coupland (Editor), Adam Jaworski (Editor). Paperback - 560 pages (July 1997) St Martins Pr (Short); ISBN: 0312175736. (At amazon.com: $; At Barnes&Noble: $24.95.) |
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Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching (Cambridge Applied Linguistics) by Sandra McKay (Editor), Nancy F. Hornberger (Editor) Paperback (November 1995) Cambridge Univ Pr (Pap Txt); ISBN: 0521484340. (At amazon.com: $26.95; At Barnes&Noble: $26.95.) "Including regional and social variations in dialects, language and gender, World Englishes and intercultural communication, this is the first introductory text to address explicitly the pedagogical implications of current theory and research in sociolinguistics." |
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Endangered Languages : Language Loss and Community Response
by Lenore A. Grenoble (Editor), Lindsay J. Whaley (Editor)
Paperback (April 1998)
Cambridge Univ Pr (Pap Txt); ISBN: 0521597129. (At amazon.com: $27.95; At Barnes&Noble: $27.95.)
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Introduction to Sociolinguistics (Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics), by Ronald Wardhaugh. Paperback - 432 pages 3rd edition (December 1997) Blackwell Pub; ISBN: 0631204997. (At amazon.com: $32.95; At Barnes&Noble: $32.95.) |
Interactional sociolinguistics
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Narrative, Literacy, and Face in Interethnic Communication (Advances in Discourse Processes , Vol 7) Ronald Scollon Suzanne B. K. Scollon Format: Paperback, 209pp. Publisher: Ablex Publishing Corporation ISBN: 0893910864. (At Barnes&Noble: $42.50; At amazon.com: $42.50.) |
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Cultural Communication and Intercultural Contact (Communication Textbook Series) by Donald Carbaugh (Editor) Paperback (December 1990) Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc; ISBN: 0805807276. (At Barnes&Noble: $; At amazon.com: $49.95.) |
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Intercultural Communication: A Discourse Approach
Ronald Scollon Suzanne Wong Scollon
Format: Paperback, 271pp.
Publisher: Blackwell Publishers
Pub. Date: 1994 (second edition to come out dec. 2000)
ISBN: 0631194894. (At Barnes&Noble: $29.95; At amazon.com: $.)
"This volume is both a lively introduction and practical guide to the main concepts and problems of intercultural communication. Viewed from within the framework of interactive sociolinguistics associated with Tannen, Gumperz, and others, the authors focus in particular on the discourse of westerners and of Asians, the discourse of men and women, corporate discourse and the discourse of professional organizations, and intergenerational discourse. In this newly revised edition, the first chapter now includes a section which sets out the authors' distinction between cross-cultural communication and intercultural communication. Another section outlines the methodology of ethnography which is the practical basis of the authors' research. In the new final chapter, the authors return to this methodology and show how they and others have been able to use it and this book to do new research in intercultural communication and how this work has been used in conducting training and consultation programs. While making use of research in pragmatics, discourse analysis, organizational communication, social psychology, and the ethnography of communication, this book presents students, researchers, and practitioners with a comprehensive and unified framework for the analysis of intercultural discourse." |
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That's Not What I Meant : How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Relationships
by Deborah Tannen
Mass Market Paperback Reprint edition (January 1991)
Ballantine Books; ISBN: 0345340906. (At Barnes&Noble: $; At amazon.com: $6.29.)
For a popular audience. |
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You Just Don't Understand
by Deborah Tannen
Paperback - 330 pages Reprint edition (June 1991)
Ballantine Books (Trd Pap); ISBN: 0345372050. (At Barnes&Noble: $12.60; At amazon.com: $12.60.)
For a popular audience. |
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Talking from 9 to 5 : Women and Men in the Workplace : Language, Sex, and Power
by Deborah, Ph.D. Tannen
Paperback Reprint edition (September 1995)
Avon Books (Pap Trd); ISBN: 0380717832. (At Barnes&Noble: $11.25; At amazon.com: $11.25.)
For a popular audience. |
Spanish Sociolinguistics
Go to the Spanish linguistics page.
Salem State College | Department of Foreign Languages