“Taken as a whole, The Handbook of Historical Sociolinguistics offers the reader an incomparable source of state-of-the-art papers in the field, most of which were written exclusively for the present edition. I am sure it will become a required text for those delving into the discipline.” (Journal of Sociolinguistics, 1 October 2014)
“In this respect, the Handbook represents both an excellent summary of the state of the art in historical sociolinguistics and a good starting point for further research.” (Linguistlist, 1 April 2013)
Great strides have been made in recent years in our understanding of the relationship between language and society when we introduce a consideration of its historical dimension. The Handbook of Historical Sociolinguistics reflects our current state of knowledge in this rapidly expanding interdisciplinary field of study. The collection represents an up-to-date, in-depth exploration of the extent to which sociolinguistic theoretical models, methods, findings, and expertise can be applied to the process of reconstructing a language’s past in order to account for diachronic linguistic changes and developments.
Organized into five distinct sections, essays address various topics in origins and theoretical assumptions; methods for the sociolinguistic study of the history of languages; linguistic and socio-demographic variables; historical dialectology, language contact and diffusion; and attitudes to language. Written by an international team of leading scholars, this groundbreaking collection of readings provides an important contribution to linguistic theory that reflects current knowledge of the nature of language change and diffusion while paving the way for future research.
From the Back Cover
Great strides have been made in recent years in our understanding of the relationship between language and society when we introduce a consideration of its historical dimension. The Handbook of Historical Sociolinguistics reflects our current state of knowledge in this rapidly expanding interdisciplinary field of study. The collection represents an up-to-date, in-depth exploration of the extent to which sociolinguistic theoretical models, methods, findings, and expertise can be applied to the process of reconstructing a language’s past in order to account for diachronic linguistic changes and developments.
Organized into five distinct sections, essays address various topics in origins and theoretical assumptions; methods for the sociolinguistic study of the history of languages; linguistic and socio-demographic variables; historical dialectology, language contact and diffusion; and attitudes to language. Written by an international team of leading scholars, this groundbreaking collection of readings provides an important contribution to linguistic theory that reflects current knowledge of the nature of language change and diffusion while paving the way for future research.
About the Author
Juan Manuel Hernández-Campoy is Professor in Sociolinguistics at the University of Murcia, Spain, where he teaches undergraduate courses on English Sociolinguistics, Dialectology, and the History of English, as well as sociolinguistic research methods for postgraduate students. His books include Style-Shifting in Public (with J.A. Cutillas-Espinosa, 2012), Diccionario de Sociolingüística (with P. Trudgill, 2007), Metodología de la Investigación Sociolingüística (with M. Almeida, 2005), and Geolingüística (1999).
Juan Camilo Conde-Silvestre is Professor in English Historical Linguistics at the University of Murcia, Spain, where he teaches on the History of the English Language and Research Methods in Language Variation and Change. His books include Sociolinguistica Histórica (2007), Sociolinguistics and the History of English (with J.M. Hernández-Campoy, 2005) and Variation and Linguistic Change in English (with J.M. Hernández-Campoy, 1999).
Wow! eBook
