Sociolinguistic Theory

by Chambers, J. K.

• ISBN13: 9781405152464
• ISBN10: 140515246X
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-12-03
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

The revised edition of Sociolinguistic Theory presents a critical synthesis of sociolinguistics, centering on the study of language variation and change. A revised introduction to sociolinguistic theory by one of the top scholars in the field Provides a critical synthesis of sociolinguistics that centres on the study of language variation and change, now incorporating the latest developments in the field Shows how empirical explorations have made sociolinguistics the most stimulating field in the contemporary study of language Discusses the linguistic variable and its significance, crucial social variables such as social stratification, sex, and age, and the cultural significance of linguistic variation

Author Biography

J. K. Chambers is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Toronto. He is co-editor of The Handbook of Language Variation and Change (with Peter Trudgill and Natalie Schilling-Estes, Wiley-Blackwell, 2002), co-author (with Peter Trudgill) of Dialectology (2nd edition, 1998), and also author of other books and scores of articles. He works extensively as a forensic consultant, and maintains a parallel vocation in jazz criticism, including the prizewinning biography Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles Davis (1998).

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. xiii
List of Tables	p. xv
Series Editor's Preface	p. xvii
Preface to the First Edition	p. xviii
Preface to the Second Edition	p. xxi
Preface to the Revised Edition	p. xxii
Acknowledgments	p. xxiii
Correlations	p. 1
The Domain of Sociolinguistics	p. 2
Personal characteristics	p. 2
Linguistic styles	p. 4
Social characteristics	p. 6
Sociocultural factors	p. 8
Sociological factors	p. 9
Sociolinguistics and the sociology of language	p. 10
The Variable as a Structural Unit	p. 11
Coexistent systems and free variation	p. 12
The sociolinguistic enterprise	p. 14
Precursors	p. 14
Labov's New York survery	p. 16
Linguistic variables	p. 17
Independent variables	p. 17
Speech in the community	p. 18
One subject, Susan Salto	p. 19
All subjects in three social classes	p. 21
Figures and tables	p. 22
Variation and the Tradition of Categoricity	p. 25
Langue and parole	p. 25
The axiom of categoricity	p. 26
Communicative competence	p. 28
Linguistics without categoricity	p. 32
Categorical theory and variation theory	p. 34
Categoricity in other disciplines	p. 35
Class, Network, and Mobility	p. 38
Social Class and Sociolinguistic Sampling	p. 40
Blue collar and white collar	p. 41
Judgment samples	p. 42
Random samples	p. 43
Indexing Social Class	p. 45
Socioeconomic indices	p. 46
Subject indices	p. 48
The primacy of occupation as a determinant of class	p. 50
Class Markers	p. 53
Spreading the news in Westerntown	p. 53
Boston "short o"	p. 55
Norwich (a:)	p. 55
Grammatical variables	p. 56
Montreal que-deletion	p. 57
The Effects of Mobility	p. 58
Caste and class	p. 58
Comparative mobility	p. 58
Mobility in language variation	p. 59
Decline of Briticisms in Canadian English	p. 60
New York (th) and (dh)	p. 62
Mobility as a leveling force	p. 64
Homogenization	p. 65
/a/-deletion in Sheshatshiu	p. 66
/ou/ in Milton Keynes	p. 67
The persistence of homogenization	p. 70
(aw)-fronting in Canada	p. 71
Dialect laws of mobility and isolation	p. 73
Networks	p. 74
Norm enforcement	p. 74
Network and class	p. 75
Some network studies	p. 76
Measures of network bonds	p. 79
Sociometrics	p. 81
Measures of network integration	p. 83
Linguistic Correlates of Network Integration	p. 85
Phonological markers in Martha's Vineyard	p. 86
Grammatical markers in the Reading playgrounds	p. 87
Interaction of Network and Other Independent Variables	p. 89
Social class	p. 89
Sex	p. 89
Age	p. 90
Network change in Detroit	p. 90
Oddballs and Insiders	p. 92
Outsiders	p. 96
Lames in Harlem	p. 96
Ignaz in Grossdorf	p. 99
Aspirers	p. 100
A, B, and C in Articlave	p. 100
Samson in Anniston	p. 104
Interlopers	p. 106
Mr J in Toronto	p. 106
Newcomers in King of Prussia	p. 108
Insiders	p. 109
A "typical" boy in a New England village	p. 109
Elizabeth in Toronto	p. 110
Insiders as language leaders	p. 112
The linguistic limits of individuation	p. 113
Expressing Sex and Gender	p. 115
The Interplay of Biology and Sociology	p. 116
Sex and gender	p. 116
Some sex differences	p. 118
Probabilistic, not absolute, differences	p. 119
Vocal pitch as a sex difference	p. 119
Sex Patterns with Stable Variables	p. 120
Variable (ng)	p. 120
The regional variant [in]	p. 121
