Sociolinguistics (or the sociology of language) has established itself as an academic subject in many countries. The discipline promises to be of benefit in solving practical problems in such areas as language planning and standardization, language teaching and therapy, and language policy. This handbook provides this account. The series Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science is designed to illuminate a field which not only includes general linguistics and the study of linguistics as applied to specific languages, but also covers those more recent areas which have developed from the increasing body of research into the manifold forms of communicative action and interaction. IX. Regional Overview Scandinavia 1747(7) Lars Vikor The British Isles 1754(4) Li Wei The Low Countries 1758(7) Roland Willemyns Die deutschsprachigen Lander 1765(7) Ulrich Ammon Die Schweiz 1772(15) Walter Haas France 1787(5) Francoise Gadet Italien 1792(10) Edgar Radtke The Iberian Peninsula 1802(9) Juan Andres Villena Ponsoda Hungarian In- and Outside Hungary 1811(7) Miklos Kontra Rumanien und Moldau 1818(6) Klaus Steinke Die sudslawische Region 1824(13) Gerhard Neweklowsky Die westslawischen Sprachen 1837(14) Wladyslaw Lubas Die ostslawische Region 1851(13) Karl Gutschmidt The Baltic States 1864(6) Ina Druviete Gypsy Languages 1870(4) Ian Hancock Albania 1874(7) Victor A. Friedman Greece and Cyprus 1881(8) Peter Trudgill Daniel Schreier Central Asia and Mongolia 1889(8) Lars Johanson Elisabetta Ragagnin Georgia 1897(3) B. George Hewitt Armenia 1900(3) Jos J. S. Weitenberg Turkey 1903(8) Birgit N. Schlyter Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan 1911(6) Yahya Modarresi The Arabic-speaking Middle East 1917(7) Enam Al-Wer Israel and the Jewish Languages 1924(6) Bernard Spolsky The Arabian Peninsula and Iraq 1930(11) Clive Holes North Africa 1941(5) Keith Walters Francophone West Africa 1946(5) Louis-Jean Calvet Sudan and the Horn of Africa 1951(6) Ronny Meyer Anglophone West Africa 1957(7) Magnus Huber East Africa 1964(8) Silvester Ron Simango Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi 1972(3) Louis-Jean Calvet Lusophone Africa 1975(6) Emilio Bonvini Southern Africa 1981(6) Tore Janson Madagascar and the Comoros 1987(2) Robert Chaudenson The Indian Ocean 1989(1) Robert Chaudenson South Asia 1990(8) Braj B. Kachru China 1998(9) Cheng Tien-mu Fritz Pasierbsky Mainland Southeast Asia 2007(7) David Bradley Malaysia and Insular Southeast Asia 2014(7) Lars Vikør Japan und Korea 2021(4) Shinji Sanada Australia and New Zealand 2025(9) Anne Pauwels The South Pacific 2034(11) Andrew Pawley Canada 2045(7) John Edwards The USA 2052(14) Lyle Campbell Bermuda and the Bahamas 2066(7) Cecilia Cutler Stephanie Hackert Chanti Seymour Mexico and Central America 2073(8) Yolanda Lastra The Hispanophone Caribbean 2081(2) Ralph Penny The Anglophone Caribbean 2083(13) Hubert Devonish The Francophone Caribbean 2096(9) Jean Bernabe Francoise Grenard The Dutch-speaking Caribbean 2105(10) Marta Dijkhoff Silvia Kouwenberg Paul Tjon Sie Fat Hispanophone South America 2115(10) Rainer Enrique Hamel Pedro Martin Butragueno Brazil 2125(6) Maria Marta Pereira Scherre English in the South Atlantic Ocean 2131(7) Daniel Schreier Andrea Sudbury Sheila Wilson X. Linguistic Change, Sociolinguistic Aspects The Relationship between Linguistic and Social Change 2138(9) Ana Deumert The Change from Oral to Written Communication from a Sociolinguistic Perspective 2147(23) Utz Maas The Alphabetization of Speech Communities 2170(19) Joachim Gessinger Convergence and Divergence of Regional Varieties 2189(8) Edgar Radtke Development and Reform of Standard Languages and Destandardization 2197(12) Frantisek Danes Sociolinguistic Aspects of Social Modernization 2209(14) J. V. Neustupny The Development of Languages for Special Purposes 2223(10) Jiri Nekvapil Colonization and Decolonization 2233(7) Robert Phillipson The Development of Language Empires 2240(18) Rainer Enrique Hamel Language Maintenance, Language Decline and Language Death 2258(13) Wolfgang Dressler Rudolf de Cillia Migration and Language 2271(14) Paul Kerswill Sociolinguistic Developments as a Diffusion Process 2285(14) Marinel Gerritsen Roeland van Hout Language Spread 2299(8) Robert Phillipson Language History and Historical Sociolinguistics 2307(9) Paul T. Roberge XI. Application Forensic Sociolinguistics 2316(7) John Gibbons Discourse Analysis and the Law 2323(11) Roger W. Shuy The Sociolinguistics of Ageing 2334(7) Nikolas Coupland Virpi Ylanne-McEwen Sociolinguistics and Mother-Tongue Education 2341(10) Jenny Cheshire Discourse in the Classroom 2351(16) Sarah Michaels Richard Sohmer Mary Catherine O' Connor Sociolinguistics and Second Language Teaching 2367(9) Marilyn Martin-Jones Sociolinguistics and Foreign Language Teaching 2376(8) Helga Bister-Broosen Language Planning: Standardization 2384(10) Helge Omdal Language Planning -- Language Determination 2394(8) Ana Deumert Language Planning: Graphization and the Development of Writing Systems 2402(19) Harald Haarmann Language Planning: Modernization 2421(10) Rodolfo Jacobson Language Maintenance and Reversing Language Shift 2431(11) Goz Kaufmann Language Revival 2442(11) Aaron Bar-Adon Language Cultivation 2453(8) Frantisek Danes Lexicography and Sociolinguistics 2461(12) Ulrich Puschel Sociolinguistics and Linguistic Minorities 2473(11) Ludwig M. Eichinger Choosing an Official Language 2484(10) Claude Piron Applied Linguistic Gender Research 2494(29) Helga Kotthoff Sociolinguistics and Speech Therapy 2523(8) Walt Wolfram Therapeutic Discourse 2531(6) Robin Tolmach Lakoff Sociolinguistics and Intercultural Communication 2537(9) Helen Spencer-Oatey Applied Social Dialectology 2546(9) Carolyn Temple Adger Donna Christian Rhetoric 2555(11) Reinhard Fiehler Revealing the Implications of Ideological Language Use 2566(9) Matthias Jung Linguistic Human Rights 2575(10) Tove Skutnabb-Kangas Index of Subjects 2585