Style (Key Topics in Sociolinguistics) - Language Variation and Identity

Style, Language Variation and Identity--------------------------------------------------Style refers to ways of speaking - how speakers use the resource oflanguage variation to make meaning in social encounters. This 2007book develops a coherent theoretical approach to style in sociolinguistics,illustrated with copious examples. It explains how speakers projectdifferent social identities and create different social relationshipsthrough their style choices, and how speech-style and social contextinter-relate. Style therefore refers to the wide range of strategicactions and performances that speakers engage in, to construct themselvesand their social lives. Coupland draws on and integrates a wide varietyof contemporary sociolinguistic research as well as his own extensiveresearch in this field. The emphasis is on how social meanings aremade locally, in specific relationships, genres, groups and cultures,and on studying language variation as part of the analysis of spokendiscourse.--------------------------------------------------Author Biography: Nikolas Coupland is Professor and Research Directorof the Cardiff University Centre for Language and Communication Research.He is a founding co-editor of the Journal of Sociolinguistics.