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Language in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2004

Christina Bratt Paulston
Christina Bratt Paulston
Affiliation:
Linguistics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, paulston@imap.pitt.edu
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Extract

Rajend Mesthrie (ed.), Language in South Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2002. Pp. xvii, 485. HB $75.00.

Language in South Africa (LinSA) is a very handsome book, beautifully edited, carefully proofread, and produced on thick paper in elegant fonts. It is in fact the same book, although revised and updated, as Language and social history: Studies in South African sociolinguistics (Mesthrie 1995). Just looking at the two volumes, side by side on my desk, I could write an essay on publishing and face validity. I am happy that this book has found an international publisher, because it deserves wider reading and better promotion (I never saw the first book reviewed or promoted), but the easy conclusion that the book under review is a better book is not necessarily warranted. As the Irish say about their horses, handsome is as handsome does, and both volumes do handsomely indeed.

Type
BOOK REVIEW
Information
Language in Society , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , October 2004 , pp. 632 - 637
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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References

REFERENCES

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