Variant [characters not reproducible n] as a sex marker	p. 122
Norwich (ng)	p. 122
Sydney (ng)	p. 123
Language, Gender, and Mobility in Two Communities	p. 125
Inner-city Detroit	p. 125
Variable (th)	p. 126
Variable (r)	p. 126
Multiple negation	p. 128
Copula deletion	p. 129
Gender roles in inner-city Detroit	p. 130
Ballymacarrett, Belfast	p. 132
Variable ([Lambda])	p. 134
Variable (th)	p. 134
Variable ([epsilon])	p. 135
Variable ([characters not reproducible])	p. 135
Gender roles in Ballymacarrett	p. 135
Sex and Gender Differences in Language	p. 136
Gender-based variability	p. 136
Isolation and gender roles	p. 138
Shifting roles in coastal South Carolina	p. 139
Mobility and gender roles	p. 140
Sex-based variability	p. 141
MC blurring of gender roles	p. 141
"Status consciousness"	p. 142
"Face"	p. 144
Sociolinguistic ability	p. 145
Verbal ability	p. 146
Psychological explanations	p. 147
Sex differences	p. 148
Insignificance of individual differences	p. 149
Male and Female Speech Patterns in Other Societies	p. 151
Limits on female-male differences	p. 151
Putative differences in Japan	p. 152
The Middle East	p. 154
(q) in Cairo, Amman, and elsewhere	p. 155
A gender-based explanation	p. 156
Prestige and standard varieties	p. 157
Linguistic Evidence for Sex and Gender Differences	p. 158
Accents in Time	p. 159
Aging	p. 160
Physical and cultural indicators	p. 160
Some linguistic indicators	p. 162
The Acquisition of Sociolects	p. 165
Three formative periods	p. 166
Development of stylistic and social variants	p. 166
Style-shifting by Edinburgh schoolboys	p. 167
Communal patterns in Scottish 10-year-olds	p. 168
Emerging African American phonology in Washington	p. 169
Family and Friends	p. 170
Dialect acquisition	p. 172
Six Canadians in England	p. 172
British twins in Australia	p. 174
Generational differences in bilingual situations	p. 175
Language shift in Oberwart, Austria	p. 175
Loan words in Spanish Harlem	p. 177
Parents versus peers	p. 180
Declarations of Adolescence	p. 181
An adolescent majority	p. 181
Outer markings including slang	p. 182
Adolescent networks and linguistic variation	p. 184
Jocks and Burnouts in Detroit	p. 185
Burnouts and Rednecks in Farmer City	p. 187
Young Adults in the Talk Market	p. 189
The marche linguistique	p. 190
"Legitimized language" in Montreal	p. 191
Auxiliary avoir and etre	p. 192
Playing the talk market	p. 194
Linguistic stability in middle and old age	p. 197
Changes in Progress	p. 198
Age-grading	p. 200
Zee and zed in southern Ontario	p. 201
Glottal stops in Glasgow	p. 203
Real time and apparent time	p. 206
Real-time changes in Tsuruoka	p. 207
An apparent-time change in Milwaukee	p. 211
Testing the apparent-time hypothesis	p. 213
Slower progress at higher frequencies: (e) in Norwich	p. 213
Verifying inferences about change: (CH) in Panama	p. 217
Adaptive Significance of Language Variation	p. 220
The Babelian Hypothesis	p. 221
The evidence of subjective reaction tests	p. 222
Teachers' evaluations of students	p. 223
Employers' evaluations of job candidates	p. 223
Dialect as a source of conflict	p. 224
Global Counteradaptivity and Local Adaptivity	p. 225
Counteradaptivity and power	p. 226
Adaptivity and community	p. 227
Dialects in Lower Animals	p. 229
Buzzy and Clear white-crowned sparrows	p. 229
The theory of genetic adaptation	p. 231
The theory of social adaptation	p. 233
The Persistence of the Non-Standard	p. 234
Covert prestige	p. 235
Status and solidarity	p. 238
Jewish and MC accents in Montreal	p. 238
High and low accents in Guangzhou	p. 239
Traditional Theories of the Sources of Diversity	p. 240
Variation and climates	p. 241
Variation and contact	p. 243
The prevalence of diversity	p. 244
A Sociolinguistic Theory of the Sources of Diversity	p. 245
Linguistic diversity and social strata	p. 246
Two tenets about standard dialects	p. 247
Naturalness and economy	p. 248
Medial /t/	p. 249
Economy as a general linguistic force	p. 250
Morpheme-final consonant clusters	p. 251
Standard and non-standard (CC)	p. 251
Naturalness beyond phonetics	p. 252
The principle of conjugation regularization	p. 253
Standard and non-standard conjugation regularization	p. 255
Two constraints on variation in standard dialects	p. 257
Vernacular Roots	p. 258
Diffusionist and structural explanations	p. 259
Problems with the diffusionist position	p. 259
The internal-structural position	p. 261
Primitive and learned features	p. 263
Obstruent devoicing in second-language learning	p. 263
Devoicing and voicing medial /t/	p. 264
Sociolinguistic implications	p. 265
Linguistic Variation and Social Identity	p. 266
Notes	p. 270
References	p. 274
Index	p. 294
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