Dear colleagues,
I am awfully sorry for my unpardonable delay with the review of the
handbook of language variation and change.
Chambers, J. K.; Trudgill, Peter; Schilling-Estes, Natalie (eds.). The
Handbook of Language Variation and Change. Blackwell Publishing,
2003
ANNOUNCED IN: http://linguistlist.org/issues/13/13-437.html
(hardback edition, 2001)
SYNOPSIS
This book is a new volume in the Blackwell's series "Handbooks in
linguistics"; it opens with a dedication to William Labov, "whose work is
referred to in every chapter and whose ideas imbue every page". This
dedication as if sets the fashion for the whole book in which "the study of
language variation and change" is viewed - quite in the spirit of Labov's
studies - as "a core of the sociolinguistic enterprise" (p. 1). A short
introduction containing an overview of the volume's content and
structure is followed by a compact introductory chapter by J.K.
Chambers ("STUDYING LANGUAGE VARIATION: AN INFORMAL
EPISTEMOLOGY", p. 3-14). A basic definition of sociolinguistics is
provided and the place of variationist sociolinguistics within this domain
is defined ("Sociolinguistics is the study of the social uses of language,
and the most productive studies in the four decades of sociolinguistic
research have emanated from determining the social evaluation of
linguistic variants", p.3). The sociolinguistic variants studied by
sociolinguistics are characterized as "linguistically insignificant but
socially significant" (p.3). The beginnings of variationist sociolinguistics
are then dated to 1963 (the first sociolinguistic study by Labov). A short
discussion of the origins of linguists' interest in the social nature of
language follows; an analysis of Saussure's views is worth mentioning in
this respect. Finally, Chambers dwells on the problem of the base of the
sociolinguistics in cognition. The basic object of study in this respect is
Chomsky's cognitive module "pragmatic competence" (or
"communicative competence", in terms of Hymes), or rather its
realization in performance (p. 11-12).
The rest of the book consists of 27 chapters, that are classified into 5 big
parts (two of them with further subparts). Each of these parts is provided
with a short introduction written by one of the co-editors.
Due to the limitations of space I will have to refrain from providing
references to works cited or otherwise referred to in the articles under
review.
The first part ("METHODOLOGIES", p. 15-200) consists of two
subparts ("FIELD METHODS", p. 15-114, and "EVALUATION", p.
115-200). "Field Methods" includes four articles, the introduction is
written by Nathalie Schilling-Estes.
"ENTERING THE COMMUNITY: FIELDWORK" by Crawford Feagan
(20-39) describes the "external" side of the methodology of a
"variationist sociolinguist". Basic guidelines are given with respect to
planning the project, important parameters of the sociolinguistic
interview are introduced, including selecting speakers, sample size, as
well as protocoling, compiling the questionnaires and behaviour and
ethics during interviewing the informants. Special sections are devoted to
other methods of working with informants, such as participant
observation, rapid and anonymous observations, Telephone Surveys.
This chapter, which is extremely valuable for the beginners in
sociolinguistics, ends with the observation that Fieldwork is but a first
stage in a sociolinguitic investigation ("Whatever methods the researcher
uses, when the fieldwork is finally completed, any sense of relief
evaporates rapidly as the reality of analysis of all that data dawns", p.
36).
The chapter "LANGUAGE WITH AN ATTITUDE" by Dennis R.
Preston (40-66) is devoted to an important and interesting problem: what
do speakers of a language think about their language? Two basic facets
of this problem are discussed. The first facet, i.e. the question "What
linguistic features play the biggest role in triggering attitudes? (p.43), is
largely based on pioneering studies by Labov and Trudgill; Preston
discusses the ways in which speakers' introspection with regard to their
peculiarities of pronunciation correlate with the way they indeed speak.
The well-known Trudgill's notion of covert prestige (speakers'
overestimation of the proportion of dialectal properties in their speech)
and overt prestige (speakers' overestimation of the proportion of standard
language properties in their speech) are worth mentioning in this respect.
In the conclusion of this chapter, Preston remarks that judging by their
metalinguistic attitudes speakers may range along the same clines availability, accuracy, detail (a global view on their speech vs.
consideration for particular features) and control. The second facet
discussed is the attitude of a speaker towards different language varieties.
