This collection of articles presents two central perspectives in the current sociolinguistic
study of youth language both of which are comparatively new to sociolinguistics. One tendency
is the study of the effects of new technology on the linguistic behaviors of late modern
particularly urban youth including mobile telephones and computers. The other tendency is the
study of the effects of increasing diversity in linguistic resources available in late modern
societies again particularly evident among urban youth. Both of these sets of effects are
richly documented and analyzed in the contributions of this volume which presents research and
data from China Croatia Turkey Denmark Germany and a host of other places.
