Language and Society

Acknowledgements 1. Linguistics and sociolinguistics 2. A tapestry in space and time 3. Language varieties: processes and problems 4. Discovering the structure in variation 5. Rhoticity 6. At the intersection of social factors 7. Change, meaning and acts of identity 8. The discourse of social life 9. Communication: words and world 10. Action and critique 11. Language and social explanation Further reading References Index.