Basing on his own study of the residents of Michigan's attitude towards
the speech of inhabitants of other parts of the USA, Preston concludes
that these attitudes can be ranged along two dimensions - Standard
dimension ("correctness") and "Friendly" or solidarity dimension
("pleasantness"). The chapter concludes with a valuable discussion of the
differences between "linguistic" and folk theory of language; it is
claimed that the former "... moves up (and away from) the concrete
reality of language" towards "higher-level constructs" of more abstract
character (p.63), while the latter is based on a rather abstract notion of
"good language", and as if compares real linguistic forms with this
abstract prototype (p.64).
"INVESTIGATING VARIATION AND CHANGE IN WRITTEN
DOCUMENTS" by Edgar W. Schneider (67-96) is devoted to the
potential of a variationist approach to the analysis o written documents.
A insightful classification of written texts is offered, based on the
"relationship between speech event and its written record" (p.72):
recorded, recalled, imagined (e. g. private letters by semi-literate
speakers), observed, and invented (e.g. the using of quasi-dialect speech
in literary works). The problems are being analyzed that emerge when
trying to elicit the information on the functioning of linguistic variants
from texts of various types. The main - and rather optimistic conclusion of this chapter is that there is no need to view written texts as
merely second-rate material. "Working with written data requires
somewhat more judgment and assessment than an analysis of audio
recordings, but the difference is a matter of degree: essentially, with both
approaches the goal is the same, and the pathways to reach it are very
similar" (p.90-91).
The last chapter of this first subpart ("INFERRING VARIATION AND
CHANGE FROM PUBLIC CORPORA" by Laurie Bauer, p.97-114) is a
short but inspiring instruction as to how to extract useful sociolinguistic
data from Public Corpora. This chapter contains a description of some
basic types of corpora as well as methodological background that helps
make the data obtained from such corpora compatible.
The second subpart of part I ("EVALUATION") preceded by an
introduction by J.K.Chambers is devoted to the analysis of field material
and experimental data.
The first chapter ("THE QUANTITATIVE PARADIGM" by Robert
Bayley, p. 117-141) discusses the methodology of the quantitative
analysis of language variation, based on two principles, viz. " the
principle of quantitative modeling" (the study of the behavior of a
variable depending on the context) and "the principle of multiple causes".
The main part of this chapter contains a description of VARBRUL ("the
most common method of multivariate analysis in quantitative
sociolinguistics", p. 118, that is widely used since early 90ies) and of
some contemporary alternative methods. The chapter ends with a short
section that points out the necessity of combining quantitative analysis
with traditional socioethnographic approaches that take into
consideration speakers' attitude towards their own speech behavior.
"IMPLICATIONAL SCALES" by John R. Rickford (142-167)
introduces a method that rests upon the assumption that language
variables may be related to each other in some essential and significant
way (this method seems to be often opposed - though rather unjustifiably
- to quantitative approaches). The method of implicational scales, that
was pioneered in the end of 60ies by DeCamp for the study of Jamaican
Creole Continuum, allows - as was shown by C.J.Bailey - to interpret
synchronic implicational patterns as reflection of the processes of
diachronic spread of innovations. On the other hand, the use of
implicational scales allows us to range the speakers in a more
differentiated way. After the analysis of views of DeCamp, Bailey and
D.Bickerton, Rickford proceeds to more current uses of implicational
scales (analysis of linguistic intuitions, model of alternative use of
languages in bilingual situations, SLA studies). The chapter ends by
pointing out three caveats about the use of such scales, i.e. "Avoid empty
cells and weak goodness-of fit measures", "Attempt frequency-valued
(instead of binary) scales where possible", "Seek explanations for
implicational patterns").
"INSTRUMENTAL PHONETICS" by Erik R. Thomas (168-200) is a
very detailed analysis of Instrumental studies of variation in production
and perception. This chapter encompasses both a richly exemplified
overview of possible applications of instrumental phonetics in
sociolinguistic studies and a discussion of theoretical issues. Among the
latter, much attention is devoted to the scrutiny of Ohalla's conception of
emergence of phonetic changes that are viewed as resulting from a sui
generis reanalysis in perception (these questions are, strictly speaking,
beyond the scope of interest of variationist approach and thus are not
discussed in any detail in other chapters of the book).
