Language and Society

LanguageandSocietyisabroadintroductiontotheinteractionoflanguageandsociety,intendedforundergraduatestudentsmajoringinanyacademicdiscipline.Thebookdiscussesthecomplexsocio-politicalrolesplayedbylarge,dominantlanguagesaroundtheworldandhowthegrowthofmajornationalandofficiallanguagesisthreateningthecontinuedexistenceofsmaller,minoritylanguages.Asindividualsadoptnewwaysofspeaking,manylanguagesaredisappearing,othersareevolvingintohybridlanguageswithdistinctivenewforms,andevenlong-establishedlanguagesareexperiencingsignificantchange,withyoungspeakerscreatingnovelexpressionsandinnovativepronunciations.MakinguseofawiderangeofcasestudiesselectedfromtheAmericas,Europe,AsiaandAfrica,AndrewSimpsondescribesandexplainskeyfactorscausinglanguagevariationandchangewhichrelatetosocietalstructuresandtheexpressionofgroupandpersonalidentity.ÂThevolumealsoexamineshowspeakers'knowledgeoflanguageactsasanimportantforcecontrollingaccesstoeducation,advancesinemploymentandthedevelopmentofsocialstatus.ÂAdditionaltopicsdiscussedinthevolumefocusontheglobalgrowthofEnglish,genderedpatternsoflanguageuse,andtheinfluenceoflanguageonperception.