Language in Society: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics

By Suzanne Romaine

Book Overview

Why have 1,500 separate languages developed in Melanesia? Why is a Cornish accent rated higher than Cockney speech but lower than Oxford English? Linguistics tends to ignore the relationship between languages and the societies in which they are spoken, while sociology generally overlooks the role of language in the constitution of society. Suzanne Romaine provides a clear, lively, and accessible introduction to the field of sociolinguistics, emphasizing the constant interaction between society and language. In her examples she draws on studies of cultures all over the world, including her own extensive fieldwork in Papua New Guinea.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0198751346
• ISBN13: 9780198751342
• Release Date: February 1994
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.7" x 0.7" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

A good Introduction

Suzanne Romaine takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of the field of sociolinguistics. The role of society in language use is examined from many different angles. Since this is an introductory book, it doesn't go into each subfield very deeply, but it does give you a broad overview of what we study in this field. I thought that the author paid particular attention to the issues of pidgins and creoles, and gender issues in language use. This would be useful for beginners in sociolinguistics and for those interested in the two specializations mentioned above.

Interesting thoughts by Suzanne herself

Though it is difficult to define the field of sociolinguistics, the author succeeds to resume the complicated topics. Professior Ossan recommended it in favor of the sophistication and the usefulness. G-head, a friend of mine, said to me "The sentence structures in this book are a little bit difficult to non-native speaker", which I can agree. His opinion probably hints this book is suggestive in terms of not just its contents but also its readability.

Very accessible and concise

This was my first "read" in the area of sociolinguistic, though after working my way through texts in other linguistic areas I can say that this was the most enjoyable and understandable of the lot. Plenty of great examples provided, and the chapter on language and gender particulary compelling. It's good enough to make you want to take up sociolinguistics as a career.

A good introduction

This is a concise book on sociolinguistics. It does not dwell excessively on methodology or theoretical perspectives but offers through many examples, some presented via tables and figures, a taste of the kinds of issues sociolinguists struggle with, as well as some of their major findings. As a specialist in the Papua New Ginean languages, Romaine naturally makes good use of non-Western examples like Tok Pisin to illustrate such problems as language/dialect, language contact, language hierarchy, though she also draws examples from the Scandanavian languages as well as research on the social dialects of English. The book is highly readable even to a non-linguist like me. It probably does not cover all the conceivable major topics, but what it covers it covers well. The annotated bibliography at the end of each chapter is a useful guide to further reading.My only complaint regards her non-critical citation of the much-repeated "fact" (to illustrate the language/dialect problem) that speakers of mutually unintelligible Chinese languages share a common writing system. This of course is true only for the classical literary (written) language, not the vernacular varieties.

Read this before any other book on Sociolinguistics

This is the book you should read first if you have even a slight interest in Sociolinguistics, the branch of linguistics dealing with how society uses language. My particular area of interest is code-switching (when a person switches from one language to another within an exchange, i.e. "Have agua, please?") and I read Dr. Romaine's book to prepare me for a volume particulary about code-switching. Thanks to Dr. Romaine for a great read.