This Handbook provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of theoretical and descriptive research in contemporary Hispanic sociolinguistics. * Offers the first authoritative collection exploring research strands in the emerging and fast-moving field of Spanish sociolinguistics * Highlights the contributions that Spanish Sociolinguistics has offered to general linguistic theory * Brings together a team of the top researchers in the field to present the very latest perspectives and discussions of key issues * Covers a wealth of topics including: variationist approaches, Spanish and its importance in the U.S., language planning, and other topics focused on the social aspects of Spanish * Includes several varieties of Spanish, reflecting the rich diversity of dialects spoken in the Americas and Spain