Third wave treats linguistic variation as “a social semiotic system” (Eckert 2012, 94) and examines the emergence of social meaning in the stylistic enactment of social personae (Eckert 2012 and 2016). This chapter further develops this emergent perspective on sociolinguist variation. Drawing on my research on Cosmopolitan Mandarin in China, I treat linguistic innovation and change as emergent stylistic resources that create meanings about (new) social distinction. I combine quantitative analysis of production data with examination of metapragmatic discourse to shed light on the processes through which the social meanings of this innovative linguistic style emerge. The analyses reveal a contested indexical field mediated by changing ideologies about social and linguistic normativity and authenticity. This chapter shows that Cosmopolitan Mandarin participates in a broader sociopolitical process of the transformation of stylistic regimes in China.

In this chapter, I argue that the study of English as a lingua franca (ELF) can be fruitfully framed as the study of sociolinguistic change. In adopting a sociolinguistic change perspective, researchers who take an interest in ELF and change are invited to move beyond a focus on language change and to pursue a more comprehensive and holistic interest in the processes of social and linguistic change that arise from – and give rise to – the contemporary widespread use of English as a lingua franca. I illustrate the argument by providing examples from research into the internationalization of Danish universities since the late 1990s, showing how the introduction of ELF as a language of teaching and learning involves change in multiple dimensions, including language ideology, discursive practices and social norms.