Sociolinguistic Theory: Linguistic Variation and Its Social Significance, 2nd Edition

by J. K. Chambers (University of Toronto, Canada)

• ISBN13: 9780631228820
• ISBN10: 0631228829
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-07-09
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Sociolinguistic Theory presents a critical synthesis of sociolinguistics that centers on the study of language variation and change, and identifies opportunities for future research. Since the inception of sociolinguistics four decades ago, the correlation of dependent linguistic variables with independent social variables has provided the theoretical core of the discipline. This volume reviews the essential findings that form its foundation and shows how empirical explorations have made it the most stimulating field in the contemporary study of language. Sociolinguistic Theory discusses the linguistic variable and its significance, crucial social variables such as social stratification, sex and age, and the cultural purposes of linguistic variation. This second edition has been updated to incorporate new findings and expand on the discussion of communicative competence and developmental sociolinguistics.

Author Biography

J.K. Chambers is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Toronto. He is the co-editor of The Handbook of Language Variation and Change (with Peter Trudgill and Natalie Schilling-Estes, Blackwell 2002) and co-author (with Peter Trudgill) of Dialectology (2e 1998), as well as 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	xiv
List of Tables	xvi
Series Editor's Preface	xviii
Preface	xix
Preface to the Second Edition	xxii
Acknowledgements	xxiii
Correlations	1	(38)
The Domain of Sociolinguistics	2	(9)
Personal characteristics	3	(1)
Linguistic styles	4	(2)
Social characteristics	6	(2)
Sociocultural factors	8	(1)
Sociological factors	9	(1)
Sociolinguistics and the sociology of language	10	(1)
The Variable as a Structural Unit	11	(15)
Coexistent systems and free variation	13	(2)
The sociolinguistic enterprise	15	(8)
Precursors
Labov's New York survey
Linguistic variables
Independent variables
Speech in the community
One subject, Susan Salto
All subjects in three social classes
Figures and tables	23	(3)
Variation and the Tradition of Categoricity	26	(13)
Langue and parole	26	(1)
The axiom of categoricity	27	(2)
Communicative competence	29	(4)
Linguistics without categoricity	33	(2)
Categorical theory and variation theory	35	(1)
Categoricity in other disciplines	36	(3)
Class, Network, and Mobility	39	(77)
Social Class and Sociolinguistic Sampling	41	(6)
Blue collar and white collar	42	(2)
Judgement samples	44	(1)
Random samples	45	(2)
Indexing Social Class	47	(7)
Socioeconomic indices	47	(2)
Subject indices	49	(3)
The primacy of occupation as a determinant of class	52	(2)
Class Markers	54	(5)
Spreading the news in Westerntown	55	(1)
Boston ``short o''	56	(1)
Norwich (a:)	57	(1)
Grammatical variables	57	(1)
Montreal que-deletion	58	(1)
The Effects of Mobility	59	(6)
Caste and class	59	(1)
Comparative mobility	60	(1)
Mobility in language variation	61	(1)
Hungarian imperative declaratives	61	(1)
New York (th) and (dh)	62	(2)
Mobility as a leveling force	64	(1)
Homogenization	65	(9)
/a/-deletion in Sheshatshiu	66	(1)
/ou/ in Milton Keynes	67	(3)
The persistence of homogenization	70	(1)
(aw)-fornting in Canada	71	(2)
Dialect laws of mobility and isolation	73	(1)
Networks	74	(12)
Norm enforcement	75	(1)
Network and class	75	(1)
Some network studies	76	(3)
Measures of network bonds	79	(2)
Sociometrics	81	(2)
Measures of network integration	83	(3)
Linguistic Correlates of Network Integration	86	(3)
Phonological markers in Martha's Vineyard	86	(2)
Grammatical markers in the Reading playgrounds	88	(1)
Interaction of Network and Other Independent Variables	89	(4)
Social class	89	(1)
Sex	90	(1)
Age	90	(3)
Network change in Detroit
Oddballs and Insiders	93	(23)
Outsiders	97	(4)
Lames in Harlem
Ignaz in Grossdorf
Aspirers	101	(6)
A, B and C in Articlave
Samson in Anniston
Interlopers	107	(3)
Mr J in Toronto
Newcomers in King of Prussia
Insiders	110	(4)
A ``typical'' boy in a New England village
Elizabeth in Toronto
Insiders as language leaders	114	(2)
The linguistic limits of individuation
Expressing Sex and Gender	116	(47)
The Interplay of Biology and Sociology	117	(4)
Sex and gender	117	(2)
Some sex differences	119	(1)
Probabilistic, not absolute, differences	120	(1)
