Introducing Language and Society

Rodney H. Jones · Christiana Themistocleous

Feb 2022 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

This accessible and entertaining textbook introduces students to both traditional and more contemporary approaches to sociolinguistics in a real-world context, addressing current social problems that students are likely to care about, such as racism, inequality, political conflict, belonging, and issues around gender and sexuality. Each chapter includes exercises, case studies and ideas for small-scale research projects, encouraging students to think critically about the different theories and approaches to language and society, and to interrogate their own beliefs about language and communication. The book gives students a grounding in the traditional concepts and techniques upon which sociolinguistics is built, while also introducing new developments from the last decade, such as translanguaging, multimodality, superdiversity, linguistic landscapes and language and digital media. Students will also have online access to more detailed examples, links to video and audio files, and more challenging exercises to strengthen their skills and confidence as sociolinguists.

About the author

Rodney H. Jones is Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of Reading, where he teaches Sociolinguistics and Language and Digital Media on both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has published widely in the areas of sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, computer mediated communication, and health communication. His other textbooks include Discourse Analysis, 2nd edition (Routledge, 2018), and Understanding Digital Literacies, 2nd edition, with Christoph Hafner (Routledge, 2021).

Christiana Themistocleous is an Associate Professor in Sociolinguistics at the University of Reading where she has been teaching modules in Sociolinguistics, Language and Gender and Research Methods since 2010. Her research interests fall within the areas of societal multilingualism and digital media. Her recent work on multilingualism in the linguistic landscape of conflict zones has been funded by the British Academy and published in journals like Linguistic Landscapes, Discourse, Context & Media and Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development.