The following part of the book ("LINGUISTIC STRUCTURE" 201-305,
Introduction by Nathalie Schilling-Estes) is concerned with the problem
of compatibility of variationist sociolinguistics with contemporary views
on structure and functioning of language components. "VARIATION
AND PHONOLOGICAL THEORY" by Arto Anttilla (206-243) is
basically devoted to the discussion of variation in the framework of the
Optimality Theory and its more modern variants. Two approaches are
considered as more plausible for the studying of variation: Stratified
grammars (which is itself a variant of Multiple grammars) and
Continuously ranking grammar (the latter is based on the different
ranking of constraints along a real-number scale and the stochastic
evaluation of variants). Two considerations might be added:
It seems that the models elaborated in the frame of the Optimality
Theory are indeed more capable to explain the distribution of variants
then more traditional phonological models (from the structuralist to
the Standard Generative ones), although the latter are perhaps more
advantageous for modeling the phonological system of a given
language as a whole;
the Multiple grammar approach (if one treats it as reflecting the real
speaker's competence and tries to explain with its help all cases of
phonetic variability) represents I believe an approach that is very far
from William Labov's views.
"INVESTIGATING CHAIN SHIFTS AND MERGERS" by Matthew J.
Gordon (244-266) is concerned with the ways in which the study of
variation may help reveal the nature of sound change. Two main types of
phonological change are examined: mergers and chain shifts. The main
message of the chapter is rather negative, the functionalist explanations
are - quite justifiably - rejected. The phenomenon of near merger are
thoroughly examined, the need of scrupulous consideration of various
factors that determine speech production and perception (such as e.g. the
influence of spelling, the influence of community norms, dialect mixture)
is underscored. As far as chain shifts are concerned, the author based on
his own investigations of Northern Cities Shift casts doubts on the fact
that a) phoneme distinctions are preserved in the course of this shift; and
that b) that those changes that constitute NCS are interrelated at all.
Considerable quantitative prevalence of pages devoted to phonetic issues
in this part is congruent with the actual predominance of the
phonetically-oriented studies of among the studies of variation. The other
short chapter "VARIATION AND SYNTACTIC THEORY" by Alison
Henry (267-282) claims that "the study of variation has made much less
impact, of any, on the development of syntactic theory (than on
sociolinguistics - A.R.)" and "suggests that variation needs to be
integrated into syntactic theory" (p.267). The possibilities of such
integration are considered in the framework of the recent Chomskyan
syntactic models. Based on the study of variation from the historical
point of view (stable coexisting of the varying forms during rather long
period of time) and in the child language, the author rejects the
possibility of the coexistence of alternative grammars in the speaker's
competence and thus advocates such an approach according to which the
grammar must be able to generate variant forms.
The last chapter "DISCOURSE VARIATION" (by Ronald Macaulay,
283-305) deals with the least studying field of discourse variation. The
vast majority of sociolinguistic studies of discourse referred by Macaulay
have a qualitative character, most of them discuss the role of gender as
well as of ethnic and age differences in such discourse features as topic,
politeness and so on. Quantitative studies are less numerous, they are
concerned with gender and class differences in such fields as the use of
tag questions, pragmatic expressions, phrase length, use of personal
pronouns and some other. Author concludes that "the study of discourse
variation is still at an elementary stage" and gives some prospects for
further studying.
Part III "SOCIAL FACTORS" (307-597) consists of three subparts. The
first one ("TIME", 309-372, Introduction by Nathalie Schilling-Estes)
involves three chapters. "REAL AND APPARENT TIME" by Guy
Bailey (312-332) concerns the means of studying language change in
progress. The Apparent-time and the Real-time evidences are discussed.
The studies of the former type model the language change by way of
studying "the differences across different generations of speakers". An
evident advantage of this method is availability of the data. Its potential
problems may be posed by 1) non-representative character of the sample;
2) non-stability of individual vernaculars among the young speakers; 3)
by the possibility of age grading (i.e. "linguistic usages associated with a
particular life stage that are repeated in every generation", p.310, the
phenomenon is characteristic of children, adolescents and young adults).
The real-time evidence may be achieved a) by the use of existing
evidence (one has to take into consideration possible impact of the
method of collecting material and of the sampling procedure); b) by resurveys; in the latter case, the investigator must be very cautious and
shouldn't confuse the actual language change with potential demographic
shifts.
Julie Robins begins her chapter "CHILD LANGUAGE VARIATION"
(333-348) with a statement that "[c]hild language variation is a relatively
new concentration within the field of sociolinguistics" (p.333).
