Books in the Edinburgh Sociolinguistics series

This textbook introduces students to the ways in which techniques from corpus linguistics can be used to aid sociolinguistic research. Corpus linguistics shares with variationist sociolinguistics a quantitative approach to the study of variation or differences between populations. It may also complement qualitative traditions of enquiry such as interactional sociolinguistics.This text covers a range of different topics within sociolinguistics:*Analysing demographic variation*Comparing language use across different cultures*Examining language change over time*Studying transcripts of spoken interactions*Identifying attitudes or discourses.Written for undergraduate and postgraduate students of sociolinguistics, or corpus linguists who wish to use corpora to study social phenomena, this textbook examines how corpora can be drawn on to investigate synchronic variation, diachronic change and the construction of discourses. It refers to several classic corpus-based studies as well as the author's own research. Original analyses of a number of corpora including the British National Corpus, the Survey of English Dialects and the Brown family of corpora are complemented by a new corpus of written British English collected around 2006 for the purposes of writing the book.Techniques of analysis like concordancing, keywords and collocations are discussed, along with corpus annotation and statistical procedures such as chi-squared tests and clustering. Paul Baker takes a critical approach to using corpora in sociolinguistics, outlining the limitations of the approach as well as its advantages.

The study of variation and change is at the heart of the sociolinguistics. Providing a wide survey of the field, this textbook is organised around three constraints on variation: linguistic structure, social structure and identity, and social and linguistic perception. By considering both structure and meaning, Scott F. Kiesling examines the most important issues surrounding variation theory, including canonical studies and terms, as well as challenges to them. Research in non-English and non-European contexts is also addressed. A range of different topics within sociolinguistics is covered including:* The linguistic variable and its status* Sociolinguistic methods* The description of variable patterns* Linguistic and social structure* Social meaning and perception. With over 50 figures and a practical section on methodology, this textbook is an ideal solution for undergraduate and postgraduate students of sociolinguistics seeking a comprehensive study of variation and change.

Bringing the study of writing to the heart of sociolinguistic inquiry, this textbook illustrates and challenges the 'great divide' between speech and writing and raises questions about what's involved in viewing any stretch of language as 'written/writing'. The book is organised around four main areas: 1) socially oriented text analyses of written texts; 2) modality inflected analyses of texts and practices; 3) writing as identity and performance; and 4) the analysis of literacy practices in relation to networks, access, participation and resources. Further topics covered include: what we mean by 'writing'; specific functions of writing and written texts within academic knowledge in sociolinguistics; and key practical questions about carrying out research into writing from sociolinguistic perspectives. Core sociolinguistic approaches to writing are explored throughout the book, including, for example, different aspects of the politics of orthography and writing systems.

Have wireless, mobile communication technologies - phones, laptops and tablets - changed the way people talk to one another? What does it mean to be able to speak or write to anyone, anywhere, 24/7/365, and get an immediate response? And what does the current profusion of these technologies mean for the study of language in social life? Do we need to develop new approaches, methodologies and theories? Taking a global perspective, this volume provides readers with a nuanced, ethnographically-informed understanding of mobile communication and sociolinguistics. The text explores a wide range of digital applications, including SMS, email, tweeting, Facebook, YouTube, chatting, blogging, Wikipedia, Second Life and gaming. It raises important questions about the nature of language, the role of multimodality and intertextuality in creating meaning, the realities and consequences of digital linguistic inequality. The formation of virtual communities, ways of online socialising and the performance of the 'self' are explored. Based on a multicultural and multilingual approach, the volume provides a comprehensive and intriguing overview of digital communication for both students and researchers.