An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (3rd Edition) (Learning About Language)

Janet Holmes is a New Zealander who teaches upper division courses, is a language expert, is interested in gender studies, social-cultural changes in society, and in the English language as an expression of who we-you-are. Most recently, I used the book to gain clarity about the difference between a national language and an official language. If you have any interest in the English Only movement, this book is for you. How can you fight EO? By learning about what it means to have a national and official language. Enjoy this book. Knowledge is power.  An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (Learning about Language) If you want to look deeper at forces behind language use and disuse, this is a book for you. Invaluable, and now that I have reading investment in the book, I feel it is an invaluable resource. It can be read by anyone. It is a pleasure to read about the social implications of languages, and get a glimpse of languages from the views and perspectives of the real users, you-me.

Shockingly enough, this book was wwaaayyy more interesting than the class I was taking. That, or I just had a crappy teacher.

Excellent, this item is exactly what I expected.

this book is an excellent place to start when you're researching sociolinguistic topics. clearly structured, with good examples and explanations, it is a book I use for my studies in linguistics and intend to keep as a resource afterwards as well.

I very much enjoyed reading this for one of my TESOL classes

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Bit labourous - takes a long time getting to the point. General feeling by most of those in the class.

Interesting book that is well-worth reading if you are interested in sociolinguistics. Great textbook overall, I recommend it for everyone.

interesting.....

Book was delivered in great condition and proving very useful for my degree.The words are clearly presented, diagrams etc are the for help and the text is easy to understand.

it was my prescribed reading for my linguistics class, really interesting and it was super to get it for such a good price :)

The book has several distinct advantages, but also some rather awkward sides. On the assets sides, it has a clear structure, it is very easy to read, it is comprehensive and nicely divides into 16 chapters, which can be used as a basis for a session each. What is more, many exercises (most of which include a suggested solution at the end of each chapter) help students relate the more theoretical subjects to real-life examples. In short, this is a very student (and lecturer) friendly book.The biggest disadvantage is probably that it has far too many examples, that it is long-winding, and that it is sometimes a bit superficial. It would probably be a good idea to condense the discussions by one third, taking out many of the examples and adding perhaps a bit more depth, especially in terms of research methodology. Furthermore, I find Holmes' book, like so many contemporary works on sociolinguistics, ideologically biased in that it has a noticeable leaning to left-wing ideas. This is reflected, for example, in her blaming the education system for the failure of working-class children in school or some dreadfully simplistic and stereotypical examples, and it culminates in the statement that promoting bidialectalism may, in certain settings, be like forcing people to change their sexual identity (p. 416 - what an absurd claim for a sociolinguist!). Holmes, herself, suggests that textbooks should be critically analysed as to their underlying ideology. A good starting point, in my view, would be her own book.All in all, therefore, this is a well laid-out book with a very down-to-earth approach but also some less appreciable sides.

Die Lieferung war fix und verlief einwandfrei.Dieses Buch ist vom Umfang her viel zu groß. Der Inhalt könnte auf ein Drittel gekürzt werden, trotzdem ist das Buch hilfreich.