The aim of sociolinguistics is to explain why we speak differently depending on the environment or occasion. The sociolinguistic study provides a wealth of information about how language operates, social relations within a community, and the ways in which people signal, through language, various aspects of their social identity.

In this introductory textbook, first published in 1992 and continuously revised and enriched since then, Janet Holmes introduces the reader to all the topics that concern sociolinguists, such as the relationship of language to gender, age, and social class, geographical and social dialects, bilingualism and bidialectalism, the concept of style and functional variety, etc.

One chapter is dedicated to the ever-expanding field of discourse analysis. The book primarily targets students of linguistics, philology, sociology, and anthropology, but also anyone interested in the interaction of language and society. It features a large number of examples drawn from various languages, as well as exercises, assignment topics, a bibliographic guide by chapter, etc.