Int. J. Intercultural Rel., Vol. 19, No. 2, pp.

321-339, 1995
Copyright 0 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd
Pergamon Printed in the USA. All rights reserved
0147-1767/95 $9.50 + .OO

Book Reviews of Works on

Language, Culture, and World View

LANGUAGE: THE SOCIAL MIRROR

Elaine Chaika

Boston, MA: Heinle and Heinle Publishers, 1994, 3rd ed., 436 pp.,
$17.00 (paper)

Elaine Chaika clearly knows the field of sociolinguistics. As both a

researcher and professor, Chaika presents the reader with a broad over-
view of the field. The 11 chapters include: What is Language?, Bilingual-
ism: Individual and Social, Speech Style, Kinesics, Pragmatics, Orality
and Literacy, Field Methods, Dialects, Speech Communities, Gender
and Language, Sociolinguistics and the Professions. Throughout the
book, Chaika maintains that much is revealed about individuals and socio-
cultural relations by examining speech activities. Despite the fact that there
is tremendous variety among languages and speakers, Chaika emphasizes
that all human communication is equally complex and worthy.
Chaika implies that the study of sociolinguistics is far too important
to be treated as a mere academic subject. She cites powerful reasons for
the necessity for all professionals to learn how language use reflects
social class, cultural identity, behavior and values. According to Chaika,
the study of sociolinguistics: (a) creates a self-awareness of how one
speaks, responds, and relates to others; (b) heightens one’s sensitivity
towards “sources of misunderstanding” and to “deeper understandings”
of why and how individuals and groups behave; (c) illuminates the be-
liefs, behaviors, and values of different groups; and (d) reveals how
social situations determine how speech is used and how speech evolves to
meet social needs.
Overall, Chaika’s work is thought-provoking and accessible. As a
teacher myself, I especially appreciate the many examples she cites
throughout the chapters that come from her students’ work. This is not
to say that Chaika neglects her own research and that of the classic
work of Labov, Fishman, and, more recently, Tannen. However, by
presenting her students’ work she implies that sociolinguistic inquiry is

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accessible to nonsociolinguists and that insights may be gained by sys-

tematic observation and thoughtful interpretation.
This is the third edition of Chaika’s work and the publishers maintain
that the chapters have been updated to reflect current trends in the
field. With this in mind, the second chapter on bilingualism is somewhat
disappointing. Chaika should be credited for including Krashen’s work
on acquisition vs. learning and Hakuta’s work on optimal age for second
language acquisition. However, a chapter on bilingualism is not com-
plete if it neglects the work of Virginia Collier on age and rate of second
language acquisition, Jim Cummins’s work on the nature of second lan-
guage proficiency, and John Schumann’s work on acculturation theory.
As previously mentioned, Chaika’s work is comprehensive, and al-
though the book is written for a broad audience, she introduces a pleth-
ora of technical vocabulary for which a glossary might have been help-
ful. Moreover, Chaika’s informal style, which includes personal opinion,
anecdote, and reported research, may confuse the neophyte reader. Since
there are statements without references, it is difficult to distinguish Chai-
ka’s opinion from documented research. For example, in discussing how
judgments are made about what language is proper, Chaika writes that
“‘ he don’t’ used to be grammatical for all English speakers, educated or
not” (p. 16). In discussing American naming practices Chaika states, “ . . .
names for men can cross the line and become names for women, but the
reverse does not happen. For instance, Shirley, Joyce, Brook were all
originally names for men.” (p. 110) Without references to these provoca-
tive statements, one is left wondering where to read more about these
interesting points and how Chaika came to know them.
Despite minor flaws, Elaine Chaika has written an inspiring and
sweeping introduction to sociolinguistics and the complexity of commu-
nication. Most important, in Language: The Social Mirror, Chaika pro-
poses to “whet the reader’s appetite for more.” (p. 293) She has clearly
succeeded with me.

Nancy C/air
New England Multifunctional Resource Center
University of Massachusetts, Boston

CULTURE LEARNING: THE FIFTH DIMENSION IN THE

LANGUAGE CLASSROOM
Louise Damen

Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1987, 406 pp., $32.25 (paper)

With communicative competence as the overarching goal of foreign/

second language acquisition, “culture” has joined the four traditional