Overview

This book provides a very readable and up-to-date description of language variation in American English, covering regional, ethnic, and gender-based differences. The authors include situations ranging from historically isolated, rural dialects to developing, urban ethnic varieties as they consider the descriptive, theoretical, and applied ramifications of dialects in American society. The second edition of American English includes new chapters on social and ethnic dialects, including more comprehensive discussions of Latino, Native American, Cajun English, and other varieties, samples from a wider array of US regions, and a separate chapter on African American English. Updated chapters and exercises as well as features such as a phonetic symbols key, and a section on the notion of speech community, combine to make the new edition a valuable resource for students and specialists alike.

Full Product Details

9781405112666

Table of Contents

Reviews

"""This book has become a staple in the study and instruction of American English... The second edition provides the same balance of detail, clarity, breadth and sophistication offered by the first edition, but with an improved organization and up-to-date information. It is clear that the authors took seriously the task of revising and updating this new edition so that its users could enjoy the maximum benefits of its structure and contents. They will be pleased to know that their efforts were not in vain. The book will undoubtedly continue to be used as one of the key texts in the instruction of American dialects for many years to come."" Journal of Sociolinguistics ""This is an indispensable book, not just for students but for anyone who wants to know how the English language varies in the United States and how this variation has been studied... It is comprehensive, comprehensible and dense with detail."" Language in Society (of the previous edition) ""The strengths of the book include its style and the authors' consideration of how the book might actually be used as a text... the chapters are divided into subsections with helpful headings; exercises calling for creative responses by students are scattered throughout... each chapter ends with a short annotated bibliography for further readings."" Language (of the previous edition)"

This book has become a staple in the study and instruction of American English... The second edition provides the same balance of detail, clarity, breadth and sophistication offered by the first edition, but with an improved organization and up-to-date information. It is clear that the authors took seriously the task of revising and updating this new edition so that its users could enjoy the maximum benefits of its structure and contents. They will be pleased to know that their efforts were not in vain. The book will undoubtedly continue to be used as one of the key texts in the instruction of American dialects for many years to come. Journal of Sociolinguistics This is an indispensable book, not just for students but for anyone who wants to know how the English language varies in the United States and how this variation has been studied... It is comprehensive, comprehensible and dense with detail. Language in Society (of the previous edition) The strengths of the book include its style and the authors' consideration of how the book might actually be used as a text... the chapters are divided into subsections with helpful headings; exercises calling for creative responses by students are scattered throughout... each chapter ends with a short annotated bibliography for further readings. Language (of the previous edition)

Author Information

Walt Wolfram is William C. Friday Distinguished Professor at North Carolina State University, and author or co-author of 17 books and over 250 articles, including The Development of African American English (with Erik Thomas, Blackwell 2002) and American Voices (edited with Ben Ward, Blackwell 2006). Natalie Schilling-Estes is Associate Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University. She is co-author of Hoi Toide on the Outer Banks: The Story of the Ocracoke Brogue (with Walt Wolfram, 1997) and co-editor of The Handbook of Language Variation and Change (with J. K. Chambers and Peter Trudgill, Blackwell 2002).

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