Now thoroughly revised and updated, this classic introduction to sociolinguistics explores the close link between language and society, and the many factors that influence the way we speak: gender; our environment (to take one example, Bedouin Arabic has several words for 'camel'); our age, race and class; the part of the country we come from; who we identify with and who we distrust. In this illuminating account, Professor Trudgill draws on languages from Afrikaans to Yiddish, and countries from Scotland to Sierra Leone, to illustrate his survey. The astounding variations in spoken English are explored in depth, as well as related pidgins and creoles such as those of the West Indies. He shows how these are genuine languages originally based on English, not just a form of 'broken English'. Yet linguistic diversity, of fundamental importance to us all, is increasingly under threat. In a new final chapter he argues compellingly that the varieties of language are a complex product of the mind, of human society, and of thousands of years of history, and should be safeguarded for succeeding generations if the dangers of a culturally standardized world are to be avoided. Read Less