Provides a practical 'how-to' manual that gives students an understanding of the technical and theoretical advances in acoustic phonetics, speech perception, and recording technology which is essential for sociolinguistic research.

From its beginnings in the 1960s, sociolinguistics developed several different subfields with distinct methods and interests: the variationist tradition established by Labov, the anthropological tradition of Hymes, interactional sociolinguistics as developed by Gumperz, and the sociology of language represented by the work of Fishman. All of these areas have seen a great deal of growth in recent decades, and recent studies have led to a more broadly inclusive view of sociolinguistics. Hence there is a need for a handbook that will survey the main areas of the field, point out the lacunae in our existing knowledge base, and provide directions for future research. The Oxford Handbook of Sociolinguistics will differ from existing work in four major respects. First, it will emphasize new methodological developments, particularly the convergence of linguistic anthropology and variationist sociolinguistics. Second, it will include chapters on sociolinguistic developments in areas of the world that have been relatively neglected in the major journals. Third, its chapters are written by contributors who have worked in a range of languages and whose work addresses sociolinguistic issues in bi- and multilingual contexts, i.e. the contexts in which a majority of the world's population lives. Finally, it will include substantial material on the rapidly growing study of sign language sociolinguistics.

The Handbook of Language Variation and Change , written by a distinguished international roster of contributors, reflects the vitality and growth of the discipline in its multifaceted pursuits. It is a convenient, hand-held repository of the essential knowledge about the study of language variation and change.
Written by internationally recognized experts in the field.
Reflects the vitality and growth of the discipline.
Discusses the ideas that drive the field and is illustrated with empirical studies.
Includes explanatory introductions which set out the boundaries of the field and place each of the chapters into perspective.

There are some 6,500 different languages in the world, belonging to around 250 distinct families and conforming to numerous grammatical types. This book explains why. Given that the biological mechanisms underlying language are the same in all normal human beings, would we not be a more successful species if we spoke one language? Daniel Nettle considers how this extraordinary and rich diversity arose, how it relates to the nature of language, cognition, and culture, and how it is linked with the main patterns of human geography and history. Human languages and language families are not distributed evenly: there are relatively few in Eurasia compared to the profusion found in Australasia, the Pacific, and the Americas. There is also a marked correlation between biodiversity and linguistic diversity. The author explains the processes by which this distribution evolved and changes still. To do so he returns to the earliest origins of language, reconstructing the processes of linguistic variation and diffusion that occurred when humans first filled the continents and, thousands of years later, turned to agriculture. He ends by examining the causes of linguistic mortality, and why the number of the world's languages may halve before 2100. Linguistic Diversity draws on work in anthropology, linguistics, geography, archaeology, and evolutionary science to provide a comprehensive account of the patterns of linguistic diversity. It is written in a clear, lively and accessible style, and will appeal broadly across the natural and human sciences, as well as to the informed general reader.

The human imagination never ceases to be captivated by the quest for its own roots. Who were our ancestors? In the evolutionary clash of brains and brawn, what was it that prevailed and made us, Homo sapiens, uniquely human? Today scientists cite language as the distinctively human feature. But what is language a sign, a grunt? a sound with collective symbolic meaning? This remarkable book seeks to set the record straight with a critical refinement of the language theory, providing us for the first time with a scientific explanation of how Eve came to speak at all. Wrestling with the age-old question of why such a large gulf exists between humans and other animals, Philip Lieberman mines both the fossil record and modern neuroscientific techniques to chart the development of the anatomy and brain mechanisms necessary for human language as we know it. Eschewing any notion of a language gene or instinct, he pursues instead an evolutionary path in which environment acts on a biological capacity to reveal the interconnectedness of systems that make us most human: precise motor skills, speech, language, and complex thought. Eve Spoke challenges the dominant scientific theories of language's origins and forges a new understanding of the role of language in our evolution.

