Recent Publications of the Staff in the Language & Society Centre
A Dictionary of Sociolinguistics (Edinburgh University Press)
Joan Swann, Ana Deumert, Theresa Lillis & Rajend Mesthrie
The first comprehensive dictionary of the field of sociolinguistics, this publication is intended as a reference book for students and teachers of sociolinguistics, others concerned with the socially-oriented study of language and those with a professional interest in language. Entries are concise, the style is reader-friendly and numerous cross-references enable readers to follow up links to related terms and concepts.
16.99 Paperback 0 7486 1691 8
49.99
Hardback 0 7486 1690 X
Publication: Jan 2004
Germanic Standardizations - Past to Present
Edited by Ana Deumert and Wim Vandenbussche
This volume presents a comparative, socio-historical study of the Germanic standard languages (Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, English, Faroese, Frisian, German, Icelandic, Low German, Luxemburgish, Norwegian, Scots, Swedish, Yiddish as well as the Caribbean and Pacific Creole languages). Each of the 16 chapters discusses central aspects of the standardization process, including dialect selection, codification, elaboration and diffusion of the standard norm across the speech community, as well as incipient processes of de-standardization and re-standardization. The strongly comparative orientation of the contributions allow for the identification of broad similarities as well as intriguing differences across a wide range of historically and socially diverse language histories. Two chapters by the editors provide an overview of the theoretical background and rationale of comparative standardization research, and outline directions for further research in the area. The volume will be of interest to language historians as well as sociolinguists in general.
Hardbound
1 58811 437 6 / USD 138.00
90 272 1856 0 / EUR 115.00
Publication: Nov. 2003
Language Standardization and Language Change - The dynamics of Cape Dutch
Ana Deumert
Language Standardization and Language Change describes the formation of an early standard norm at the Cape around 1900. The processes of variant reduction and sociolinguistic focusing which accompanied the early standardization history of Afrikaans (or 'Cape Dutch' as it was then called) are analysed within the broad methodological framework of corpus linguistics and variation analysis. Multivariate statistical techniques (cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling and PCA) are used to model the emergence of linguistic uniformity in the Cape Dutch speech community. The book also examines language contact and creolization in the early settlement, the role of Afrikaner nationalism in shaping language attitudes and linguistic practices, and the influence of English. As a case study in historical sociolinguistics the book calls into question the traditional view of the emergence of an Afrikaans standard norm, and advocates a strongly sociolinguistic, speaker-orientated approach to language history in general, and standardization studies in particular.
Hardbound
1 58811 492
9 / USD 132.00
90 272 1857 9 / EUR 110.00
Publication: April 2004