Language and society books
Language and society books to start from. Open one to see books like it, or tell BookSense what you loved for four picks made for you.
Start here
New to the genre? These 5 are the books to read first.
The Social Stratification of English in New York City
William LabovMeasures how speakers' use of sounds shifts with class, style, and age, establishing variationist method.
Foundations in Sociolinguistics
Dell H. HymesProposes studying language through communicative competence and the social situations where it is used.
Sociolinguistics
Peter TrudgillAn early accessible overview of how social factors shape speech, aimed at general readers and students.
Language and Woman's Place
Robin Tolmach LakoffA short, widely discussed argument that women's speech patterns reflect and reinforce their subordinate social position.
Keywords
Raymond WilliamsTraces how key English words such as culture and class acquired their social meanings over time.
Chosen and described with AI from our notes on the genre.
More language and society books
- Man Made Language
Man Made LanguageDale Spender - LanguageLanguageElaine Chaika
- An Introduction to Sociolinguistics
An Introduction to SociolinguisticsRonald Wardhaugh - Language and Symbolic Power
Language and Symbolic PowerPierre Bourdieu - Critical Discourse Analysis
Critical Discourse AnalysisNorman Fairclough - Introducing Sociolinguistics
Introducing SociolinguisticsMiriam Meyerhoff - Wordslut
WordslutAmanda Montell - Because Internet
Because InternetGretchen McCulloch - Braiding Sweetgrass
Braiding SweetgrassRobin Wall Kimmerer2013 - Linear Algebra and its Applications
Linear Algebra and its ApplicationsDavid C. Lay1994 - The stuff of thought
The stuff of thoughtSteven Pinker2007 - The fashion system
The fashion systemRoland Barthes1967




