English in Its Social Contexts
Author: Tim William Machan
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
Published: 1992
Total Pages: 268
ISBN-13: 9780195065008
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The second volume in the Oxford Studies in Sociolinguistics series, this collection of essays addresses each of the traditional periods of English, acknowledging the effect of external social context on determining the direction of changes within the language's syntax, phonology, and lexicon.Topics covered include the social status and uses of English, the relationship between English and co-existent languages, the relationship between varieties of spoken and written language, language as a political and socioeconomic instrument, and attitudes towards varieties of English. A broadintroduction to sociolinguistics, this text also provides students of linguistics and the English language with an important revision of the traditional approaches to the history of language.