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A process of linguistic redefinition is underway, and it is the aim of this volume to contribute to that process, explain why a redefinition is needed, and how it should proceed. In the case of linguistics the subject is also the subject matter. Many linguists have ignored the problem of definition, simply regarding linguistics as the `science of language itself¿. What, though, is `language itself¿? Is it a language, ie English, Swahili? Or, language in a more general sense? The primary goal of a redefinition of linguistics should be to demonstrate that language is not an objective matter. Linguistics is, and should be, the study of whatever is linguistically pertinent.

Is the study of language ideologically neutral? If so, is this study objective and autonomous? One of the most cherished assumptions of modern academic linguistics is that the study of language is, or should be, ideologically neutral. This professed ideological neutrality goes hand-in-hand with claims of scientific objectivity and explanatory autonomy. Ideologies of Language counters these claims and assumptions by demonstrating not only their descriptive inaccuracy but also their conceptual incoherence.

The essays in this volume, by contributors to the linguistic atlases and other dialectologists, describe some of the problems that bedevil the study of dialect and the methodological solutions employed to minimise them. They also survey the contributions that linguistic cartography can make to the study of English and of language in general. The considerations it embodies are of major importance for the student of language and, in addition, the book is an invaluable companion to the Atlases.