ABSTRACT
Mainstream sociolinguistic theory is helpful, but it needs to be further refined in order to do justice both to the societies and languages studied in this volume, and to other societies. In place of the catch-all mainstream theories, the emergence of German referred to as Theorien mittlerer Reichweite, as a result of enriching and adjusting mainstream theories for the study of distinct cultures of communication. The authors aware that theoretical inconsistencies have to be bridged when applying mainstream sociolinguistics to the language communities in the regions of their expertise. They call for more attention to be paid to distinct types of communities and societies. Different types of societies must give rise to different types of sociolinguistic study. Its necessity to consider anew how the emic and the etic relate in sociolinguistic theory building and in the development of adequate research methods. Current sociolinguistic theory remains to be part and parcel of sociolinguistic education and training.
