Sociolinguistics Isabella Paoletti Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal abstract The aim of this Sociopedia.isa entry is to provide a brief description of this interdisciplinary area of research, and to sketch its evolution. The article stresses the importance of maintaining and developing the legacy of interdisciplinary connections developed in the past and the social commitments behind many of these studies. After describing the main areas in sociolinguistics, some recent directions are outlined, introducing some of its most promising developments. keywords discursive approaches to human sciences u ethnography of communication u language contact and language rights u language and society u sociolinguistics u variationist sociolinguistics