Nevertheless, those few investigations that have been conducted
demonstrate that child speech is characterized by socially significant
variation of both social and stylistic character. There are some difficulties
in the study of child language variation: it is difficult to collect the
material sufficient for quantitative evaluation; it is difficult to distinguish
"between variation that is socially motivated and that which is
developmental in nature" (p.336). However, there are two claims that the
author (partially based of her own investigation) puts forward quite
clearly: 1) Child language demonstrates variable input (so "children
begin their acquisition of variation early - presumably with the
acquisition of language", p. 340); 2) Their output reflects the variable
input of their caregivers (we thus see here an additional proof of the
importance of input for language acquisition). Acquisition of variation is
an important means of children's socialization.
The chapter by J.K.Chambers "PATTERNS OF VARIATION
INCLUDING CHANGE" (349-372) is a short but comprehensive survey
of variationist theory and language change in progress, being at the same
time a kind of transitory link towards the next part of the book. At the
very beginning the author discusses three groups of social factors that
determine language variation: Social class, sex ("women use fewer
stigmatized and nonstandard variants than do men of the same social
group in the same circumstances", p.352), and age. Only the last factor
deals with the language change. The notion of apparent time as well as
problems bound with age-grading are thoroughly analyzed (in this part
the chapter echoes the topics discussed in Guy Bailey's chapter). In the
second part of the chapter a typical example of language change in
progress - changes in Canadian English - is described. Chambers
postulates that the S-curve is the prototypical quantitative scenario of
language change (initial stasis, rapid rise, and tailing off). At the end of
the chapter he discusses the reasons of change: the reason for the
initiation of an isolate change may be purely linguistic, but only social
conditions are necessary for the driving a process of language change in
given place and given time. The brilliant analysis of the social conditions
in Canada in 1950s (diminishing of British influence, emigration,
beginning of a new wave of global social changes) explains why the peak
of the change in Canadian English (removing it from British variant) falls
at the same years.
The next subpart "SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION" (373-472) begins
with the Introduction by Peter Trudgill and consists of three chapters.
"INVESTIGATING STYLISTIC VARIATION" by Nathalie SchillingEstes (375-401) deals with the intra-speaker stylistic variation, a basic
notion for the variationist views. The survey of existing approaches
shows that the vector of scientific development shifts from unidimensional to multidimensional approaches, on the one hand, and from
viewing stylistic variation as determined, reactive phenomenon towards
the interpretation of this phenomenon "as a resource in the active
creation, presentation, and recreation of speaker identity" (p.388). The
three approaches analyzed in chapter in great detail show us such a
development - from the well-known Attention-to-speech approach that is
based on Labov's early works (stylistic variation is viewed as determined
by the level of speaker's attention towards her/his speech), through
Audience-design model ("people engage in style shifting ... in response
to audience members", p.383), to Speaker-design approaches (the active
character of speaker's stylistic choices is postulated). All these
approaches have their own limitations but the third one is most
promising. Some future directions for the study of stylistic variation are
proposed (among them the study of the role of internal linguistic factors
in variation, the role of different types of features in variation, the
character of listener's perception of stylistic variation).
In "SOCIAL CLASS" (402-422) Sharon Ash remarks at the very
beginning that though "[s]ocial class is a central concept in
sociolinguistic research" (p.402), there is no consensus among linguists
about its strict definition. After a brief survey of sociological background
(Marx, Weber, W. Lloyd Warner) the author discusses nine short
sociolinguistic case studies demonstrating a broad variety of views in this
field. She also discusses the notions of the linguistic market (Sankoff and
Laberge, "the relative importance of the legitimized language in the
socioeconomic life of the speaker", p.413) and subcommunities (Milroy,
"a cohesive group to which people have a sense of belonging"). The
author (in quite Labovian spirit) briefly touches upon the problem of the
influence of social class on linguistic variation and change. The main
conclusion is that the basic characteristic of the social class is,
nevertheless, occupation.
