J. K. Chambers, Peter Trudgill and Natalie Schilling-Estes (eds.), The handbook of language variation and change. (Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics.) Oxford and Malden, MA: Blackwell. 2002. xii + 807 pp.

2004 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 769-772
Author(s):  
Rajend Mesthrie
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Variation Theory ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Per Se

This is the eleventh volume in the Blackwell series “Handbooks in Linguistics.” Of the previous ten, one was devoted to general sociolinguistics (Coulmas 1997), making this the first in the series to deal with a specific branch of sociolinguistics. For many scholars, variation theory (including the study of change in progress) is the heartland of sociolinguistics, though not everyone would go as far as Chambers 2003 in equating sociolinguistic theory with variation theory alone. As the earlier Blackwell handbook suggests, the field of sociolinguistics is broader than variation theory per se. However, considering the richness of the handbook under review, one can understand why variation theory should hold the high ground in sociolinguistics. The handbook comprises 29 chapters, divided into five sections: methodologies, linguistic structure, social factors, contact, and language and societies.

scholarly journals Definição e implementação de estrangeirismos no Português do Brasil: um estudo à luz da variação e mudança linguística. (Definition and implementation of foreignness traits in Brazilian Portuguese: a study grounded on linguistic variation…)

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Flavio Biasutti Valadares
Keyword(s):  
Implementation Process ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Variation Theory ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Early Implementation ◽  
Definition Of

O artigo aborda uso de estrangeirismos em início de implementação de processo de variação e mudança linguística, por meio de definição, com base na Teoria da Variação de Mudança Linguística. Apresenta conceituação na perspectiva teórica laboviana, além de explicitar definições sobre estrangeirismos; tem como objetivo mostrar casos de usos de estrangeirismos em início de implementação. O corpus utilizado recolheu trechos de textos publicados nas revistas Época, Isto É e Veja. Concluímos que a definição de um termo estrangeirismo caracteriza uma primeira tentativa de inserção do termo ao léxico da língua.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Variação e Mudança Linguística. Empréstimos Linguísticos. Estrangeirismos. ABSTRACTThis article discusses the uses of loanwords in early implementation process of linguistic variation, by definition, based on the Linguistic Changes Variation Theory. It presents concepts in theoretical Labovian perspective, and explains definitions about loanwords. This article also intends to show cases of loanwords uses in early implementation process. The corpus has used excerpts from the magazines: Época, Isto É e Veja. Concludes that the definition of a loanword term features a first attempt to insert the word to the lexicon of the language.KEYWORDS: Language Variation and change. Loanwords. Foreignness.

Explanations in Sociosyntactic Variation

2022 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Conditioning Factors ◽  
Quantitative Analyses

What explains variation in human language? How are linguistic and social factors related? How do we examine possible semantic differences between variants? These questions and many more are explored in this volume, which examines syntactic variables in a range of languages. It brings together a team of internationally acclaimed authors to provide perspectives on how and why syntax varies between and within speakers, focusing on explaining theoretical backgrounds and methods. The analyses presented are based on a range of languages, making it possible to address the questions from a cross-linguistic perspective. All chapters demonstrate rigorous quantitative analyses, which expose the conditioning factors in language change as well as offering important insights into community and individual grammars. It is essential reading for researchers and students with an interest in language variation and change, and the theoretical framework and methods applied in the study of how and why syntax varies.

Hands off the metadata!: Comparing the use of explicit and background metadata in crowdsourced dialectology

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (s1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamsin Blaxter ◽  
David Britain
Keyword(s):  
Language Variation ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Smartphone Application ◽  
Background Information ◽  
British Isles ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
The Social ◽  
Dialect Variation ◽  
Regional Dialect

Abstract In this article we assess the extent to which we can collect plausible data about regional dialect variation using crowdsourcing techniques – the BBC Future Survey – without explicitly gathering any user metadata, but relying instead on background information collected by Google Analytics. In order to do this, we compare this approach with another crowdsourced survey, operated from a smartphone application, which examines the same site – the British Isles – but which explicitly asks users to submit detailed social background information – the English Dialects App (EDA) (Leemann et al. 2018). The EDA has the disadvantage that there is a considerable user drop-off between completing the dialect survey and completing the social metadata questionnaire. The BBC Future Survey, however, only collects information on where users are physically located when they complete the survey – not where they are from or even where they live. Results show that the BBC Future Survey produces a plausible snapshot of regional dialect variability that can complement other more sophisticated (expensive, time-consuming) approaches to investigating language variation and change. We suggest the approach constitutes a digital-era rapid anonymous survey along the lines of Labov (1972), serving similar aims, with similar success, but on a much much larger scale.

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