Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 The Nature of Language: Different Perspectives 1.2 The Properties of Language 1.3 Types of Social Explanations 1.4 Sociolinguistics and Other Disciplines 1.5 Methodological Concerns Chapter 2 Language Variation and Language Change 2.1 Key Terms 2.2 Language Change in Progress 2.3 The Process of Language Change Chapter 3 Speech Communities 3.1 How to Define a Speech Community 3.2 From Community-as-Sign to Community-as-Practice 3.3 Approaches to Community and Discourse 3.4 Speech Communities in the New Age Chapter 4 Muitilingual Societies and Multilingual Discourse 4.1 Diglossia 4.2 Code-switching 4.3 Approaches to Muhilingual Discourse 4.4 Multilingual Discourse and Practice Chapter 5 Solidarity, Power, and Politeness 5.1 Power and Solidarity 5.2 Fluidity and Change in Address Terms 5.3 Politeness Chapter 6 Variation Studies and Methods 6.1 Three Waves of Variation Studies 6.2 Labovian Methods and Milroy's Social Network Analysis 6.3 The Link between Social Status and Social Network Chapter 7 Ethnographic Approaches in Sociolinguisties 7.1 Ethnography of Communication 7.2 Ethnomethodology 7.3 Interactional Sociolinguistics Chapter 8 Sociolinguistics and Education 8.1 Social Dialects and Education 8.2 Multilingual Education 8.3 Education and World-Wide English Chapter 9 Sociolinguistics and Legal Profession 9.1 Legal Discourse Analysis 9.2 Pragmatics and Legal Discourse 9.3 Linguistic Variation in Legal Cases 9.4 The Ethnographic Approach to Legal Education Chapter 10 Sociolinguistics and Medical Profession 10.1 Interactional Analysis of Medical Interviews 10.2 Critical Discourse Analysis of Doctor-Patient Communication 10.3 Improving Patient-Doctor Communication