| Foreword | p. v |
| Acknowledgments | p. vii |
| Introduction | p. 3 |
| References | p. 13 |
| Speech Communities and Language Situations | p. 17 |
| References | p. 21 |
| Diglossia | p. 25 |
| References | p. 38 |
| Language Development | p. 40 |
| Note | p. 46 |
| References | p. 46 |
| The Role of Arabic in Ethiopia: a Sociolinguistic Perspective | p. 48 |
| Notes | p. 57 |
| References | p. 57 |
| Religious Factors in Language Spread | p. 59 |
| References | p. 68 |
| Literacy in a Hunting-Gathering Society: the Case of the Diyari | p. 69 |
| Notes | p. 80 |
| References | p. 81 |
| South Asia as a Sociolinguistic Area | p. 84 |
| References | p. 93 |
| Register and Genre | p. 97 |
| References | p. 101 |
| Baby Talk in Six Languages | p. 103 |
| Notes | p. 113 |
| References | p. 113 |
| Absence of Copula and the Notion of Simplicity: a Study of Normal Speech, Baby Talk, Foreigner Talk and Pidgins | p. 115 |
| Notes | p. 121 |
| References | p. 122 |
| The Collect as a Form of Discourse | p. 124 |
| Notes | p. 131 |
| References | p. 132 |
| The Structure and Use of Politeness Formulas | p. 133 |
| Notes | p. 145 |
| References | p. 145 |
| Sports Announcer Talk: Syntactic Aspects of Register Variation | p. 148 |
| Notes | p. 164 |
| References | p. 165 |
| Genre and Register: One Path to Discourse Analysis | p. 167 |
| Notes | p. 175 |
| References | p. 175 |
| Variation and Change | p. 177 |
| References | p. 179 |
| The Sociolinguistic Variable (s) in Bengali: a Sound Change in Progress? (with Afia Dil) | p. 181 |
| Notes | p. 187 |
| References | p. 188 |
| Standardization as a Form of Language Spread | p. 189 |
| References | p. 197 |
| From Esses to Aitches: Identifying Pathways of Diachronic Change | p. 200 |
| Notes | p. 212 |
| References | p. 213 |
| Then They Could Read and Write | p. 216 |
| References | p. 225 |
| Individual and Social in Language Change: Diachronic Changes in Politeness Agreement in Forms of Address | p. 227 |
| References | p. 238 |
| Notes | p. 238 |
| Variation and Drift: Loss of Agreement in Germanic | p. 241 |
| References | p. 258 |
| Notes | p. 258 |
| Language Planning | p. 261 |
| References | p. 265 |
| The Language Factor in National Development | p. 267 |
| Notes | p. 271 |
| On Sociolinguistically Oriented Language Surveys | p. 272 |
| Sociolinguistic Settings of Language Planning | p. 277 |
| Notes | p. 293 |
| References | p. 293 |
| National Attitudes Toward Language Planning | p. 295 |
| References | p. 302 |
| Conventional Conventionalization: Planned Change in Language | p. 304 |
| References | p. 312 |
| Language and National Development | p. 313 |
| References | p. 322 |
| Ferguson Bibliography, 1985-1995 | p. 325 |
| Names Index | p. 329 |
| Topics Index | p. 336 |
| Languages Index | p. 345 |
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