Sociolinguistics Today (RLE Linguistics C: Applied Linguistics)

This collection of essays developed out of a conference held in Hong Kong in 1988. The aim was to provide a forum for an exchange of views between academics working within the field of sociolinguistics, in particular between those working in the West and those working in the East. Sociolinguistics Today has taken this aim a step further to produce an overview of contemporary research into sociolinguistics worldwide. The book contains articles by acknowledged leaders in the study of language and society, and the presence of sociolinguists working in Asia provides a new and exciting challenge to the hitherto western-dominated field. The comprehensive study of Asian sociolinguistics is unique and engages with the non-Asian contributions to great effect. The range of contributors reinforces the international emphasis of the book.

Kingsley Bolton, Helen Kwok

Part 1. Introduction 1. Sociolinguistics Today : Asia and the West Kingsley Bolton Part 2. Sociolinguistic Theory 2. Dialect Contact, Dialectology and Sociolinguistics Peter Trudgill 3. Meaning in Sociolinguistic Theory Ruqaiya Hasan 4. Sociolinguistic Aspects of Literacy R.B. Le Page Part 3. Language Variation, Culture and Society 5. Social Network and Prestige Arguments in Sociolinguistics James Milroy 6. New Perspectives in the Analysis of Sex Differentiation in Language Lesley Milroy 7. Diversity and Uniformity in Chinese Syntax: A Scalar Parametric Perspective Ping Chen 8. The Non-Beijing Dialect Component in Modern Standard Chinese Peter Davies 9. The Form and Meaning of Digraphia: The Case of Chinese Yat-Shing Cheung 10. 'Talk is cheap...' but 'My word is my bond': Beliefs About Talk Howard Giles, Nikolas Coupland and John Wiemann 11. Invoking the Spirits in Palawan: Ethnography and Pragmatics Charles Macdonald Part 4. Multilingualism 12. Some Major Features of the Sociolinguistic Situation in Europe and the European Charter Andrée Tabouret-Keller 13. Vernacular-Language Education Reconsidered Ralph W. Fasold 14. Reconceptualization, Translation and the Intellectualization of a Third World Language: The Case of Filipino Andrew Gonzalez 15. Contact Features of Singapore Colloquial English Anthea Fraser Gupta Part 5. Current Perspectives in Sociolinguistics 16 Sociolinguistics in Linguistics Ralph Fasold 17. The Theoretical Status of Linguistics James Milroy 18. Current and Future Directions in Sociolinguistics: A Social Psychological Contribution Howard Giles