New in paperback. Hardcover was published in 2010. This Handbook answers a long-standing need for an up-to-date, comprehensive, international, in-depth critical survey of the history, trajectory, data, results and key figures involved in sociolinguistics. The Handbook consists of six inter-linked sections: The History of Sociolinguistics; Sociolinguistics and Social Theory; Language, Variation and Change; Interaction; Multilingualism and Contact; Applications.