Sociolinguistics, the study of the interaction of language and society, has had a major impact on linguistics for the last half-century. However, this prominent branch of the language sciences has had little contact with the field of communication disorders. Clinical Sociolinguistics, a collection of newly commissioned articles written by top scholars, is a major advance in bringing the two fields together.

Part I includes chapters that outline findings from sociolinguistic research and point to the relevance of such findings for practicing speech-language pathologists. Topics discussed include bilingualism, code-switching, language planning, and a detailed look at African American English.

Part II contains chapters that specifically demonstrate how these research paradigms can be applied to assessment, diagnosis, and treatment in the clinical situation.

"Individuals acquire language, and lose it, in a variety of contexts. Gender, geography, socioeconomic status and bilingualism are all relevant to clinical reasoning about speech and language disorders. This timely volume is grounded in state-of-the art sociolinguistic research, but also demonstrates the application of sociolinguistic thinking to the clinical situation. It will be an invaluable text for those professionals faced with linguistically and culturally diverse client groups, and for students and researchers in communication disorders."