Most societies in today's world are multilingual. "Language contact" occurs when speakers of different languages interact and their languages influence each other. This book is an introduction to the subject, covering individual and societal multilingualism, the acquisition of two or more languages from birth, second-language acquisition in adulthood, language change, linguistic typology, language processing, and the structure of language faculty. It explains the effects of multilingualism on society and language policy, as well as the consequences that long-term bilingualism within communities can have for the structure of languages. Drawing on the author's own first-hand observations of child and adult bilingualism, the book provides a clear analysis of such phenomena as language convergence, grammatical borrowing, and mixed languages.
● An integrated approach - covers both individual and societal bilingualism
● Includes authentic, first-hand examples of child and adult bilingualism
● Includes a detailed survey by category of structural borrowing

It is commonly agreed by linguists and anthropologists that the majority of languages spoken now around the globe will likely disappear within our lifetime. The phenomenon known as language death has started to accelerate as the world has grown smaller. This extinction of languages, and the knowledge therein, has no parallel in human history. K. David Harrison's book is the first to focus on the essential question, what is lost when a language dies? What forms of knowledge are embedded in a language's structure and vocabulary? And how harmful is it to humanity that such knowledge is lost forever? Harrison spans the globe from Siberia, to North America, to the Himalayas and elsewhere, to look at the human knowledge that is slowly being lost as the languages that express it fade from sight. He uses fascinating anecdotes and portraits of some of these languages' last remaining speakers, in order to demonstrate that this knowledge about ourselves and the world is inherently precious and once gone, will be lost forever. This knowledge is not only our cultural heritage (oral histories, poetry, stories, etc.) but very useful knowledge about plants, animals, the seasons, and other aspects of the natural world--not to mention our understanding of the capacities of the human mind.Harrison's book is a testament not only to the pressing issue of language death, but to the remarkable span of human knowledge and ingenuity. It will fascinate linguists, anthropologists, and general readers.

The phenomenon of language contact, and how it affects the structure of languages, has been of great interest to linguists. This study looks at how grammatical forms and structures evolve when speakers of two languages come into contact, and offers an interesting insight into the mechanism that induces people to transfer grammatical structures from one language to another. Drawing on findings from languages all over the world, Language Contact and Grammatical Change shows that the transfer of linguistic material across languages is quite regular and follows universal patterns of grammaticalization - contrary to previous claims that it is a fairly irregular process - and argues that internal and external explanations of language structure and change are in no way mutually exclusive. Engaging and informative, this book will be of great interest to sociolinguists, linguistic anthropologists, and all those working on grammaticalization, language contact, and language change.

Peter Trudgill looks at why human societies at different times and places produce different kinds of language. He considers how far social factors influence language structure and compares languages and dialects spoken across the globe, from Vietnam to Nigeria, Polynesia to Scandinavia, and from Canada to Amazonia. Modesty prevents Pennsylvanian Dutch Mennonites using the verb wotte ('want'); stratified society lies behind complicated Japanese honorifics; and a mountainous homeland suggests why speakers of Tibetan-Burmese Lahu have words for up there and down there. But culture and environment don't explain why Amazonian Jarawara needs three past tenses, nor why Nigerian Igbo can make do with eight adjectives, nor why most languages spoken in high altitudes do not exhibit an array of spatial demonstratives. Nor do they account for some languages changing faster than others or why some get more complex while others get simpler. The author looks at these and many other puzzles, exploring the social, linguistic, and other factors that might explain them and in the context of a huge range of languages and societies. Peter Trudgill writes readably, accessibly, and congenially. His book is jargon-free, informed by acute observation, and enlivened by argument: it will appeal to everyone with an interest in the interactions of language with culture, environment, and society.

Language has no counterpart in the animal world. Unique to Homo sapiens, it appears inseparable from human nature. But how, when and why did it emerge? The contributors to this volume - linguists, anthropologists, cognitive scientists, and others - adopt a modern Darwinian perspective which offers a bold synthesis of the human and natural sciences. As a feature of human social intelligence, language evolution is driven by biologically anomalous levels of social cooperation. Phonetic competence correspondingly reflects social pressures for vocal imitation, learning, and other forms of social transmission. Distinctively human social and cultural strategies gave rise to the complex syntactical structure of speech. This book, presenting language as a remarkable social adaptation, testifies to the growing influence of evolutionary thinking in contemporary linguistics. It will be welcomed by all those interested in human evolution, evolutionary psychology, linguistic anthropology, and general linguistics.

