SOCIOLINGVISTIC VARIATIONS
Keywords:
Language variation, linguistic variability, language change, linguistic structure, age, gender, social class, constraints, style, register, stereotypes, awareness, sociolinguistic interviews, quantitative.Abstract
This article focuses on the branch of sociolinguistics which has come to be recognized as “language variation and change or “variationist sociolinguistics”. It provides an overview by explaining its genesis and a number of crucial roles played by variation in language the notion of orderly heterogeneity; variation being functionally and socially meaningful; variation as an implicit necessity in the process of language change
References
Chambers, J.K., P. Trudgill and N. Schilling-Estes (eds) (2001). The Handbook of Language Variation and Change. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. [A collection of original articles on a wide range of topics (theory and practice) in variationist sociolinguistics.]1
Eckert, P. (2000). Linguistic Variation as Social Practice. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. [Thorough exploration of the connections between qualitative and quantitative analysis of variation. The relationship between gender and social and linguistic practices is especially well developed.]2
Eckert, P. & J.R. Rickford (eds) (2001). Style and Sociolinguistic Variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [A collection of papers providing different perspectives on style from sociolinguists and anthropologists. Some are quite technical]3
