Fully updated and expanded for the second edition, this core textbook provides rigorous coverage of the key themes and debates at the cutting edge of sociolinguistics research and brings together many of the most influential scholars in the field.

Introduction: Social Worlds through Language; N. Coupland and A. Jaworski.- PART I: LANGUAGE VARIATION.- Editors' Introduction to Part I.- Dialect in Society; W.Wolfram.- The Social Stratification of (r) in New York City Department Stores; W.Labov.- The Social Differentiation of English in Norwich; P.Trudgill.- The Transmission Problem in Linguistic Change; W. Labov.- Network Structure and Linguistic Change; J.Milroy and L.Milroy.- Demythologising Sociolinguistics; D.Cameron.- Syntactic Variation and Beyond; J. Cheshire.- Be + Like: The New Quotative in English; S. Tagliamonte.- Ethnography and the Study of Variation; P. Eckert.- PART II: LANGUAGE, GENDER AND SEXUALITY.- Editors' Introduction to Part II.- 'Women's Language' or 'Powerless Language'?; W.O'Barr and B.K.Atkins.- The Relativity of Linguistic Strategies: Rethinking Power and Solidarity in Gender and Dominance; D. Tannen.- Fraternity Men: Variation and Discourses of Masculinity; S.Kiesling.- Masculinity Manoeuvres: Critical Discourse Psychology and the Analysis of Identity Strategies; M. Weatherell and N. Edley.- 'Why Be Normal?': Language and Identity Practices in a Community of Nerd Girls; M.Bucholtz.- Lip service on the Fantasy Lines; K. Hall.- Language and Identity in Drag Queen Perfromances; R. Barrett.- PART III: STYLE, STYLISATION AND IDENTITY.- Editors' Introduction to Part III.- Language Style as Audience Design; A.Bell.- The Process of Communication Accommodation; H.Giles.- Crossing, Ethnicity and Code-Switching; B. Rampton.- Yorkville Crossing: White teens, hip-hop and African American English; C.Cutler.- Acts of Identity: The Pantomine Dance; N. Coupland.- Refashioning and Performing Identities in Global hip-hop; A. Pennycook.- PART IV: LANGUAGE ATTITUDES, IDEOLOGIES AND STANCES.- Editors' Introduction to Part IV.- Linguistic Resources for Socializing Humanity; E. Ochs.- Language Ideology and Linguistic Differentiation; J. T. Irvine and S. Gal.- The Production and Reception of Language Ideologies in Practice; A. Jaffe.- Language Ideology and Spelling Reform: Discourses of Orthography in the Debate on German; S. Johnson.- Social Class Differences and the Identification of Sex in Children's Speech; J.Edwards.- Folk Linguistics; N. Niedzielski and D. Preston.- PART V: MULTILINGUALISM, CODE-SWITCHING AND DIGLOSSIA.- Editors' Introduction to Part V.- The Sociology of Language; J.Fishman.- Diglossia; C. Ferguson.- Language Change and Sex Roles in a Bilingual Community; S. Gal.- Codeswitching; C. Myers Scotton.- Bilingual Conversation; P. Auer.- Linguistic and Educational Aspects of Tok Pisin; J. Siegel.- Language Rights; S. May.- Sociolinguistic Dimensions of Language Death. N. C. Dorian.- A Sociolinguistics of Globalisation; J.Blommaert.- PART VI: LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND INTERACTION.- Editors' Introduction to Part VI.- Models of the Interaction of Language and Social Life; D.Hymes.- Contextualization Conventions; J. J. Gumperz.- Cultural Dimensions of Language Acquisition; E. Ochs.- Humour, Power and Gender in the Workplace; J.Holmes.- Social Functions of Small Talk and Gossip; J. Coupland.- The Sociolinguistics of Fleeting Encounters in Tourism; A. Jaworski.- Creativity in Sign Languages; R. Sutton-Spence.- Poetics and Performance as Critical Perspec.

Why do bilingual speakers switch between their languages? Why do young English speakers say, 'I was like, 'that's insane''? How is humour used in the workplace? How are languages born and how do they die? What is gossip? How is hip-hop taken up in different parts of the world? What are people's linguistic human rights? Do ordinary people's views about language matter? These are just some of the questions asked and answered in Sociolinguistics.In this ever-changing and rapidly expanding area, new findings, perspectives and arguments are constantly emerging – on language in relation to culture, social change and social relationships. The New Sociolinguistics Reader is an up-to-date collection of the very best scholarship in the field, bringing together many of the discipline's most influential authors, with newly commissioned chapters set alongside reprints of key texts. Divided into six distinctive sections, with helpful introductions to each, the editors point to the key themes, debates and shifts within the different perspectives of modern Sociolinguistics. With an emphasis on contemporary, critical research and cutting edge debates, this comprehensive volume complements the original Sociolinguistics Reader and provides an indispensable resource for students of language, society and culture at all levels.

Provides an up-to-date overview of sociolinguistics which is firmly grounded in contemporary researchExplores a wide range of themes, including social stratification, folk linguistics, diglossia and creativity in sign languageSignposts readers to additional resources to enhance their understanding of the topics covered in this volumeAuthored by eminent sociologists who are leading authorities in the field new_to_this_edition Includes 25 new readingsFeatures a new section on language, gender and sexuality