[This volume] has a much wider scope, since it addresses all aspects of identity, not just national identity. While the latter type is touched upon in several chapters, others deal with gender identity, social class, ethnicity, age, forensic linguistics, or language disabilities, such as Foreign Accent Syndrome. In this respect, this collection is unique, for it enables any student of linguistics, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics or linguistic anthropology to come to grips with a large collection of short and accessible articles written by leading academics in their fields. The volume succeeds in not being simply a collection of case studies, in that each chapter is an open gate to a wider field of study and research. The first section on Theoretical Issues is also a particularly welcome addition to this volume, with some excellent articles by leading scholars in contemporary sociolinguistics. This section fully succeeds in providing the reader with an adequate toolkit for the analysis of identity through and association with language. Finally, this volume is also unique in its bringing together studies on variationist and interactionist sociolinguistics in almost equal numbers, thus helping to demonstrate that both angles are not as far apart as can sometimes be heard! An extremely useful resource to students and confirmed academics alike.
James Costa, Ecole Normale Superieure in Lyon, France LINGUIST list This book is a tour de force, a rare combination of comprehensive scholarship, insight, fresh thinking and wisdom. The splendid editing has produced assured writing as well as authoritative views and analysis throughout, and this means that however complex the ideas, it is remarkably easy to read. This is, by far, the best book on this topic in the English language. Language and Identities provides a thematic reader and highly suitable source for postgraduate courses, and thus should influence a wide audience of future researchers in language and identity studies.
Robert Bevan, School of Welsh, Cardiff University, Wales Discourse & Society [This volume] has a much wider scope, since it addresses all aspects of identity, not just national identity. While the latter type is touched upon in several chapters, others deal with gender identity, social class, ethnicity, age, forensic linguistics, or language disabilities, such as Foreign Accent Syndrome. In this respect, this collection is unique, for it enables any student of linguistics, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics or linguistic anthropology to come to grips with a large collection of short and accessible articles written by leading academics in their fields. The volume succeeds in not being simply a collection of case studies, in that each chapter is an open gate to a wider field of study and research. The first section on Theoretical Issues is also a particularly welcome addition to this volume, with some excellent articles by leading scholars in contemporary sociolinguistics. This section fully succeeds in providing the reader with an adequate toolkit for the analysis of identity through and association with language. Finally, this volume is also unique in its bringing together studies on variationist and interactionist sociolinguistics in almost equal numbers, thus helping to demonstrate that both angles are not as far apart as can sometimes be heard! An extremely useful resource to students and confirmed academics alike. This book is a tour de force, a rare combination of comprehensive scholarship, insight, fresh thinking and wisdom. The splendid editing has produced assured writing as well as authoritative views and analysis throughout, and this means that however complex the ideas, it is remarkably easy to read. This is, by far, the best book on this topic in the English language. Language and Identities provides a thematic reader and highly suitable source for postgraduate courses, and thus should influence a wide audience of future researchers in language and identity studies.