Reviews

As an introductory textbook, the book uses language which is easy to understand for even non-native speakers at different proficiency levels and also those who lack backgrounds in linguistics, pragmatics or sociolinguistics. Though the chapters are strongly linked together and progress from the analysis of what language is to what constitutes communication and finally how communication occurs in different cultures, each chapter can be studied discreetly or with a varying degree of focus since it gives the teacher the flexibility to assign the end-of-chapter exercises and tasks as homework or classwork. The other factor that makes the book outstanding is the very well-structured chapters. Each chapter contains several thought-provoking examples and engaging tasks that can contribute to a more profound understanding of the topic. The bullet point summary at the end of each chapter contributes to the consolidation of the new knowledge and prepares the reader for the move to the next chapter.
Overall, this is a commendable work by Remillard and William. I highly recommend this valuable book as both a textbook and a self-study resource for undergraduate level pragmatics and sociolinguistics courses.
LinguistList


A good choice for a course that would whet the appetite of budding sociolinguists.
Discourse Studies