This is an introduction to those aspects of sociolinguistics broadly described as the sociology of language; the effect of language and dialect differences on society.

Beginning with a general description of the social consequences of several languages being used in one society, Ralph Fasold moves on to discuss 'diglossia', the phenomena by which social functions are assigned to languages and dialects in a predictable manner. Other aspects of the subject covered here include social attitudes towards various languages and dialects, the social forces which influence multilingual...

A companion to the author's Sociolinguistics of Society, this textbook examines the influence of social interaction on language use, and discusses a variety of facts about language from the commonplace to the exotic.

This collection of different perspectives on language variation serves as a companion volume to New Ways of Analyzing Variation in English.

Twenty-four linguists analyze natural and social differences in language form, use, and attitudes.