Sociolinguistics

296 Pages·1996·16.62 MB·English

by  R. A. Hudson

This new edition of R. A. Hudson's widely acclaimed textbook
Sociolinguistics will be welcomed by students and teachers alike. To
reflect changes in the field since publication of the first edition in 1980,
the author has added new sections on politeness, accommodation and
prototypes; and he has expanded discussion of sex differences in lan-
guage use, and the relationship between language and thought. Over a
third of the second edition is completely new, and there is one entirely
new chapter, but ample coverage of classic topics such as varieties of
language, speech as social interaction, the quantitative study of speech
and linguistic and social inequality, remains. Like the first, the second
edition of Sociolinguistics is an exceptionally clear and helpful over-
view of the relationship of language and society.

CAMBRIDGE TEXTBOOKS IN LINGUISTICS
General editors: S.R. ANDERSON, J.BRESNAN,B.COMRIE,
W. DRESSLER, C. EWEN, R. HUDDLESTON, R. LASS, D. LIGHTFOOT,
J. LYONS, P. H. MATTHEWS, R. POSNER, S. ROMAINE, N. V. SMITH,
N. VINCENT
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Second edition
In this series
p. H. MATTHEWS Morphology Second edition
B. COMRIE Aspect
R.M.KEMPSON Semantic Theory
T.BYNON Historical Linguistics
j. A LLwooD , L. -G.ANDERSON and o D A H L Logic in Linguistics
D . B . FRY The Physics of Speech
R.A.HUDSON Sociolinguistics Second edition
J.K. CHAMBERS andP.TRUDGILL Dialectology
A. J. ELLIOTT Child Language
p. H. MATTHEWS Syntax
A. RADFORD Transformational Syntax
L . BAUER English Word-Formation
S.C.LEVINSON Pragmatics
G . BROWN and G.YULE Discourse Analysis
R. HUDDLESTON Introduction to the Grammar of English
R. LASS Phonology
B.COMRIE Tense
W.KLEIN Second Language Acquisition
A. CRUTTENDEN Intonation
A. J. WOODS, p. FLETCHER and A. HUGHES Statistics in Language Studies
D.A.CRUSE Lexical Semantics
F.R.PALMER Mood and Modality
A. RADFORD Transformational Grammar
M . G A R M A N Psycholinguistics
w. CROFT Typology and Universals
G.G.CORBETT Gender
H.J.GIEGERICH English Phonology
R.CANN Formal Semantics
p. J. HOPPER andE. c. TRAUGOTT Grammaticalization
j. L A v E R Principles of Phonetics
F.R. PALMER Grammatical Roles and Relations
B . BLAKE Case
M.A.JONES Foundations of French Syntax
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
SECOND EDITION
R. A. HUDSON
PROFESSOR OF LINGUISTICS
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521563499
© Cambridge University Press 1980, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1980
Second edition 1996
Reprinted 1998, 1999, 2001
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Hudson, Richard A.
Sociolinguistics / R. A. Hudson. — 2nd edn.
p. cm. - (Cambridge textbooks in linguistics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0 521 56349 6 (hardback). - ISBN 0 521 56514 6 (paperback)
1. Sociolinguistics. I. Title. II. Series.
P40.HB 1996 95-44008 CIP
306.4'4 - dc20
ISBN-13 978-0-521-56349-9 hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-56349-6 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-56514-1 paperback
ISBN-10 0-521-56514-6 paperback
Transferred to digital printing 2005
To LUCY, ALICE and GAYNOR

CONTENTS
rrejace to me second eaition page xm
Preface to the first edition XV
i Introduction 1
I.I Sociolinguistics 1
I.I.I A description 1
i. i. 2 Sociolinguistics and linguistics 2
i. i. 3 Sociolinguistics and the sociology of language 4
i. 2 Sociolinguistic phenomena 5
i. 2. i An imaginary world 5
i .2.2 A real but exotic world 6
1.2.3 A real and familiar world 9
1.3 Speakers and communities 10
1.3.1 Conformity and individualism 10
1.3.2 The sociolinguistic developmen t of the child 14
1.4 Summary and conclusions 17
2 Varieties of language 20
2.1 Introduction 20
2.1.1 Global and specific statements 20
2.1.2 Linguistic items 21
2.1.3 Varieties of language 22
2.1.4 'Speech communities' 24
2.2 Languages 30
2.2.1 'Language' and 'dialec t' 30
2.2.2 Standard languages 32
2.2.3 The delimitation of languages 34
2.2.4 The family tree model 37
2.3 Dialects 38
2.3.1 Regional dialects and isoglosses 38