In "SEX AND GENDER IN VARATIONIST RESEARCH" (423-443)
Jenny Cheshire sees the main line of the development of the study of this
social parameter as a development from a more uni-dimensional
approach "where speakers were categorized in terms of their biological
sex" (p.423) to a more complicated way of viewing things, where the
gender affiliation of a speaker is analyzed in connection with other social
demographic characteristics of that speaker. This approach shows that the
gender of a person may realize differently in different social settings. The
author analyzes in this respect well-known principles worded by Labov
(1. "In stable sociolinguistic stratification, men use a higher frequency of
nonstandard forms that women"; 1a. "In change from above, women
favor the incoming prestige forms more than men"; 2. "In change from
below, women are more often innovators", p.425-426) and concludes that
they need more careful investigation.
"ETHNICITY" by Carmen Fought (444-472) deals mainly with the
language of different ethnic groups (first of all Afro American
Vernacular English - AAVA) in the USA from the variationist point of
view. Priority is given to "speaker's self-selection of an ethnicity (or of
several)" (p. 444), the role of minority ethnic groups in sound changes in
American English (which is claimed to be more important than was
previously assumed by many other researchers) as well as language
crossing (the use of alien ethnic group's speech features) are discussed.
There is, however, an urgent need for more intensive study of "sound
change within ethnic minority communities" (p.465-466).
The third part "DOMAINS" (473-597, Introduction by Peter Trudgill)
begins with "LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY" by Norma MendozaDenton (475-499). The author understands identity as "the active
negotiation of an individual's relationship with larger social constructs"
(p. 475). As well as many other chapters of the book, this one argues
against "essentialism in analytic explanation", i.e. "the ... reductive
tendency by analysts to designate a particular aspect of a person or group
as explanations for their behavior" (p. 476). The study of identity
develops towards greater attention to the active position of a speaker with
respect to self-defining of her/his own identity and towards clear
understanding that identity of a given person has a dynamic, changing
character. In this respect, three types of variationist studies of identity are
distinguished "that range along a continuum of the use of analysts'
categories vs. participants'" (p. 479): a) sociodemographic categorybased identity (its study bases "on the stratification of a population
according to sociological / demographic categories", p. 480); b) practicebased identity (here belong the studies "concerned with the identities that
speakers accrue ... rather because identities are accomplished in the joint
practice of particular activities" (p. 486); c) practice-based variation
("type III studies seek to focus on variation as practices unfold,
identifying the use of symbolic variants in the moment-to-moment
dynamics of interaction", p. 489), Here an important statement of
Schiffrin is given: "just as Labov argued that there are no single-style
speakers, similarly, there are no single-identity speakers" (p. 490).
According to the author, this type of study is most promising.
In "FAMILY" (500-525) Kirk Hazen raises the problem: what in
children variation patterns is acquired from their parents and what is due
to the influence of peer groups and other community influences. Five
general findings are listed: "1. Children first acquire the language
variation patterns of their immediate caregivers; these patterns will
survive if reinforced by the language variation patterns of the children's
peer groups. 2. Family variation patterns will be noticeable to the extent
that they differ from community norms. If family traits ... are not social
markers, there is no reason to assume that peer group influence will
necessarily counteract those traits. 3. Complex phonological patterns
require early and extended input to be fully acquired by the child. 4.
Language-variation-pattern differences between older and younger
siblings of the same family is not unusual. They may be the result of
different parental input or different social connections in the community
... 5. Amongst families, the children of families recently immigrated to a
community may demonstrate more family-oriented language variation
patterns. The effects on the children may vary by age and the relative
prestige of the family's variety versus that of the community". (p.518).
"COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE" by Miriam Meyerhoff (526-548)
once again emphasizes the necessity of more differentiated and dynamic
approach to language variation with attention to numerous ties
connecting people with each other in real social networks. The following
definition of the CofP is quoted from Penelopa Eckert and Sally
McConell-Ginet: "[a] community of practice is an aggregate of people
who come together around mutual engagement in an endeavor ...
practices emerge in the course of this mutual endeavor" (p. 527). This
notion is rather new for variationist sociolinguistics, its main distinction
from dense social network lies in the conscious character of the
participation in the CofP. The main area of current study is adolescent
Cofps. The chapter shows how investigations of such communities (often
temporary for the persons involved) help understand more deeply the
patterns of language variation and language change in progress.
