Observing and Analysing Natural Language

Social networks -- those informal and formal social relationships of which any human society is composed -- are distinguished by their own patters of language use. Lesley Milroy is concerned with the manner in which patterns of linguisitic variation characterize particular groups (social and cultural, geographic, male and female) within a complex urban community.

Preface. Acknowledgments. 1. Language, Class and Community. 2. Obtaining Data in the Speech Community: Major Principles. 3. Studying Language in teh Community: The Fieldworker and the Social Network. 4. The Social Context of Speech Events. 5. The Quantitative Analysis of Linguistic Data. 6. The Language of the Individual Speaker: Patterns of Variation and Network Structure. 7. Conclusions and Theoretical Implications. Appendix. References. Index.