Journal of Language and Linguistics
Vol. 3 No. 1 2004
ISSN 1475 - 8989
Review Article
Sociolinguistics: The Essential Readings
Paulston, C. B. & Tucker, G. R. eds
2003 Oxford: Blackwell
[pp. 502] ISBN 0-631-22717-2
The reader is made up of eleven parts each, according to the editors, considered to be a
major area of sociolinguistics. The back cover states this 'is a collection of articles that
have helped to define the field of sociolinguistics.' Each part includes an editorial
introduction ending with a short list of recommended further readings; between one and
six chapter articles that are seen to have shaped approaches to a particular area within
sociolinguistics; and a page of suggested discussion questions and sample activities.
Apart from the editorial introductions, there are twenty-nine articles in all, most of which
are reprints.
Part I focuses on the History of Sociolinguistics and comprises A Brief History of
American Sociolinguistics (Roger W. Shuy); followed by Reflections on the Origins of
Sociolinguistics in Europe (Louis-Jean Alvet). This historically oriented section of the
book asserts the scope of the relatively new field of sociolinguistics across a range of subdisciplines and explicitly links past and present to provide a general yet illuminating
backdrop to the rest of the volume.
In the introduction to Part II, on the Ethnography of Speaking, the editors have
foregrounded the significance of Dell Hymes' highly influential Models of Interaction of
Language and Social Life, and its components of communicative competence (vis-à-vis
Chomsky's linguistic competence). In Lands I came to Sing: Negotiating Identities and
Places in the Tuscan Contrasto (Valentina Pagliai), one reads in detail of the ways in
which language can represent and negotiate a sense of place and ethnic identity, through
the consideration of performance poetry.
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Part III is the largest section and deals with Pragmatics. It comprises Narrative Analysis:
Oral Versions of Personal Experience (William Labov & Joshua Waletsky), which
provides details of early innovation in the analysis of narrative. Then, in Narrative
Analysis: Thirty Years Later (Emmanuel A. Schegloff), the author reflects on three
decades of cultural diversity and contrast in comprehending narrative; in Narrative
Structure: Some Contrasts between Maori and Pakeha Story-telling (Janet Holmes), the
author focuses on differences in recounting narratives in informal conversational
contexts; while Contextualization Conventions (John Gumperz) looks at linguistic
variables in different varieties of English, arguing they are products of cultural norms and
'of the interaction of prosody and syntax' (page 154); The Pronouns of Power and
Solidarity (Roger Brown & Albert Gilman) focuses on form and the use of pronouns in
expressing power or solidarity; and, finally, Complimenting: A Positive Politeness
Strategy (Janet Holmes) considers functions of complimenting between men and women.
In the introduction to Part IV, Language and Gender are set within the larger framework
of the Women's movement, including references to luminaries outside sociolinguistics,
such as Simone de Beauvoir, who have also contributed to the field. The introduction to
this part points ways forward showing gaps in research, as in intragroup variation. There
are chapters entitled: Selections from Language and Woman's Place (Robin Lakoff) in
which the lack of empirical validity seems ironic (in retrospect), despite its inspiration to
others. Finally, The Relativity of Linguistic Strategies: Rethinking Power and Solidarity
in Gender Dominance (Deborah Tannen) looks at the functions of ways of speaking
relative to speakers and contexts.
Part V deals with Language and Variation, which the editors link to regional dialectology
and linguistic geography. It begins with: Some Sociolinguistic Principles (William
Labov) that sets out some of his variational linguistics' operating principles; this is
followed by On Constructing Vernacular Dialect Norms (Walt Wolfram), about which it
seems unclear for what reason the editors query Wolfram's question, about 'how
vernaculars … become normed' (p. 232), unless it is his insightfulness that surprises
them; and finally, The Linguistic Individual in an American Public-Opinion Survey
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(Barbara Johnstone) in which evidence is provided to suggest the importance of
individual variation, even under conditions of expected social conformity.
Part VI looks at Pidgins and Creoles. In the introduction, the editors propose that
sociolinguistic principles have been applied in the study of these fields, and one might
add that anthropological principles and methods have also been relevant to the study of
pidgins and creoles, especially in the 19th and early parts of the 20th century. There is just
the one chapter, Trade Jargons and Creole Dialects as Marginal Languages (John E.
Reinecke), and this provides an early and defining introduction to this area.
In the introduction to Part VII, on individual bilingualism, much reference is made to
work done in the USA. Reference to other nations of the world, many of which have only
ever been bi- or multilingual, could have brought wider relevance to this section. It has
chapters entitled A Social Psychology of Bilingualism (Wallace E. Lambert), in which
arguments are presented regarding the links between bilingualism and biculturalism; this
is followed by a succinct outline of the notion of 'basic interpersonal communicative
skills', and 'cognitive academic language proficiency', BICS and CALP: Origins and
Rationale for the Distinction (Jim Cummins); and Linguistic Diversity, Schooling, and
Social Class: Rethinking our Conception of Language Proficiency in Language Minority
Education (Jeff MacSwan & Kellie Rolstad), in which the authors appeal for a more
detailed refinement of the idea of BICS and CALP. It is in this part of the collection that
2 original articles appear (by Cummins, and MacSwan & Rolstad).
