Language in its Social Context

“In Language in its Social Context , Professor James A. Walker presents a masterful exposition on sociolinguistics, which is comprehensive, current, and engagingly relevant. This meticulously structured work navigates through linguistic ideologies, multilingual societies, and the factors influencing language variation. By deftly weaving the sociological, anthropological, and variationist approaches, Walker not only elucidates the complexities of language in society but also grounds them in tangible real-world contexts. The inclusion of practical research projects transforms readers from passive observers to active participants in the exploration of linguistics. A must-read for scholars and students alike, this book is poised to become an indispensable reference in the annals of sociolinguistic literature—a true tour de force."

- Hongjie Dong , Professor at the School of Liberal Arts, Xi’an University, China 

This textbook provides an accessible overview of the field of sociolinguistics. Blending qualitative and quantitative approaches and including examples drawn from different contexts and societies all over the world, the author introduces progressively complicated topics to help students build their confidence and understanding gradually as they work through the book. The chapters cover all the core topics on an introductory sociolinguistics course, including language and power, dialects, language and gender, language planning and multilingualism, and each chapter ends with a set of exercises, suggestions for small-scale projects which the author has used successfully with his own students and suggested further readings (both classic and more recent). This book assumes no background in Linguistics and is intended as an introduction to sociolinguistics that can be used at any level of undergraduate or graduate study, or by interested outsiders to the field.

James A. Walker  is a Professor of Linguistics at La Trobe University (Melbourne, Australia). After completing degrees in Linguistics and Anthropology at the University of Toronto and University of Ottawa, he was a Professor of Linguistics at York University (Toronto, Canada) until 2017. He is the author of  Variation in Linguistic Systems  (2010) and  Canadian English: A Sociolinguistic Perspective  (2015).