Clinical sociolinguistics is aimed primarily at speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and similar professionals. Its purpose is to bridge the historical gap between sociolinguistics and clinical speech-language pathology. The book is relevant not only to SLPs, however, but also to sociolinguists interested in the clinical applications of their field and in addressing the gap between the two fields.
The first of its two sections discusses major research and ideas from sociolinguistics in the past half-century. In the chapter “Language, communities, networks and practices,” the concept of the language community and social network theory are introduced. “Regional and social variation” discusses how language varies with respect to geography, class, and ethnicity. “Language and gender” highlights some of the key research of the area, as well as discussing the relevance of feminist theory in linguistics. “Bilingualism and multilingualism” defines key terminology in bi- and multilingualism. “Code-switching and diglossia” expands further on two key topics from the previous chapter. “Language and power” describes the field of conversational analysis and the insights it has given into how power is constructed, maintained, or denied through discourse. “Language and culture” discusses discourse markers as “carriers” of culture. “African American English” gives an overview of this dialect, its origins, and its grammatical features. “Language change” summarizes synchronic research on language change in Yorkshire. “Language planning” discusses various types and methodologies of planning, and their interaction with language policy. “Dialect perception and attitudes to variation” discusses how attitudes toward groups are reflected in attitudes toward their language or dialect.
The second section demonstrates how the accumulated knowledge of sociolinguistics can be applied to the clinical practice of speech-language pathology. “Acquisition of sociolinguistic variation” discusses research on the acquisition of nonstandard dialects. “Bi- and multilingual language acquisition” lays out a typology of different means of becoming bi- or multilingual. “Assessing language in children who speak a nonmainstream dialect of English” mentions several features used in standardized language testing, and the criticisms these have encountered when used with children who do not speak a standard dialect. “Childhood bilingualism: Distinguishing difference from disorder” highlights which behaviors in language testing are a sign of differing linguistic and cultural norms, and which are likely to be indicative of a disorder. “Speech perception, hearing impairment and linguistic variation” summarizes research on differences in speaker gender and dialect identification between hearing adults and adults with cochlear implants. “Aphasia in multilingual populations” discusses improvements in identification and treatment since the development of the Bilingual Aphasia Test. “Designing assessments for multilingual children” explains that a bilingual's languages are used in different domains, and that assessing one does not provide an accurate assessment of proficiency in the other. “Literacy as a sociolinguistic process for clinical purposes” advocates for a more holistic approach to dyslexia. “The sociolinguistics of sign languages” summarizes the history of the Deaf community in America, as well as research on variation in American Sign Language. “Managing linguistic diversity: interpreters in speech-language pathology” discusses the best methods to evaluate and remove barriers to interpreter-mediated interaction with clients.
