Introduction

This is the first volume to focus on the role of media in processes of linguistic change, one of the most contested issues in contemporary sociolinguistics. Its 17 chapters and five section commentaries present cutting-edge research from variationist and interactional sociolinguistics, media linguistics, language ideology research, and minority language studies. The volume advances our understanding of linguistic change in a mediatized world in three ways.

First, it introduces the notions of sociolinguistic change and mediatization to create a broader theoretical framing than the one offered by ‘the media’ and ‘language change’. Second, it takes the discussion beyond the notions of influence and effect and the binary distinction of media vs. community language. Third, it examines the relation of sociolinguistic change and mediatization from five complementary viewpoints:

• media influence on linguistic structure;
• media engagement in interaction;
• change in mass and new media language;
• language-ideological change;
• and the role of media for minority languages.

Bringing these strands of sociolinguistic scholarship together, this volume examines their shared references and common lines of thinking.