Reflecting a multitude of developments in the study of language change and variation over the last ten years, this extensively updated second edition features a number of new chapters and remains the authoritative reference volume on a core research area in linguistics.
A fully revised and expanded edition of this acclaimed reference work, which has established its reputation based on its unrivalled scope and depth of analysis in this interdisciplinary fieldIncludes seven new chapters, while the remainder have undergone thorough revision and updating to incorporate the latest research and reflect numerous developments in the fieldAccessibly structured by theme, covering topics including data collection and evaluation, linguistic structure, language and time, language contact, language domains, and social differentiationBrings together an experienced, international editorial and contributor team to provides an unrivalled learning, teaching and reference tool for researchers and students in sociolinguistics
J.K. Chambers is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Toronto. He is the author ofSociolinguistic Theory: Linguistic Variation and its Social Significance, Revised Edition(Wiley-Blackwell, 2009) andDialectology, Second Edition (with P. Trudgill, 1998), as well as numerous other books and scores of articles. He works extensively as a forensic consultant and maintains a parallel vocation in jazz criticism, including a volume on the bebop pianist Richard Twardzik (2008) and a prize-winning biography of Miles Davis,Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles Davis (1998).
Natalie Schilling is Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University. She is the author ofAmerican English: Dialects and Variation, Third Edition (with W. Wolfram, Wiley-Blackwell, 2016) andSociolinguistic Fieldwork (2013). An expert in language variation and change in American English, she conducts workshops on sociolinguistics and forensic linguistics for an array of audiences within and beyond academia, and is a noted consultant in both these fields. Among her works for general audiences isEnglish in America: A Linguistic History, an audio-video lecture series forThe Great Courses (2016).
List of Illustrations ix
List of Contributors xiii
Preface to the Second Edition xv
Studying Language Variation: An Informal Epistemology 1
J.K. Chambers
Part I Data Collection 17
1 Entering the Community: Fieldwork 19
Crawford Feagin
2 Data in the Study of Variation and Change 38
Tyler Kendall
3 Investigating Historical Variation and Change in Written Documents: New Perspectives 57
Edgar W. Schneider
Part II Evaluation 83
4 The Quantitative Paradigm 85
Robert Bayley
5 Sociophonetics 108
Erik R. Thomas
6 Comparative Sociolinguistics 128
Sali A. Tagliamonte
7 Language with an Attitude 157
Dennis R. Preston
Part III Linguistic Structure 183
8 Variation and Syntactic Theory 185
Ralph W. Fasold
9 Investigating Chain Shifts and Mergers 203
Matthew J. Gordon
10 Discourse Variation 220
Ronald Macaulay
Part IV Language and Time 237
11 Real Time and Apparent Time 239
Patricia Cukor-Avila and Guy Bailey
12 Child Language Variation 263
Julie Roberts
13 Adolescence 277
Sam Kirkham and Emma Moore
14 Patterns of Variation including Change 297
J.K. Chambers
Part V Social Differentiation 325
15 Investigating Stylistic Variation 327
Natalie Schilling
16 Social Class 350
Sharon Ash
17 Gender, Sex, Sexuality, and Sexual Identities 368
Robin Queen
18 Ethnicity 388
Carmen Fought
Part VI Domains 407
19 Social Networks 409
Lesley Milroy and Carmen Llamas
20 Communities of Practice 428
Miriam Meyerhoff and Anna Strycharz
21 Constructing Identity 448
Scott F. Kiesling
Part VII Contact 469
22 Space, Diffusion and Mobility 471
David Britain
23 Linguistic Outcomes of Bilingualism 501
Gillian Sankoff
24 Koineization 519
Paul Kerswill
25 Supraregionalisation and Dissociation 537
Raymond Hickey
Part VIII Sociolinguists and Their Communities 555
26 Community Commitment and Responsibility 557
Walt Wolfram
Postscript 577
Natalie Schilling and Jack Chambers
Index 579
