Language: the socio-cultural context is the last of four volumes comprising Linguistics: the Cambridge survey. The first three volumes of the series are entitled Linguistic theory: foundations, Linguistic theory: extensions and implications, and Language: psychological and biological aspects. Their common thread is the treatment of language as a mental or biological entity. Thus they are devoted primarily to presenting the constructs of theoretical linguistics and to probing the evidence for their psychological reality, as well as to sorting out the implications that their reality may have for diverse areas of investigation. But language, of course, is more than a mental phenomenon. Indeed, many would say that such a function is secondary to its role in social interaction, i.e. to its function in communication and as the principal agent for the transmission of cultural and social values.

The point of departure of the chapters in this volume is the socio-cultural aspect of language; each explores a different dimension of this aspect. The volume begins with a critical overview by Beatriz R. Lavandera of studies of language in its socio-cultural context. She contrasts three different orientations guiding such studies: one in which the investigator's attention is focussed on practical goals, without challenging any of the precepts of normal mainstream linguistics; one which takes the position that most traditional problems of mainstream linguistics admit of a solution once social variables are incorporated; and a third which attempts to reconstitute linguistics itself to provide a theory of language in its social context.