Why do bilingual speakers switch between their languages? Why do young English speakers say, 'I was like, 'that's insane"? How is humour used in the workplace? How are languages born and how do they die? What is gossip? How is hip-hop taken up in different parts of the world? What are people's linguistic human rights? Do ordinary people's views about language matter? These are just some of the questions asked and answered in Sociolinguistics. In this ever-changing and rapidly expanding area, new findings, perspectives and arguments are constantly emerging - on language in relation to culture, social change and social relationships. The New Sociolinguistics Reader is an up-to-date collection of the very best scholarship in the field, bringing together many of the discipline's most influential authors, with newly commissioned chapters set alongside reprints of key texts. Divided into six distinctive sections, with helpful introductions to each, the editors point to the key themes, debates and shifts within the different perspectives of modern Sociolinguistics. With an emphasis on contemporary, critical research and cutting edge debates, this comprehensive volume complements the original Sociolinguistics Reader and provides an indispensable resource for students of language, society and culture at all levels.