Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T12:44:09.427Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Toward a theory of social dialect variation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Anthony S. Kroch
Anthony S. Kroch*
Affiliation:
Temple University, Philadelphia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Over the past ten years the study of language in its social context has become a mature field with a substantial body of method and empirical results. As a result of this work we are arriving at new insights into such classical problems as the origin and diffusion of linguistic change, the nature of stylistic variation in language use, and the effect of class structure on linguistic variation within a speech community. Advances in sociolinguistics have been most evident in the study of co-variation between social context and the sound pattern of speech. The results reported in numerous monographs have laid the basis for substantial theoretical progress in our understanding of the factors that govern dialect variation in stratified communities, at least in its phonological aspect. The formulation of theories of the causes of phonological variation that go beyond guesswork and vague generalities appears at last to be possible. Therefore, we offer the following discussion, based on the material that is now available, as a contribution to the development of an explanatory theory of the mechanisms underlying social dialect variation. Although we shall state our views strongly, we know that they are far from definitive. We present them, not as positions to be defended at all costs, but as stimuli to further theoretical reflection in a field that has been, thus far, descriptively oriented.

Type
Research Article
Information
Language in Society , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , April 1978 , pp. 17 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barber, C. (1964). Linguistic change in present-day English. Birmingham, Alabama: University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar
Bloomfield, L. (1933). Language. London: George Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Bloomfield, L. (1964). Literature and illiterate speech. In Hymes, D. (ed), Language in culture and society. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Bright, W. (1960) Linguistic change in some Indian caste dialects. In Ferguson, C. and Gumperz, J. (eds), Linguistic diversity in South Asia. (Publication of the Research Center in Anthropology, Folklore and Linguistics, No. 13.) Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Bright, W. (1964). Social Dialect and Language History. In Hymes, D.(ed.), Language in culture and society. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Bright, W. & Ramanujan, A. K. (1964). Socio-linguistic variation and language change. In Lunt, H. (ed.), Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress of Linguists. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Cedergren, H. (1970) Patterns of free variation: the language variable. Mimeo.Google Scholar
Chen, M. & Wang, W. (1975). Sound change: actuation and implementation. Language 51. 225–81.10.2307/41285410.2307/412854Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. & Halle, M. (1968). The sound pattern of English. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Ferguson, C. & Gumperz, J. (eds) (1960). Linguistic diversity in South Asia. (Publication of the Research Center in Anthropology, Folklore and Linguistics, No. 13.) Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Fischer, J. L. (1964). Social influence in the choice of a linguistic variant. In Hymes, D. (ed.), Language in culture and society. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Fowler, H. W. (1944) A dictionary of modern English usage. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Guy, G. & Braga, M. L. (1976). Number concordance in Brazilian Portuguese. Paper presented at the fifth annual Conference on New Ways of Analyzing Variation in English at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Hymes, D. (1964). Language in Culture and Society. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Joos, M. (1952). The medieval sibilants. Language 28, 222–31.10.2307/41051510.2307/410515Google Scholar
Kemp, W. & Pupier, P. (1976). Socially based variability in consonant cluster reduction rules. Paper presented at the fifth annual Conference on New Ways of Analyzing Variation in English at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1966) The social stratfication of English in New York City. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1972). Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1974). Language change as a form of communication. In Silverstein, M. (ed.), Human communication: theoretical explorations. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum AssociatesGoogle Scholar
Labov, W., Yaeger, M. & Steiner, R. (1972). A quantitative study of sound change in progress. (Report on contract NSF-GS-3287.) Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Lieberman, P. (1973). On the evolution of language: a unified view. Cognition 2. 59–94.10.1016/0010-0277(72)90030-310.1016/0010-0277(72)90030-3Google Scholar
Lindblom, B. (1963) On vowel reduction. Report 29 of the Speech Transmission Laboratory. Stockholm: Royal Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
Lindblom, B. (1971). Phonetics and the description of language. Mimeo.Google Scholar
Mahl, G. (1972). People talking when they can't hear their voices. In Siegman, P. and Pope, B. (eds), Studies in dyadic communication. New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Miller, P. (1972). Vowel neutralization and vowel reduction. In Peranteau, P., Levi, J., and Phares, G. (eds.) Papers from the Eighth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar
Postal, P. (1968). Aspects of phonological theory. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Schane, S. (1972). Natural rules in phonology. In Stockwell, R. and Macaulay, J. (eds), Linguistic change and generative theory. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Schogt, H. G. (1961). La notion de loi dans la phonétique historique. Lingua 10. 72–92.Google Scholar
Shuy, R., Wolfram, W. & Riley, W. (1967). A study of social dialects in Detroit. Washington, D.C.: Office of Education.Google Scholar
Stampe, D. (1972). On the natural history of diphthongs. In Petanteau, P., Lavi, J., and Phares, C. (eds.). Papers from the Eighth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar
Trudgill, P. (1974). The social differentiation of English in Norwich. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Weinreich, U., Labov, W. & Herzog, M. (1968). Empirical foundations for a theory of language change. In Lehmann, W. and Malkiel, Y. (eds), Directions for historical linguistics. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
White, D. (1972). Social dialect formation. Unpublished ms.Google Scholar
Wolfe, P. (1972). Linguistic change and the Great Vowel Shift in English. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Zwicky, A. (1972). On casual speech. In Peranteau, P., Levi, J., and Phares, C. (eds.). Papers from the Eighth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar