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The Sociolinguistics of Identity.

Article Excerpt
The Sociolinguistics of Identity. Edited by TOPE OMONIYI & GOODITH WHITE (Advances in Sociolinguistics series). London: Continuum, 2006. Pp. 239. Hardback $160.

Reviewed by AUDREY LUCERO, University of Washington

In their introduction to this comprehensive edited volume, Tope Omoniyi and Goodith White describe the sociolinguistics of identity as being concerned with the positioning and construction of people in social situations through the medium of language. This positioning takes into account various other identity markers such as ethnicity, gender, nationality, and race as well. Omoniyi and White not only present multidisciplinary perspectives on sociolinguistics and identity, but they also include pieces that re-examine the analytical tools used to research identity in recent years. The thirteen chapters in this book aim to elucidate the role of language in the construction and performance of individual and community identities in contexts such as workplaces and classrooms. The editors take as a given the poststructuralist notion that identity is constructed differently in different contexts--rather than being fixed across time or space--although the authors of some of the individual chapters challenge what they consider to be the uncritical adoption of post-structuralism in contemporary identity research. Additional underlying assumptions of the book are: that identity plays a role in all social interactions; that it...

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