Sociolinguistic Theory: Linguistic Variation and Its Social Significance (Language in Society)

"Sociolinguistic Theory" presents a critical synthesis of sociolinguistics, centring on the study of language variation and change. Since the inception of sociolinguistics the correlation of dependent linguistic variables with independent social variables has provided the theoretical core of the discipline. Chambers reviews the essential findings of William Labov, the Milroys, David Sankoff, Gillian Sankoff, Peter Trudgill, Walt Wolfram, and many others, and puts them into context both with the work of the numerous linguists who have followed their lead and with their intellectual forebears from Wilhelm von Humboldt and Louis Gauchat to Edward Sapir. The book opens with a discussion of the linguistic variable and its historical, methodological and theoretical significance. Three central chapters are organized around the crucial social variables of social stratification, sex and age. The final chapter considers the social and cultural purposes of linguistic variation.