Chapter 6, Language Variation: Online material
For Students
1.
Summary
In this chapter we present an overview of the development of research on regional dialects, including
methodologies used to create dialect maps and study the patterns in local vernaculars. We also introduce the
concept of the linguistic variable, which is central to linguistics and variationist sociolinguistics in particular.
We review some early important work on regional varieties of English by well-known sociolinguists who were
responsible for the growth of the field. Further, we look at social dialects and how they are studied, focusing in
particular on social class, and what methodologies have traditionally been used to study this variation.
2.
Review
2.1. Compare and contrast the following pairs of terms/concepts:
social variation/regional variation
isogloss/dialect boundary
social class/social network
variable/variant
random sample/judgment sample
apparent time/real time
independent variable/dependent variable
2.2. Review questions
2.2.1. What were some of the problems identified with earlier methods used in regional dialectology
studies?
2.2.2. How do you determine the variants of a variable? (Give an example.)
2.2.3. What are some of the issues in determining social class membership? Why do some researchers
choose to not categorize people in this way, but instead look at social networks?
2.2.4. What is the observer’s paradox, when is it relevant, and how do researchers seek to work around it?
2.2.5. Variationist sociolinguistics is often said to be primarily quantitative and correlational: explain what
this means.
3.
Terms to know from this chapter
diachronic (or historical) linguistics
dialect geography
dialect atlas
isogloss
dialect boundary
focal area
relic area
remnant area
transition area
sample
the axiom of categoricity
dialect mixture
free variation
linguistic variable
variants
principle of accountability
indicator
marker
stereotype
social class
observer’s paradox
minimum pairs
random sample
judgment (or quota) sample
stratified sample
apparent time
real time
panel study
trend study
dependent variable
independent variable
quantitative (variationist) sociolinguistics
validity
reliability
4.
Links
Linguistic Atlas Projects in the United States: provides information about a wealth of dialect projects that have
been carried out in the United States, including maps and some publicly available data.
http://us.english.uga.edu/
Accents and Dialects of the United Kingdom: provides an overview of the dialects of the United Kingdom, with
examples from three: Received Pronunciation, Geordie, and Minority Ethnic English.
http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/
BBC study – seven social classes in United Kingdom: reports on a study which discussed an updated view of
how people can be put into social classes in the United Kingdom based on (economic) capital and social capital.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22007058