Reviews N. Dittmar Sociolinguistics. A critical survey of theory and application. Trans-lated from the German by Peter Sand, Pieter A. M. Seuren and Keven Whiteley. London: Edward Arnold, 1976. Pp. x + 307.

Norbert Dittmar's book Soziolinguistik was first published in Germany in 1973. This review is based on the English translation published in 1976. The original German language version of the book aimed at a European audience clearly has a different significance from its English translation whose readership has easier access to most of the sources discussed, often easier personal access to the authors themselves. In the Preface to the English edition, D. characterizes his book as 'a survey of sociolinguistics', while the jacket describes it as 'a comprehensive introduction to the field of sociolinguistics in all its aspects'. D.'s characterization is the accurate one, since the book is indeed a broad survey of sociolinguistic work, too technical to be used as an introduction to sociolinguistics