'Language attrition' describes the loss of, or changes to, grammatical and other features of a language as a result of declining use by speakers who have changed their linguistic environment and language habits. In such a situation there may, for example, be simplification in the tense system or in certain properties of subordinate clauses; some vocabulary items might fall into disuse and phonetic features may be restructured. These changes can be affected by features of the speaker's environment, but also by his or her attitudes and processes of identification. This book provides a detailed and up-to-date introduction to the way in which language attrition can affect language, as well as to the extra- and sociolinguistic features involved. It also familiarizes the reader with experimental approaches to attrition and data analysis techniques and provides hands-on guidelines on how to apply them.

《汉语言文字学前沿丛书：城市语言研究的理论与方法》主要关注的是城市化中的语言问题，是当代语言学的前沿课题。大规模、高速度的城市化是现代化的产物，也是当今世界的重要发展趋势。《汉语言文字学前沿丛书：城市语言研究的理论与方法》在梳理了城市语言研究的理论和方法的基础上，以合肥科学岛、南京和北京等地的调查为切入点，深入研究了城市语言的特征，不同城市语言人口状况及语言生活的变化，城市化带来的公众语言交际的问题等内容。《汉语言文字学前沿丛书：城市语言研究的理论与方法》是在言语社区理论指导下的城市语言研究的典型案例，可以作为解决城市化过程中公众交际、社会整合等问题的重要事实依据，为建立和谐社会作出贡献。

中国语言文字使用情况调查资料，ISBN：9787801848307，作者：中国语言文字使用情况

The Handbook of Language and Globalization brings together important new studies of language and discourse in the global era, consolidating a vibrant new field of sociolinguistic research. The first volume to assemble leading scholarship in this rapidly developing field Features new contributions from 36 internationally-known scholars,bringing together key research in the fieldand establishing a benchmark for future research Comprehensive coverage divided into four sections: global multilingualism, world languages and language systems; global discourse in key domains and genres; language, values and markets under globalization; and language, distance and identities Covers an impressive breadth of topics including tourism, language teaching, social networking, terrorism, and religion, among many others

It is generally agreed that about 7,000 languages are spoken across the world today and at least half may no longer be spoken by the end of this century. This state-of-the-art Handbook examines the reasons behind this dramatic loss of linguistic diversity, why it matters, and what can be done to document and support endangered languages. The volume is relevant not only to researchers in language endangerment, language shift and language death, but to anyone interested in the languages and cultures of the world. It is accessible both to specialists and non-specialists: researchers will find cutting-edge contributions from acknowledged experts in their fields, while students, activists and other interested readers will find a wealth of readable yet thorough and up-to-date information.

《城市语言生活与语言变异研究》讲述了语言存生于语言生活中，离开语言生活，语言便只能成为没有生命的“标本”。故而语言学不仅要研究语言，更要研究语言生活。研究语言生活，可以更为全面地认识语言，观察语言与社会的宏观与微观的各种联系，从一个角度解释语言的发展演变规律。研究语言生活，有助于妥善处理语言带来的各种社会问题，有助于语言资源的保护和开发，有助于社团与公民的语言权利的维护，从而保证语言的社会功能得到更好发挥，促进语言生活和谐。
语言生活是社会生活的重要内容。社会生活是分领域的，语言生活的研究也须分领域，从而形成领域语言学。领域语言学绝非语言学家自己就能建得起来的，而是需要不同领域的专家与语言学家共同努力。领域语言学起码应当研究三个方面的问题：其一，某领域的语言文字使用状况；其二，某领域的语言问题及需要制定的语言政策；其三，某领域从业人员应具有的语言文字素质，并通过培训及能力达标测试等措施，保证这些素质的实现，提高从业人员的工作质量。比如当前已经开展十余年之久的普通话水平测试工作，就应当认真考虑各行业的特点，研发带有行业特色的普通话培训教材。