This thoroughly updated second edition provides a clear and comprehensive overview of sociolinguistics and the pragmatics of oral communication in Spanish. While maintaining the same structure as the first edition, it includes revised “Ejercicios de reflexión” and new comprehension checks at the end of each chapter, along with numerous bibliographic references throughout, enhancing its use as a classroom text. Among the significant revisions are new sections on corpus linguistics and on statistical modeling programs for studying linguistic variables, an expanded chapter on the study of linguistic attitudes with special attention to Spanish in the United States, greater attention to the relation of pragmatics to sociolinguistics, including coverage of verbal politeness and forms of address, and updated information on Spanglish and on the teaching of Spanish as a heritage language.

Carmen Silva-Corvalán is a professor of Spanish and linguistics at the University of Southern California. She is author of Spanish in Four Continents:Studies in Language Contact (GUP) and Bilingual Language Acquisition: Spanish and English in the First Six Years, among other works.

Andrés Enrique-Arias is an associate professor of Spanish at the Universitat de les Illes Balears and the author of numerous publications on the historical aspects of Spanish morphosyntax.

"Written with commendable clarity and intellectual generosity, this renewal of an already impeccable first edition offers the reader a wide-ranging view of the field with a wealth of examples, thoughtful questions, and useful research suggestions. It is an indispensable source of information and ideas for scholars and students of Spanish language and linguistics."

Prefacio, primera ediciónPrefacio, segunda edición

Capítulo 1: Lengua, variación y dialectos

Capítulo 2: Metodología

Capítulo 3: El estudio de actitudes lingüisticas

Capítulo 4: Teoría de la variación y sociofonología

Capítulo 5: Variación sintáctica y morfosintáctica

Capítulo 6: Pragmática del discurso oral

Capítulo 7: Variación y cambio

Capítulo 8: Lenguas en contacto y bilingüismo

ApéndiceReferenciasÍndice de materias