An Introduction to Sociolinguistics

Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics

by Ronald Wardhaugh

This fully revised textbook is a new edition of Ronald Wardhaugh’s popular and accessible An Introduction to Sociolinguistics .

Genres: Linguistics, Nonfiction, Language, Textbooks, Sociology, School, Education

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Chadi Raheb · Rating 3 out of 5]

آخرین کورسی که با دکتر برکت عزیزمون داشتیم و چقدر فراتر از کتاب ازش چیز یاد گرفتیم.
حالا فردا اینو امتحان داریم و من از امشب تا مدت زیادی مغموم و دلتنگ و ملول خواهم بود به خاطر این آخرین‌بار...
La vie n’est pas juste...

[Thatha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This comprehensive new edition of Wardhaugh’s textbook incorporates additional study features and numerous new and updated references to bring the book completely up-to-date, whilst maintaining the features that made the book so popular with lecturers and students: accessible coverage of a wide range of issues, clearly written, and with useful student study features.



A fully revised new edition of Ronald Wardhaugh’s popular introduction to sociolinguistics, which now includes over 150 new and updated references and new study features throughout

Features new “Explorations” sections in each chapter incorporating suggested readings, discussion sections, and exercises – all designed to encourage students to develop their own skills and ideas

Reflects new developments in the field, providing greater focus on ideas such as identity, solidarity, and markedness

Provides balanced coverage of a range of topics, including: language dialects, pidgins and Creoles, codes, bilingualism, speech communities, variation, words and culture, ethnographies, solidarity and politeness, talk and action, gender, disadvantage, and planning

Comprehensive and accessible, it is the ideal introduction for students coming to sociolinguistics for the first time.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is our course textbook for my MA-WRD class in sociolinguistics. As are most textbooks, it's a bit dense, and could stand to benefit from some restructuring or from a design face-lift, but the information is accessibly written and, most importantly, is interesting. It picks up where my previous quarter's linguistics book left off.

[Ruby · Rating 4 out of 5]

a beginners guide to socio-linguistics covering kinship, low/high speech (ie: formal language: tu vs vous), solidarity & politeness, african-american vernacular english (AAVE) pidgins and creoles, bilingualism, speech communities, variation, language maintenance, etc etc etc. You'll be a cunning linguist in no time!

[Meem Arafat Manab · Rating 3 out of 5]

প্রচুর রেফারেন্সে ঠাসা। কেইস স্টাডি খুব কম। আমার এইটা বরং ভাল্লাগছিলো অনেক বেশি।
সোশিওলিঙ্গুইস্টিক্সের হিস্টরিকাল ব্যাকগ্রাউন্ড অবশ্য বেশ উঠে আসছে (যদি কারুর সেটায় আগ্রহ থাকে)। চমস্কির সাথে গোলটা ইন্টারেস্টিং।

[Diana La Cazadora · Rating 4 out of 5]

very much a linguistics textbook, but it is written well and is more personal and inviting than most other texts.

[Joyce]

The only textbook I've ever read from cover to cover. Thanks, English in Society class!

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am currently reading this for a class. I do not like it nearly as much as my other linguistics textbook which focuses on second language acquisition.

[Nurmala Dewi]

Good book

[كادي حكمت · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good and recommended book . a little bit complicated as the writer goes in too much details and examples but it is worth reading ..

[Jada Merritt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Assigned textbook for my undergrad sociolinguistics course.

This watered and sprouted my already budding love for sociolinguistics. Wardhaugh does an excellent job of breaking down the various aspects of this subfield through examples, case studies, and definitions — all without overwhelming the reader. Easily one of the most digestible academic linguistics books out there, would definitely recommend for just about anyone interested in language and/or society.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good and comprehensive for what it is, but a little dry. Leans a bit too hard on case study summaries and meaningless exercises, and would benefit from a restructuring and a refined focus on terminology and definitions more befitting an intro textbook.

[CORSAK fan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The chapters are well-organized and the examples given are thorough and definitely help with remembering the presented information. Favorite chapters were the ones on language shift and contact, pragmatics, language & linguistics in education, and language policy and planning.

[MissBirdee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very comprehensive beginning to Sociolinguistics. It's a little dense at times and occasionally lack nuance, but overall it's a solid textbook for beginners.

[Anis Shahira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personally, this book is very comprehensive and well-detailed on Sociolinguistics issues.

[Marcus Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bastard of a book to be assigned for school, but very interesting

[AAjial Tlemcen]

I've read this book before.It's interesting!

[Allison]

This was a textbook, so I don't feel great about giving it a star review. I learned from it, which was the author's primary purpose, so in that regard, it was successful. Wardhaugh is a well-organized author, with plenty of subheadings to clearly mark each change in topic and clear descriptions of case studies that illustrate his every point.

My biggest problem with this book is that I just didn't enjoy reading it. Please keep in mind, though, that this is not important. I may have been miserable sitting there with my highlighter, making notes on case study after case study on Tok Pisin and the way languages are valued differently between different classes in Belgium, but after reading this, I can have a halfway coherent conversation on sociolinguistics, which was not true for me before I read this.

As a book to pick up and read casually, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics would be a dreadful choice, but as a textbook, it is quite successful.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally feel it's necessary to review textbooks, but I found this one particularly interesting. If you are interested in studying Sociolinguistics, I think this is the best option out there. Though some of the chapters tend to be written a tad bit negatively biased towards certain language situations in the world, I still think it's the best option for an introduction to the subject. The chapters are organized well, and they make sense. It's relatively easy to read, and it doesn't feel as dense as other textbooks that I've read. Used this for a Sociolinguistics class. Really liked it.

[Tuan Do · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have been introduced to the field through readings on language policies and historical linguistics, I found the book pretty easy to read. It is a comprehensive survey on the study of sociolinguistics, including both micro-sociolinguistics and macro-sociolinguistics which the author claimed to be inseparable. In my opinion, it would be more effective to make the distinction and to choose what is the focus and what is peripheral. Ethnomethodology, for example, seems to me an out-of-focus topic.

[Jelena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This text book provides a good background on the main topics of sociolinguistics. The chapters are well-structured and there are many examples that illustrate each piece of the theory. Furthermore at the end of each chapter there are reading suggestions on each of the topics.

What this book lacks is some highlighting of the main terms and clear definitions. It is often the case that you should read the whole section in order to find what exactly you are looking for.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book as a part of my summer Sociolinguistics class. It did a good job of reviewing the scholarship on the different topics, often highlighting disagreements or changes in the field. I feel like I got a good first-pass overview of the kinds of arguments happening in sociolinguistics.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wardhaugh gives fascinating insight into the use of language through time and space. I particularly enjoyed the topics of language planning, disadvantages, solidarity and gender. I realize now how much power is behind language, and learning another language is so much more than learning its rules of grammar.

[Anna]

informative collection of issues in the research field backed up with international examples - really made me see the bigger picture of how things are connected, even though this was by no means the first text concerned with sociolinguistics that I've read in the past years.

[Caitlin Skellett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting book. The subject matter is things that I have always wondered about language, and although it is a textbook, the way it is written is not slow or boring. It is really easy to follow.

[Megan]

An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (Textbooks in Linguistics ) by Ronald Wardhaugh (2001)

[Mohammed Shanawaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good book on sociolinguistics...it helps me a lot for better understanding sociolinguistic principle...

[Taha]

review of books

[Kamran Abbasi]

good

[Louys]

An Introduction to Sociolinguistics