The Handbook of Language Variation and Change

"This is an excellent Handbook, providing a sophisticated, yet accessible treatment of a wide range of issues in variationist sociolinguistics. Anyone, from the curious beginner to the seasoned pro, will profit from consulting this book."

Don Chapman, Brigham Young University, USA

Incorporating the wealth of developments in this interdisciplinary and dynamic field over the last decade, this second edition ensures that the Handbook remains the authoritative reference volume on the study and analysis of language variation and change. Seven new chapters have been added, while the remainder have undergone thorough revision and updating to reflect advances and new perspectives in each topic covered.

The Handbook is accessibly structured by theme, covering topics including data collection and evaluation, linguistic structure, language and time, social differentiation, language contact, and language domains. Bringing together an experienced, international editorial and contributor team, it provides an unrivalled learning, teaching and reference tool for researchers and students in sociolinguistics. The volume is also a vital resource for scholars in related disciplines requiring a reliable overview of the central topics and methods in the study of language variation and change. This new edition offers a convenient and accessible repository of essential knowledge that demonstrates the continuing vitality of the discipline.

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

J.K. Chambers is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Sociolinguistic Theory: Linguistic Variation and its Social Significance, Revised Edition (Wiley–Blackwell, 2009) and Dialectology, 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 of American English: Dialects and Variation, Third Edition (with W. Wolfram, Wiley–Blackwell, 2016) and Sociolinguistic 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 is English in America: A Linguistic History, an audio–video lecture series for The Great Courses (2016).