The Handbook of Dialectology provides an authoritative, up-to-date and unusually broad account of the study of dialect, in one volume. Each chapter reviews essential research, and offers a critical discussion of the past, present and future development of the area. * The volume is based on state-of-the-art research in dialectology around the world, providing the most current work available with an unusually broad scope of topics * Provides a practical guide to the many methodological and statistical issues surrounding the collection and analysis of dialect data * Offers summaries of dialect variation in the world's most widely spoken and commonly studied languages, including several non-European languages that have traditionally received less attention in general discussions of dialectology * Reviews the intellectual development of the field, including its main theoretical schools of thought and research traditions, both academic and applied * The editors are well known and highly respected, with a deep knowledge of this vast field of inquiry