Language in Society: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics

By Suzanne Romaine

2nd Edition, 2000, Oxford University Press

"... language has no existence apart from the social reality of its users."

First published in 1994, this book is a more recent introduction than Peter Trudgill's similarly titled book Sociolinguistics: An introduction to language and society (also reviewed on this site). Despite being considerably longer and providing greater depth of treatment for some topics, however, it is not as valuable as a general introduction to the field of sociolinguistics.

In her Preface, Suzanne Romaine makes it clear that she has been selective in her choice of material, concentrating on areas of which she has had first hand experience and areas "... where there has been significant growth in terms of research findings ...". The result is that the subtitle of the book is somewhat misleading. There is a clear focus on her own research work on the pidgin and creole languages of the Pacific, as well as a major chapter on "Language and gender".

Nevertheless, this is a fascinating and clearly written book, targeted rather more to audiences who have had greater exposure to lingustics than Trudgill's book. Throughout the work, the reader's attention is firmly drawn to the socio-political dimension of the findings of sociolinguistics. It is the experiences of linguistic minorities, of women and of those for whom language represents a social hurdle that speak from these pages. And it is this that makes the book so valuable. Romaine places the field of sociolinguistics firmly as a vital link between linguistics and sociology. Language cannot be accounted for without reference to social concerns and society cannot be constituted without language.

This is a challenging and in many senses a highly political book and I thoroughly recommend it, although prior familiarity with the fundamental concerns and concepts of sociolinguistics would probably be an advantage.

Suzanne Romaine is Merton Professor of English Language at the University of Oxford.

Reviewed by: Phil White
Date reviewed: 15 Oct 2005