"SOCIAL NETWORKS" by Lesley Milroy (549-572) discusses, on the
contrary, a more traditional object of research, that is nevertheless very
near to that of the previous chapter. "A social network may be seen as a
boundless web of ties which reaches out through a whole society, linking
people to one another, however remotely" (p.550). Different types of
networks (multiple and uniplex, "exchange", "interactive" and "passive"
networks, first-order and second-order network ties) are discussed. A
very strong correlation between the density of network ties and language
variation may be observed: "[t]he strongest vernacular speakers were
generally those whose neighborhood network ties were the strongest"
(p.555). The same is true for bilingual communities: the stronger are the
ties within community, the higher are chances for the first language
maintenance. A particularly interesting section is devoted to weak ties;
the author supposes that persons who demonstrate weak network ties (=
socially mobile ones) "are likely to be linguistic innovators" (p.563).
Peter L. Patrick defines "THE SPEECH COMMUNITY" (573-597) as "a
core concept in empirical linguistics" (p.573), nevertheless it is a concept
"which has not been well-defined, and about which there has been very
little consensus in the field" (p.474). The author refuses to propose "a
new and correct definition" (p.573), but in the course of the discussion
whether "the SpCom is primarily a social or linguistic object" (p.576), he
proposes - rather informally - to regard SpCom as "a socially-based unit
of linguistic analysis" (p.577). The core of the chapter contains a very
interesting survey of the history of the notion of SpCom starting with
Humboldt and with special emphasis on Gumperz', Hymes's and
Labov's views. The problem of the relation between the notion of
SpCom and various sociological models as well as alternating views on
this notion (including discarding this concept altogether and attempts to
broaden it) are analyzed.
Part IV "CONTACT" (599-702, Introduction by Peter Trudgill) "deals
with both languages in contact and dialects in contact" (p.601), the latter
field is much better studied by variationists than the former.
At the beginning of his very substantial chapter "SPACE AND
SPATIAL DIFFUSION" (603-637) David Britain states that despite the
"dialectological roots" of variationism "it is paradoxical that one of the
social categories that has received least attention of all is space" (p.603).
The author distinguishes three types of space: Euclidean space ("the
objective one") social space ("the space shaped by social organization
and human agency...") and perceived space ("how civil society perceives
its immediate and not so immediate environments", p.604). After a
survey of the development of the "geographical" conceptions among
variationists, the author shows (on the example of the Fens - a region in
Eastern England) how the real and social peculiarities of a given
geographical zone influence the distribution of geographical variants.
Some other theoretical issues are analyzed: the changing of the linguistic
landscape of a given place as a result of perpetual social changes, the
interaction of local linguistic structures with the incoming ones, the
necessity of mapping different gender and age groups. In the second part
of the chapter Britain presents "an overview of the current state of play in
the spatial realization of linguistic performance" (p.604). Two problems
are considered, the first is the spatial diffusion of innovations, i.e. various
cases of wave diffusion, hierarchical diffusion (from large city to
country) and contrahierarchical diffusion (and possible combinations of
these types). The second problem is that of linguistic boundaries which
very often represent in reality transition zones.
In "LINGUISTIC OUTCOMES OF LANGUAGES CONTACT" (638-
668) Gillian Sankoff deals with the problems that are rather essential for
the study of language contact, and not only from the variationist point of
view. Individuals and communities in language contact, social context of
the contact and its possible influence on contact's linguistic outcome, as
well as the outcomes of the contact in four major language domains are
in the focus of the chapter. The author examines two different trends in
the study of language contacts: SLA with its attention to individual
speakers and to the idea of acquisition and the trend of studies
represented by the works of Weinreich, Thomason and Kaufmann and
others, whose main interest lay in the linguistic outcomes of the contact
affecting speech community as a whole. As far as social context of the
contact is concerned Sankoff tries to unite and elaborate the views of
Thomason and Kaufman, on the one hand, and those of Van Coetsem, on
the other hand. The author's innovation is the division of substratum
influence into two different sociohistorical situations: immigration and
conquest ("local groups bilingual in languages imported from outside").
The main part of the chapter is a survey of language outcomes of contact
in four language domains (phonology, lexicon, syntax and discourse /
pragmatics, and morphology / grammatical categories) and in three
sociohistorical situations: borrowing, immigration, and conquest (I,
however, failed to see what are real linguistic differences between
linguistic outcomes of contact change in the latter two situations).
"Morphology and syntax are ... the domains of linguistic structure least
susceptible to the influence of contact" (p.658), as for the change in the
lexicon, the most typical situation is that of borrowing, and finally
"phonology is very susceptible to change, both on the part of the
individual L2 speakers (...), and as result of word borrowing..." (p.658).
