This selection of Peter Trudgill's major works since 1988,
appearing here in updated and revised form, reveals major recurring
themes in his work on linguistic diversity. This book evinces his
deep concern that the world's linguistic diversity is diminishing
at an alarming rate. The linguistic future is likely to be very
different from the past, because increased language contact among
peoples will result in the creation of fewer new languages to
balance the language deaths. The essays here manifest Trudgill's
conviction that linguists must make every effort to study minority
languages and dialects before they vanish. The book also
demonstrates his sense of the obligation that linguists have to
educate the public about why linguistic diversity is valuable.
The book deals with a number of specific but related topics. One
area is the role of English in the world, and the nature of
Standard English or Englishes. Another is language as a human
issue, reflecting the author's concern that the results of
sociolinguistic research should be made available to assist,
wherever possible, with the solution of educational and other
real-world problems. A third focus is on the problematic and
interconnected relationships among nation and language and dialect,
but, unlike the work of most other writers in this field, this book
looks closely at the linguistic characteristics of the varieties
concerned. The final major emphasis is on sociohistorical
linguistics: in particular, the relationship between colonial and
motherland varieties of English; dialect contact and language
contact; and the sociolinguistically informed dialectology of
linguistic theory, linguistic description, and the applications of
linguistics. The major overall unifying theme of the book is
linguistic variation and, as the diachronic outcome of linguistic
variation, linguistic change.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!