Part VIII concerns Diglossia and has chapters entitled Diglossia (Charles Ferguson) in
which the original version of the concept is iterated; this is followed by Bilingualism with
and without Diglossia (Joshua A. Fishman), in which the diglossia notion is extended to
multilingual contexts; and Towards the Systematic Study of Diglossia (Alan Hudson), a
shortened version of his original article, in which a plea is made for general agreement
regarding the meaning of the term, so that it can more usefully be applied to the study of
empirical data.
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Part IX is about Group Bilingualism and there are two chapters: Empirical Explorations
of Two Popular Assumptions: Interpolity Perspective on the Relationships between
Linguistic Heterogeneity, Civil Strife and Per Capita Gross National Product (Joshua A.
Fishman), in which the author refutes arguments about problems of linguistic
heterogeneity, as well as describing positive features of multilingual nations; and
Linguistic Minorities and Language Policies (Christina Bratt Paulston) in which the
advantages of language as a social resource are discussed.
Part X is about Language Policies and Planning and has sections entitled Dialect,
Language, Nation (Einar Haugen); and Language Planning Goals: A Classification
(Moshe Nahir), in which Nahir concisely notes (p. 442) that Haugen describes how
language planners achieve their goals, while Nahir himself considers what language
planners set out to achieve; and finally there is Literacy and Language Planning (Nancy
H. Hornberger), in which the author argues in support of promoting local literacies.
Part XI considers Multilingualism, Policies and Education and has sections entitled A
Global Perspective on Bilingualism and Bilingual Education (G. Richard Tucker),
followed by Language Policies and Rights (Christina Bratt Paulston). Tucker presents
important findings from global research on language in education and, among a number
of seminal conclusions, stresses the need for development of students' literacy skills in a
familiar language. Paulston foregrounds issues of language rights in both universal and
culture-specific terms and argues that sociolinguists need to give these greater
consideration.
This is the third in Blackwell's series of Essential Readings (the others being
Phonological Theory and Formal Semantics). The aim of this collection is to 'provide the
student of sociolinguistics with introductory readings that range over a wide variety of
topics' (p. xiv). It can be a stand-alone text or, as primarily intended, a supplement to
another introductory book on sociolinguistics, several being mentioned at the end of the
preface. Without the introductory sections, the Essential Readings would really only be
suitable as a supplementary book. The introductions, however, make it a viable core text.
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The editorial articles are invaluable, making the volume greater than the sum of its parts,
providing concise, clearly written and easily accessible preludes to the chapters that
follow. They are the equivalent of encyclopedia entries – distillations of the
developments in a particular sub-field.
Each section has a clear line of intellectual and chronological development, such that
later chapters often demonstrate the application of ideas and approaches that have
informed research put forward in previous chapters, as in Schegloff's chapter (in part III).
In general, the discussion questions are a bonus both for the (autodidactic) reader and the
sociolinguistics teacher, although there might have been further questions with, perhaps,
a more practical focus incorporating or, at least, referring to data.
There is a challenge in trying to distinguish between what can be included under
sociolinguistics (cf. Meyerhoff 2003), as it is unrealistic to corral neatly all the areas
encompassed by the discipline and to distinguish clearly between the methodologies
appropriate for each of these (cf. Romaine 1994). With the title The Essential Readings,
we may be likely to assume the inclusion of only indispensable literature, that the rest is
extraneous. Some justification as to how and why the editors have made their choices
could have been included as part of an overarching introduction. In addition, a general
introduction might have included some, albeit brief, discussion of sociolinguistics'
contribution to an understanding of language and the human condition. In fact, while the
reader covers a wide range of sub-fields, its remit is rather narrow, that of providing a set
of seminal papers in the development of sociolinguistic approaches. A sub-field that
might have been included is Language Death (and the related fields of Language
Maintenance and Language Shift), particularly pertinent at a time when few of us
working in Linguistics can be unaware of the threat to the world's minority languages;
and the relevance of sociolinguistic principles in the study of these. Nonetheless,
Language Death is at least referred to in Part XI, and Language Change and Adaptation
get a mention in the discussion questions section (on p.299), of Part VI on Pidgins and
Creoles. Furthermore, while it is not feasible or necessarily desirable to contrive
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reference to peoples and parts of the world outside discussion within the articles, it would
have been good to see more reference to and coverage of peoples outside Europe and
North America.
As it is a reader, one can appreciate why it is largely a non-critical text. There is little
engagement with issues of controversy. Positivism is not questioned or the idea of the
neutral observer-researcher. The debate between the basic divisions of microsociolinguistics (the sociolinguistics of language) and macro-sociolinguistics (the
sociolinguistics of society) is not discussed, albeit referred to, on page 1 (cf. Romaine
1994). The point could also have been made that sociolinguistics is basically an empirical
science, while also mentioning that constructing theory will give sociolinguistics greater
credibility.
Overall, this provides an excellent resource for both student and teacher, with its
assiduous editorial work and the bounty of seminal articles available between one set of
covers. The book encapsulates both the historical and broad sweep of progress in
sociolinguistics, and the ways in which it has reflected changes in the larger world.
Peter Sercombe
University of Northumbria, UK
References
Meyerhoff, M. (2003) 'But is it linguistics?': Breaking down boundaries. Journal of
Sociolinguistics 7/1: 65-77.
Romaine, S. (1994) Language in Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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