Vocal pitch as a sex difference	120	(1)
Sex Patterns with Stable Variables	121	(5)
Variable (ng)	121	(2)
Variant [in] as a hypercorrection
Variant [en] as a sex marker
Norwich (ng)	123	(1)
Sydney (ng)	124	(2)
Language, Gender, and Mobility in Two Communities	126	(13)
Inner-city Detroit	127	(7)
Variable (th)
Variable (r)
Multiple negation
Copula deletion
Gender roles in inner-city Detroit
Ballymacarrett, Belfast	134	(5)
Variable (√)
Variable (th)
Variable (ε)
Variable (a)
Gender roles in Ballymacarrett
Causes of Sex and Gender Differences	139	(14)
Gender-based variability	139	(4)
Isolation and gender roles
Shifting roles in coastal South Carolina
Mobility and gender roles
Sex-based variability	143	(10)
MC blurring of gender roles
``Status consciousness''
``Face''
Sociolinguistic ability
Verbal ability
Psychological explanations
Sex differences
Insignificance of individual differences
Male and Female Speech Patterns in Other Societies	153	(8)
Limits on female-male differences	153	(1)
Putative differences in Japan	154	(2)
The Middle East	156	(5)
(q) in Cairo, Amman, and elsewhere
A gender-based explanation
Prestige and standard varieties
(q) in Nablus and Baghdad
Lexical variants in Baghdad
Linguistic Evidence for Sex and Gender Differences	161	(2)
Accents in Time	163	(63)
Aging	164	(5)
Physical and cultural indicators	164	(2)
Some linguistic indicators	166	(3)
The Acquisition of Sociolects	169	(6)
Three formative periods	170	(1)
Development of stylistic and social variants	171	(4)
Style-shifting by Edinburgh schoolboys
Communal patterns in Scottish 10-year-olds
Emerging African American phonology in Washington
Family and Friends	175	(11)
Dialect acquisitation	176	(3)
Six Canadians in England
British twins in Australia
Generational differences in bilingual situations	179	(5)
Language shift in Oberwart, Austria
Loan words in Spanish Harlem
Parents versus peers	184	(2)
Declarations of Adolescence	186	(8)
An adolescent majority	186	(1)
Outer markings including slang	187	(2)
Adolescent networks and linguistic variation	189	(5)
Jocks and Burnouts in Detroit
Burnouts and Rednecks in Farmer City
Young Adults in the Talk Market	194	(9)
The marche linguistique	195	(1)
``Legitimized language'' in Montreal	196	(3)
Auxiliary avoir and etre
Playing the talk market	199	(3)
Linguistic stability in middle and old age	202	(1)
Changes in Progress	203	(23)
Age-grading	206	(6)
Zee and zed in Southern Ontario
Glottal stops in Glasgow
Real time and apparent time	212	(7)
Real-time changes in Tsuruoka
An apparent-time change in Milwaukee
Testing the apparent-time hypothesis	219	(7)
Slower progress in higher frequencies: (e) in Norwich
Verifying inferences about change: (CH) in Panama
Adaptive Significance of Language Variation	226	(53)
The Babelian Hypothesis	227	(5)
The evidence of subjective reaction tests	228	(3)
Teachers' evaluations of students
Employers' evaluations of job candidates
Dialect as a source of conflict	231	(1)
Global Counteradaptivity and Local Adaptivity	232	(3)
Counteradaptivity and power	232	(2)
Adaptivity and community	234	(1)
Dialects in Lower Animals	235	(6)
Buzzy and Clear white-crowned sparrows	236	(3)
The theory of genetic adaptation	239	(1)
The theory of social adaptation	240	(1)
The Persistence of the Non-standard	241	(6)
Covert prestige	241	(4)
Status and solidarity	245	(2)
Jewish and MC accents in Montreal
High and low accents in Guangzhou
Traditional Theories of the Sources of Diversity	247	(5)
Variation and climates	248	(1)
Variation and contact	249	(1)
The prevalence of diversity	250	(2)
A Sociolinguistic Theory of the Sources of Diversity	252	(13)
Linguistic diversity and social strata	252	(2)
Two tenets about standard dialects	254	(5)
Naturalness and economy
Medial /t/
Economy as a general linguistic force
Morpheme-final consonant clusters
Standard and non-standard (CC)
Naturalness beyond phonetics	259	(5)
The principle of conjugation regularization
Standard and non-standard conjugation regularization
Two constraints on variation in standard dialects	264	(1)
Vernacular Roots	265	(9)
Diffusionist and structural explanations	266	(1)
Problems with the diffusionist position	267	(2)
The internal-structural position	269	(2)
Primitive and learned features	271	(2)
Obstruent devoicing in second-language learning
Devoicing and voicing medial /t/
Sociolinguistic implications	273	(1)
Linguistic Variation and Social Identity	274	(5)
Notes	279	(4)
References	283	(20)
Index	303