Linguistic Variation and Change
Published on 29. April 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
208 pages
978-0-7486-3762-1 (ISBN)
Description
The study of variation and change is at the heart of the sociolinguistics. Providing a wide survey of the field, this textbook is organised around three constraints on variation: linguistic structure, social structure and identity, and social and linguistic perception. By considering both structure and meaning, Scott F. Kiesling examines the most important issues surrounding variation theory, including canonical studies and terms, as well as challenges to them. Research in non-English and non-European contexts is also addressed.A range of different topics within sociolinguistics is covered including:* The linguistic variable and its status* Sociolinguistic methods* The description of variable patterns* Linguistic and social structure* Social meaning and perception.With over 50 figures and a practical section on methodology, this textbook is an ideal solution for undergraduate and postgraduate students of sociolinguistics seeking a comprehensive study of variation and change.
Reviews / Votes
Kiesling succeeds in beginning most chapters with guiding, thought-provoking questions, outlining topics discussed in previous sections or chapters, presenting what will be discussed subsequently, and linking the previous and forthcoming theories or concepts together. He also explains findings and conclusions in technical and plain language and buttresses complex ideas with helpful examples that are sometimes related to personal hypothetical situations... This book will be particularly fitting as a textbook for introducing graduate students to linguistic variation for the first time. -- Memoria C. James, University of Texas at Austin * LINGUIST list *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
55 black and white illustrations, 18 black and white tables
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 159 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
326 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7486-3762-1 (9780748637621)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Scott F. Kiesling
Linguistic Variation and Change
E-Book
04/2011
Edinburgh University Press
€0.00
Available for download
Person
Scott F. Kiesling is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Pittsburgh. He has published on a wide variety of sociolinguistic projects. Through analyses of language in use in a number of different populations and places, he has focused on understanding how speakers create social meaning with language.
Content
ContentsList of figuresList of tablesPreliminaries and acknowledgementsTerminology and Notation conventionsPhonetic notationPart I: Questions and method1 Questions about language and variation, and where we got themQuestions about languageWhere we got the questions: From comparative philology to variationist theoriesOrderly heterogeneity and constraints on its form2 The Linguistic Variable Definitions and typesLinguistic variables at different linguistic levels Variable rules and their 'quiet demise'Criticisms of the notion of linguistic variableThe tyranny of correlation and the problem of atomization3 Discovering and Describing patterns of variation and changeEthical linguisticsFinding language to measureSpeech communities and samplingGetting speech: interviews and other talkRecording and managing recordingsCoding variablesDescribing patternsFinding structure in variabilityTesting statistical significance and modelling variationPart II: Variation and social relationships4 Social patterns I: Interspeaker variationStratificationCanonical patterns: AccommodationCanonical patterns: DifferentiationChallenges to canonical patterns5 Social patterns II: Intraspeaker variationIntraspeaker patterns, community patterns, and styleSpeech event, register, genre, frameStance and identity6 Meaning and social patternsIndexicality: Meaning in the sociolinguistic variableExperimental evidence for meaningIndexical webs, cycles, and fieldsDimensions of social meaning in language7 Acquisition of variationHow is variation learned?Early childhoodOlder children and adolescentsAdulthoodTransmission and incrementation of changesPart III: Variation, change and linguistic structureIntroduction to Part III8 Structural patterns I: Phonology and MorphologyPhonological variation: Patterns of change, structural effects, and explanationChange in progressShifts and chain shiftsMergersRegular