"KOINEIZATION AND ACCOMODATION" by Paul Kerswill (669702) examines, based on rather vast material, the contact-induced process
leading to the formation of the immigrant koine - "a new dialect in a new
settlement" (p.671). According to Trudgill the processes of mixing,
dialect leveling, simplification and reallocation (refunctionalizing of
dialect differences) are characteristic here. Different stages of
koinezation (related to different generations of speakers) are analyzed as
well as the mechanisms typical of these stages (short-term
accommodation, long-term accommodation). The analysis presented in
the chapter makes it possible to draw the following generalizations: 1)
"the kind and level of social integration of the new community affects the
speed of koinezation" (p. 695); 2) "children's access to peer groups is
crucial" (p. 695); 3) "the degree of difference between the input varieties
will affect the amount of accommodation that individuals to engage in"
(p. 695). At the end of the chapter the author discusses the differences
between koinezation and other forms of contact-induced changes, first of
all pidgins and creoles.
The last part "LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY" (702-787, Introduction by
J.K.Chambers) includes "three chapters that provide different
perspectives on the relation between society and language" (p.705).
In his very insightful chapter "LINGUISTIC AND SOCIAL
TYPOLOGY" (707-728) Peter Trudgill explores "two features of human
society - contact, and social network structure and stability" (p.709) and
the ways in which they may be relevant for the processes and resultants
of language change. He distinguishes "three different types of
community" (p.725). "[H]igh-contact language communities where
contact is stable, long-term and involves chills bilingualism" (p.725)
belong to the first type. Two features are analyzed for this type of
communities: large phonological inventories (e.g. in the North Caucasus;
here Trudgill follows Haudricourt, and quotes an explanation provided
by Nichols -borrowing of segments from one language to another as a
result of long-term bilingualism) and syntagmatic redundancy
(exemplified by syntactic features of the Balkan Sprachbund and
explained as the result of the communicative needs of nonnative
listeners). The second type is "[h]igh-contact language communities
where contact is short-term and/or involves imperfect language learning
by adults" (p.725). This type of contact may result in morphological
simplification, in various fast-speech processes, in emergence of small
phonological inventories, in the decrease of word length, in the
diminishing of allophonic invariance. All these processes (mostly of the
natural character) are speaker-led. The third type is represented by
"small, stable, tightly-knit" (p.709), low-contact language communities.
Such situations are typically characterized be the developing of small
phonological inventories, fast speech processes, a relatively high level of
grammaticalization, "the retention of deictic and allophonic complexity"
(p.725). These processes are the result of two different characteristics of
the communities of this type: on the one hand, their members "are likely
to share more information than members of larger, more dynamic
loosely-knit communities", on the other hand, "dense multiplex networks
may led to greater conformity in linguistic behavior, and to stricter
maintenance of group norms" (p.709).
It should be noted that the approach demonstrated in this chapter seems
to be a very promising one. Distinguishing the two types of high-contact
communities with quite different linguistic consequences is especially
interesting and new. It seems to me, nevertheless, that there are some
difficulties related to this approach. First of all, the ideas advocated in
this chapter need vaster empirical support. Besides, in some cases
counterarguments may be easily adduced (the author himself cites one of
such counterexamples, p.724-725). Thus the processes classified by
Trudgill as belonging to different types of community may go hand in
hand, as we may e.g. see in the Balkan languages where the properties of
syntactic redundancy ('long-term contact') and morphological
simplification ('short-term contact') coexist. The North Caucasus
language communities with their rich phonological inventories are, on
the other hand, typically small, stable, tightly-knit communities which
should imply, according to Trudgill, the development of relatively small
phonological inventories.
"COMPARATIVE SOCIOLINGUISTIC" by Sali Tagliamonte (729763) demonstrates how a thorough quantitative analysis of inner
constraints of a language variable in different speech communities (in
combination with the analysis of early written records) makes it possible
to outline some similarities between these communities and to
reconstruct early stages of their linguistic history. Two goals of the
application of such a method in this chapter are "tracking the origins and
development of African-American Vernacular English" and "tracking the
origins of nonstandard linguistic features of North American dialects in
comparable British dialects" (p.730).
