Insegnare una lingua: l’arte del reimpiego EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages E-JournALL Volume 2, Issue 1, August 2015, pages 110-111 ISSN 2376-905X DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.21283/2376905X.2.32 www.e-journall.org Copyright © 2015. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Corpus-Based Sociolinguistics: A Guide for Students by Eric Friginal and Jack A. Hardy is a 312-page reference book which maps out a clear and systematic path for corpus applications in sociolinguistics. The book is divided into three sections, which introduce basic concepts related to corpus-based sociolinguistics, survey the main studies of the discipline, and offer ideas on how to conduct corpus-based sociolinguistic studies, respectively. Section A, Introduction to Corpus-Based Sociolinguistics, is made up of five parts. The first focuses on sociolinguistic investigations of variation, and after defining the concept of variation and introducing the linguistic and societal variables in sociolinguistics, overviews the main applications, investigations, and approaches in corpus-based sociolinguistics. The second, third, and fourth parts offer an in-depth account of corpus linguistics by defining the discipline and its historical development and describing the main types of corpora, the common linguistic constructs investigated using corpora, and the software tools and corpus- based techniques which can be applied to sociolinguistic analyses. In these parts, the authors also take into account important issues in corpus design and representativeness. Finally, the fifth part considers the modern expansion of corpus work, as well as its limitations and likely future directions. Section B, Survey of Corpus-Based Sociolinguistic Studies, offers concise but detailed information about studies in corpus-based sociolinguistic research. In the six parts making up this section, readers will find a kaleidoscopic compendium of corpora and of studies in language variation related to regional dialectology, gender, sexuality, age, politeness, stance, workplace discourse, diachronic change, and social media and web registers, among others. Section C, Conducting Corpus-Based Sociolinguistic Studies, is the most practical of the sections. Although it is worth highlighting that the whole book is characterized by a constant and valuable zooming in * Contact: pierfranca.forchini@unicatt.it Friginal Eric & Hardy, Jack A. (2014). Corpus-based sociolinguistics: A guide for students. New York and London: Routledge PIERFRANCA FORCHINI* Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Book review Received 27 February 2015; accepted 13 March 2015 ABSTRACT EN This review highlights the content of Corpus-Based Sociolinguistics: A Guide for Students by Eric Friginal and Jack A. Hardy, which maps out a clear and systematic path for corpus applications in sociolinguistics. Key words: CORPORA, CORPUS TOOLS, LANGUAGE VARIATION AND CHANGE, VARIATION IN DISCOURSE. ES La presente reseña realiza un repaso por lo más destacado de Corpus-Based Sociolinguistics: A guide for Students, obra escrita por Eric Friginal y Jack A. Hardy que pretende ofrecer al lector pautas claras y sistemáticas en la aplicación de corpus a la sociolingüística Palabras clave: CORPUS, HERRAMIENTAS DE CORPUS, VARACIÓN LINGÜÍSTICA Y CAMBIO LINGÜÍSTICO, VARACIÓN EN EL DISCURSO. IT L’obiettivo dell’articolo è mettere in rilievo i punti principali di Corpus-Based Sociolinguistics: A guide for Students, di Eric Friginal e Jack A. Hardy, che delinea un percorso chiaro e sistematico per l’applicazione del corpus in sociolinguistica. Parole chiave: CORPORA, STRUMENTI DEL CORPUS, VARIAZIONE E CAMBIAMENTO LINGUISTICO, VARIAZIONE DEL DISCORSO. http://www.e-journall.org/ REVIEW: CORPUS-BASED SOCIOLINGUISTICS E-JournALL, 2(1) (2015), pp. 110-111 111 and out from theory to practice and vice versa, Section C provides the most practical advice on how to conceive and develop corpora to conduct sociolinguistic research. In the first of the four parts of the section, the authors provide guidelines on not only how to collect and organize a corpus, but also on what to do before collecting one. The remaining parts amply illustrate issues such as multidimensional analysis of linguistic variation, diachronic research, and applications, such as keyword analysis, the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count, and using POS-tagged data in sociolinguistic research. The volume offers more than it promises: It not only succeeds in providing an up-to-date account of using corpora in sociolinguistic research, but it also succeeds in providing reflective breaks, text samples, sample research questions, case studies, further readings, interviews, trivia, vignettes, discussion questions, activities and applications, which are stimulating resources both for students and non-students. Although it is primarily intended as a guide to corpus-based sociolinguistics in upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses, the book is also a must read for professional researchers who are interested in a current, wide- ranging overview of corpus-based sociolinguistic research. The authors successfully synthesize a representative body of studies, concepts, and tools in sociolinguistic research, as they weave their way through a variety of topics, devices, and perspectives. Pierfranca Forchini, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore pierfranca.forchini@unicatt.it EN Pierfranca Forchini has an MA in Foreign Languages and Literatures, an MA in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, and a PhD in Linguistic and Literary Sciences. Her interests are the lexico-grammar interface of spoken and movie language, American English phraseology and phonology, corpus linguistics, contrastive linguistics and audio-visual translation. She currently lectures in English Linguistics at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy. ES Pierfranca Forchini tiene un máster en Lenguas y Literaturas Extranjeras, un máster en Lingüística Teórica y Aplicada y un doctorado en Ciencias Lingüísticas y Literarias. Sus intereses giran en torno a la interfaz léxico-gramática del lenguaje hablado y cinematográfico, la fraseología y la fonología del inglés americano, la lingüística de corpus, la lingüística contrastiva y la traducción audiovisual. Actualmente es profesora de Lingüística Inglesa en la Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore de Milán (Italia). IT Pierfranca Forchini ha un master in Lingue e letterature straniere, un master in Linguistica teorica e applicata e un dottorato di ricerca in Scienze linguistiche e letterarie. Il suo campo di studio abbraccia l’interfaccia lessico-grammaticale dei linguaggi parlati e cinematografici, la fraseologia e la fonologia dell’inglese americano, la linguistica dei corpora, la linguistica contrastiva e la traduzione audiovisiva. Attualmente insegna Linguistica inglese presso l’Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore a Milano.