In this interdisciplinary volume, sociolinguists and sociologists explore the intersections of language, culture, and identity for rural populations around the world. Challenging stereotypical views of rural backwardness and urban progress, the contributors reveal how language is a key mechanism for constructing the meaning of places and the people who identify with them. With research that spans numerous countries and several continents, the chapters in this volume add broadly to knowledge about status and prestige, authenticity and belonging, rural-urban relations, and innovation and change among rural peoples and in rural communities across the globe.

Contributions by: Becky Childs, Elizabeth Falconi, Gregory Fulkerson, Rania Habib, Kirk Hazen, Sarah Kristian, Lu Li, Christine Mallinson, Nico Nassenstein, Elizabeth Seale, James N. Stanford, Thea Strand, Alexander Thomas, Jennifer Thorburn, Gerard Van Herk, Aimee Vieira, Wei Shuqi