A review by elinrss
Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society by Peter Trudgill
3.0
Meh. None of this felt particularly revolutionary (I am aware it is meant to be an introduction, but all of his theories were essentially common sense).
The earlier chapters are boring and period-typically offensive, but the chapters on geographical location make slightly more interesting comparisons and acknowledge colonial history and it’s influence, which is why this is 3 stars and not 1 or 2.
I wish the IPA wasn’t relied on so heavily, as in most studies of linguistics, sociolinguistics is covered before the IPA, which meant it took me a little while to understand the points he was making about pronunciations.
It was okay, I guess. It could have been a bit more structured, because it often felt a little ramble-y. He just sort of slid into different topics, so you really can’t skim read this or you lose any sense of how he’s got to where he is.
The earlier chapters are boring and period-typically offensive, but the chapters on geographical location make slightly more interesting comparisons and acknowledge colonial history and it’s influence, which is why this is 3 stars and not 1 or 2.
I wish the IPA wasn’t relied on so heavily, as in most studies of linguistics, sociolinguistics is covered before the IPA, which meant it took me a little while to understand the points he was making about pronunciations.
It was okay, I guess. It could have been a bit more structured, because it often felt a little ramble-y. He just sort of slid into different topics, so you really can’t skim read this or you lose any sense of how he’s got to where he is.