Meaning, Identity, and Interaction

Exciting parallel developments have been made in sociolinguistics and formal semantics, yet these two subfields have had very little contact in the past. This pioneering book bridges this gap, bringing together research and methodologies from both areas of study into a new framework for studying the relation between language, ideologies and the social world. It demonstrates how tools from semantics can be used to formalize theories from sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology and gender studies, and also shows how tools from epistemic game theory can be used to bring those theories in closer line with empirical studies of sociolinguistic variation and identity construction through language. Engaging and accessible, it highlights how a cross-pollination of ideas in sociolinguistics and semantics can open up a completely new empirical domain of research. It is essential reading for sociolinguists interested in meaning, and semanticists and philosophers interested in language in its social context.

• Brings together two subfields of linguistics, sociolinguistics and formal semantics/pragmatics, which have had very little contact in the past
• Provides a straightforward introduction to decision theory and game theory, and illustrates the concepts with examples from sociolinguistics
• Demonstrates that sociolinguistic data is relevant for semantic and pragmatic theory