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

• ---

  Review

  “Comprehensively, the book provides a rich source of overviews of the field of sociolinguistics that will undoubtedly afford researchers and students in the area insightful knowledge evoking additional future dialogue and research.” (LINGUIST List, December 2010)

  Praise for Previous Editions

  “The standard text in advanced undergraduate and introductory graduate courses” (Language)

  “Among the various introductions to sociolinguistics, this one certainly stands out in its comprehensiveness… it offers a wealth of relevant and correct information” (Sociolinguistica)

  Review

  “In this revised and updated edition of his classic text, Wardaugh brings us a smartly revitalized presentation, including up to the minute, current advances in sociolinguistics. While An Introduction to Sociolinguistics retains its comprehensive coverage and accessible style, it also presents students with a contemporary text that is sure to spark interest in the discipline.”

  –Alexandra D’Arcy, University of Canterbury

  “Wardhaugh has long provided teachers and introductory students with a clear yet challenging introductory textbook that is prized by all who value broad understanding of the full scope of sociolinguistic study. This latest edition once again ensures that readers are up-to-date in even the most rapidly advancing areas of research, including language and identity and language and gender. In addition, it offers enhanced reader engagement through the inclusion of thought-provoking questions and hands-on exercises generously distributed throughout each chapter. Wardhaugh has long been a staple in my introductory sociolinguistics classes, and the text is now even more indespensible than ever.”
  –Natalie Schilling-Estes, Georgetown University

  ---