Meaning, Identity, and Interaction
Sociolinguistic Variation and Change in Game-Theoretic Pragmatics

Drawing on cutting-edge research, this book shows how tools from formal semantics can be used to formalize theories from sociolinguistics.

Heather Burnett (Author)

9781108841641, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 June 2023

250 pages
23.6 x 15.8 x 1.8 cm, 0.48 kg

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.

1. A formal semantics for social meaning
2. Formalizing the third wave
3. Testing sociolinguistic theories using game-theoretic pragmatics
4. A materialist semantics for slurs and identity terms
5. Socially driven language change in game-theoretic pragmatics
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Sociolinguistics [CFB]