Walt Wolfram in the final chapter "LANGUAGE DEATH AND
DYING" (764-787) characterizes various types of language death
(sudden language death, radical language death, gradual death and
bottom-to-top death), and remarks that these types may combine. He then
proceeds to the analysis of basic models of language death: the
dissipation model, the concentration model (this model is based on the
research led by the author in collaboration with Schilling-Estes; it
presupposes a possibility of intensifying structural distinctiveness in the
process of language death; it seems to me that Copper Island Aleut is not
a good example of such process); this pidginization model that is
justifiably rejected by the author as is the deacquisition model; and the
matrix turnover model of Myers-Scotton (Wolfram points out that this
model shows limited applicability). Analyzing the results of language
death on various language levels the author concludes that they are rather
diverse: along with the cases of simplification and reduction, the opposite
examples involving increase of complexity and arising of new linguistic
structures are attested. In the section dealing with the variability in
language obsolescence Wolfram points out that it does not differ in any
significant way from the variability in "normal" situations: contrary to
the claims of some researchers these situations are clear cases of socially
conditioned variability. Finally, the author concludes that "language
death is a complex sociolinguistic process involving alternative paths to
the obsolescence" (p.781).
EVALUATION
There could be no doubt that the editors and authors of this book have
entirely accomplished the program declared in the Introduction: the
handbook reflects in full measure "vitality and growth" (p. 1) of the
variationist sociolinguistics. Any linguist dealing with or simply
interested in sociolinguistic has now a full and exhaustive representation
of the achievements of the variationist paradigm that has been fulfilled
during forty years of its lifetime. It should be also noted that the book has
a very high degree of theoretical cohesion: only very few chapters (e.g.
the chapter by Peter Trudgill) exceed the limits of the quantitative
approach to the different kinds of language phenomena. Most part of
articles convincingly reflect the main line of the development of the
variationist sociolinguistics: from more static, uni-dimensional
approaches in the study of variation to more dynamic, multidimensional
approaches, from deterministic view on variables to the recognition of
various sides of speaker's activity in this field. Selection of authors
should be considered irreproachable, practically all of them are the most
active and reputed researchers in those very areas to which their chapters
are devoted.
It is clear that the very genre of handbook does not allow to avoid a good
deal of repetitiveness; this is, however, rather an advantage than
otherwise for a book that consists of chapters that are very likely to be
read separately.
Some minor criticisms were made in the reviews of separate chapters
above. Here I will point out some possible more general drawbacks.
Several chapters of the Part II "LINGUISTIC STRUCTURE" don't go
beyond the limits of a certain scientific paradigm (Optimality theory in
"VARIATION AND PHONOLOGY THEORY" by Arto Antilla, late
generativism in "VARIATION AND SYNTACTIC THEORY" by
Alison Henry). It seems to me that it would be interesting to examine
such problems in a more broad theoretical context.
The chapters differ in, so to speak, the level of the theoretical 'farreachingness'. While most of the papers contain an in-depth theoretical
analysis of those problems that fall within their scope, there is a minority
of papers that essentially represent a synopsis of the author's individual
research devoted a particular problem and call for a broader theoretical
perspective. Another possible drawback is that in some cases, interesting
and ultimately correct conclusions appear to call for a more wellgrounded verification.
The last observation concerns the predominantly Anglophone orientation
of this book (cf. Kriuchkova 2004: 138). Both the language material
employed in most chapters and the works cited are nearly exclusively
English. This of course reflects the real situation in this field of research:
the variationist sociolinguistics is mainly an Anglo-American sphere of
knowledge. Variationist studies in e.g. Russia are extremely innumerous.
This regrettable - for a Russian reader - circumstance is partially
compensated by the reproduction of a suprematist picture by the Russian
painter Kliment Redko on the paperback's cover.
REFERENCES
Kriuchkova 2004 - Kriuchkova T.B. Review of Chambers, J. K.;
Trudgill, Peter; Schilling-Estes, Natalie (eds.). The Handbook of
Language Variation and Change. Blackwell Publishing, 2003. Voprosy
Jazykoznanija, 5, 133-138.
[About the reviewer: Alexander Yu. Rusakov is Assistant Professor at the
St. Petersburg State University, department of General Linguistics. His
research interests include language contacts, historical linguistics, Balkan
linguistics, Albanian language, Romani.
rusakov@AR2015.spb.edu ]