Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Wales
pp xii256 October 2008 216x138mm
Hardback
ISBN 978-0-7083-2148-5
This book makes available a selection of the author's research on understanding Wales from a sociolinguistic perspective. Challenging some establishment views about the link between the Welsh language and Welsh social identities, it covers a range of subjects such as language, identity, style, bilingualism, language policy, language change, globalisation with respect to Wales, the Welsh global diaspora, Welshness and Welsh English. The result will constitute a comprehensive overview of language and language-related issues in contemporary Wales. Core features are:
* social meanings of language, and how ‘Welshness’ is carried through both Welsh and Welsh English * language in specific social contexts * the social and political implications of language use and language change in Wales *Situating the Welsh language and Welsh identities in a global as well as a local context *Adding insights from many disciplines, including critical and cultural studies, sociology and anthropology, and social psychology * Integrating findings from different sorts of research; * establishing a new sociolinguistic perspective.
Professor Nikolas Coupland is Director of the Centre for Language Communication and Research, Cardiff University. He is co-editor of OUP's Oxford Studies in Sociolinguistics and has published for UWP, CUP, OUP and Blackwell among others.