What is the English language like, why is it like that and what do we need to know in order to study it? This wide ranging introductory textbook not only presents the English language from multiple perspectives, but provides the reader with the necessary grounding in linguistics to investigate it for themselves.

Written by a team of experts in diverse fields, English Language: Description, Variation and Context:

• Covers both traditional topics and topics that have more recently come to prominence, notably concerning language use in context

• Includes ‘Advances’ boxes, designed to give readers a sense of controversies, debates and further research in the area, and ‘Illustrations’ boxes, which contain extended and additional examples

• Employs a research-led approach, making the latest developments in the field highly accessible for an undergraduate audience, yet fruitful for more advanced readers.

Comprehensive and engaging, this invaluable textbook provides an ideal starting point for those new to the subject, straightforward progression for those who have studied it before and cutting-edge insights for more seasoned scholars.

Edited by Jonathan Culpeper, Senior Lecturer in English Language, Francis Katamba, Professor of Linguistics, Paul Kerswill, Professor of Sociolinguistics, Ruth Wodak, Distinguished Professor of Discourse Studies and Tony McEnery, Professor of English Language and Linguistics and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, all in the Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University.

JONATHAN CULPEPER is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics and Modern English Language at the University of Lancaster, UK. His research interests include stylistics, pragmatics, and (the history of) the English Language. His publications include History of English (Routledge, 1997), Exploring the Language of Drama (Routledge, 1998, co-edited with Mick Short and Peter Verdonk), Language and Characterisation in Plays and Other Texts (2001) and research collected volume Cognitive Stylistics: Language and Cognition in Text Analysis (2002).

FRANCIS KATAMBA is Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics and Modern English Language at the University of Lancaster, UK. His research interests are in the areas of English phonology and morphology, including morphological and phonological theory. His publications include An Introduction to Phonology (1989), English Words (1994) and Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction, 3rd editions (with William O'Grady and Michael Dobrovolsky, 1997)

PAUL KERSWILL is Professor of Sociolinguistics in the Department of Linguistics and Modern English Language at the University of Lancaster, UK. His areas of research and interest include social dialectology, language variation and change, and English accents and dialects. His publications include Dialects Converging: Rural Speech in Urban Norway (1994) and Dialect Change: Convergence and Divergence in European Languages (2005).

RUTH WODAK is Distinguished Professor of Discourse Studies in the Department of Linguistics and Modern English Language at the University of Lancaster, UK. She has published widely in critical discourse studies, on issues of identity politics, of exclusion and inclusion and of social and political changes.

TONY McENERY is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Lancaster, UK. His research interests in English corpus linguistics as well as corpus linguistics applied to languages other than English. He has wide experience of editing and authoring, and is currently editor of three book series, Advances in Corpus Linguistics (Routledge), Empirical Linguistics (EUP) and Routledge Frequency Dictionaries (Routledge).