ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book represents the ongoing efforts within sociolinguistics to refresh and rechallenge the field. It articulates some of the major issues that the challenge of globalising sociolinguistics presents as a field. The book presents the challenge of analysing diglossia in diverse sociolinguistic research settings, including Southeast Asia, East Africa, West Africa, the Caribbean and Scotland/Ireland. It discusses some issues, including Smith-Christmas and O hIfearnain; Xu; Battisti and Bassiouney. It focuses on five pressing issues: the ubiquity of multilingualism; standards and local vernaculars; the challenge of defining native speaker; the waves of sociolinguistics and the role of collaboration. The book deals with challenges of access and sampling. It provides discussions of complex multilingualism in South Asia, Eastern Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, the Mediterranean and the Slavic world.
