الازدواج اللغوي تقدم الكاتبة عرضاً شاملاً لعلم اللغة المجتمعي وأهم مفاهيمه ومصطلحاته ومجالات بحثه، على كثرتها وتنوعها وتداخلها، فتعالج ظاهرة تعدد اللغات داخل المجتمع الواحد، والمنهجية التي يتبعها أبناء المجتمع متعدد اللغات في تعاملهم اللغوي مع شتى المواقف، كما تتناول التغيير اللغوي، والتخطيط اللغوي، وتحويل لغة بعينها إلى لغة قومية لبلد ما، والفرق بين اللغة القومية واللغة الرسمية، وتتطرق أيضاً إلى ظاهرة موت اللغات، وإلى الإجراءات المتبعة عادة لصيانة اللغات والحفاظ عليها من مثل هذا المصير، وطرائق إحياء اللغات. كما تفرد جانباً مهماً من لظاهرة الازدواج اللغوي التي نعرفها جيداً في عالمنا العربي، الذي "يتحدث" كل بلد من بلدانه لهجة عربية، بينما "يكتب" بالعربية الفصحى في السياقات الرسمية والعلمية والأكاديمية المتخصصة وأغلب السياقات الأدبية.
وتهتم الكاتبة ببحث الدور الذي تلعبه المتغيرات الخاصة بالأفراد في تحديد خياراتهم اللغوية، سواء أكانت تلك المتغيرات تتصل بجنس المتحدث، أم سنه، أم مكانته الاجتماعية، أم انتمائه العرقي أو الإقليمي، أو شبكته الاجتماعية وصلاته بغيره من البشر في إطار ممارسته لحياته اليومية، كما تستعرض التفاعل بين شتى هذه المتغيرات، وانعكاسه في طريقة تعبير المتحدث عن نفسه وترتيبه لأولوياته التواصلية.
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Janet Holmes (b. 1947) is a professor of linguistics at Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand). She specializes in sociolinguistics, language and gender issues, workplace communication, and in New Zealand English.
I miss this book so much and I lost it! damn. I read it when I was in the 3rd or 4th semester in my undergraduate year (I can't remember). This book is a very good introduction to sociolinguistics. It discusses code switching, language change, language differences according to the gender of its speaker, and so on and so forth. Really miss this book terribly.
Janet Holmes is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Victoria in Wellington (New Zealand). Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationships between language and society.
The book is structured like a school manual for students on the topic, but targeted to laid readers. Such a formal approach could have been a good academic overview, be a great way to introduce the subject to beginners while missing nothing of the field's key notions. Well, as far as I am concerned, it fails!
Of course, concepts are defined, explained, and illustrated through exercices allowing thus to better assimilate the relevance of the arguments put forward. The thing is, these exercises are too many, and even if you fly over them all the fact they can't be separated from the rest of the text render such read quite boring. Plus, it's all very confused: problems specific to multilingual societies are coming right into the middle of a discussion on societal factors affecting speech; and from diglossia we suddenly jump to the issue of the death of certain languages before coming back again to the differences between pidgin and creole! Unfocused, it goes randomly in all directions without a logical structure, and so turns quickly annoying.
The only positive is that she introduces, rigorously, the works of some eminent researchers when it comes to the core of the topic -genderlect, bilingualism/multilingualism, language use in the medias… Good on that! But would you buy a book solely for its bibliography?
A mediocre introduction to sociolinguistics, one I would feel reluctant as an instructor to choose for a class because of the misinformation on Arabic I have repeatedly seen. This made me question other information on the minority languages the writer mention throughout the book. In other words, it made me take everything with a grain of salt, made reading more difficult as I found myself doubting the reliability of the examples. The writer should have done better. If you are looking for an introduction to sociolinguistics, you are better off picking another.
This is a good introductory book for anyone with little to no knowledge of sociolinguistics. It serves as a solid starting point; however, it lacks depth in certain areas. I recommend pairing it with external resources to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the subject. Overall, it provides a useful overview, but further reading is essential for a more concrete grasp of sociolinguistic concepts.
An amazing book for any beginner student in this field! The author writes in a very clear and organized way. All important details are mentioned with smart simplicity. The book has plenty of examples and exercises with full answers to all the exercises at the end of each chapter. I highly recommend it for all those who want to study sociolinguistics or learn more about it.
A very key book as an introduction to sociolinguistics. It discusses different topics such as code-switching, diglossia, borrowing, and other sociolinguistics' concepts. Fundamental book. I totally recommend it.
This was a great introduction! It is quite dense and takes a while to get through, but it is well-written, well-formatted, and has moments of brevity, which is rare (but much appreciated) in textbooks. There are plentiful examples and exercises throughout, as well as a full reference list and additional sources for those wanting to dig into a topic more.
Recently, I have been harboring a growing fascination with linguistics and literature. This book was pleasant, it brings attention to topics such as how migrants react linguistically to their new residence, why language varies in different societal circumstances, and the motives behind every day bilingual shifts. But to be honest I found no information in here that is not already predeterminantly known with a little thinking. It id common sense that society affects our choice of language and that vernacular vocabulary promotes solidarity.
I read this for a class called Language and Society. I found the text book to be a rather excellent authority on the most basic elements of sociolinguistics. If you need a bird's eye view of the subject, then this is the textbook for you. If you are already well versed in the field and looking for a more advanced understanding, look elsewhere.
I read this for a class, but I could have gotten as much out of it without the class. It's super easy to understand. If you have an interest in socioling but don't know where to start, start with this book.
A good introductory book for sociolinguistics which builds the basis of language and society interconnection. This book sums up the main concepts of sociolinguistics and is rich with lists of further readings.
A treasure book for linguistics and literature students. I am studying it currently in my language and society course.simply who ever read it, no wonder he/she becomes intelligent in interacting with others Definitely five stars for Janet Holmes
নিজে লিংগুইস্টিক্স নিয়া পড়তে না পারা আমার নিজের সাথে নিজের প্রতারণা মত মনে হয়। এই জন্যই হয়ত এই বই পড়ে এত ভালো লাগছে। অনেক জায়গা ইন্টুইটিভ মনে হলেও, একটা ইন্ট্রোডাক্টরি টেক্সট থেকে আমি এর বেশি কিছু চাই নাই। যেইটা আমি না বুঝে পড়তেছি।
A very helpful and entertaining book for the people who are interested in sociolinguistics. It is easy to read and gives very good and accurate examples. Everything about sociolinguistics is included.