Sociolinguistic Theory

List of Figures

List of Tables

Series Editor's Preface

Preface

Preface to the Second Edition

Preface to the Revised Edition

Acknowledgements

Part I: Correlations

1.The Domain of Sociolinguistics

2. The Variable as a Structural Unit

3. Variation and the Tradition of Categoricity

Part II: Class, Network and Mobility

4. Social Class and Sociolinguistic Sampling

5. Indexing Social Class

6. Class Markers

7. The Effects of Mobility

8. Homogenization

9. Networks

10. Linguistic Correlates of Network Integration

11. Interaction of Network and Other Independent Variables

12. Oddballs and Insiders

Part III: Expressing Sex and Gender

13. The Interplay of Biology and Sociology

14. Sex Patterns with Stable Variables

15. Language, Gender and Mobility in Two Communities

16. Sex and Gender Differences in Language

17. Male and Female Speech Patterns in Other Societies

18. Linguistic Evidence for Sex and Gender Differences

Part IV: Accents in Time

19. Aging

20. The Acquisition of Sociolects

21. Family and Friends

22. Declaration of Adolescence

23. Young Adults in the Talk Market

24. Changes in Progress

Part V: Adaptive Significance of Language Variation

25. The Babelian Hypothesis

26. Global Counteradaptivity and Local Adaptivity

27. Dialects in Lower Animals

28. The Persistence of the Non-Standard

29. Traditional Theories of the Sources of Diversity

30. A Sociolinguistic Theory of the Sources of Diversity

31. Vernacular Roots

32. Linguistic Variation and Social Identity

Notes

References

Index

J.K. Chambers is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Toronto. He is the co-editor of The Handbook of Language Variation and Change (with Peter Trudgill and Natalie Schilling-Estes, Blackwell 2002) and co-author (with Peter Trudgill) of Dialectology (2e 1998), as well as other books and scores of articles. He works extensively as a forensic consultant, and maintains a parallel vocation in jazz criticism, including the prizewinning biography Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles Davis (1998).

"Chambers offers a lucid introduction to the basic issues that relate language and society, and leads the reader directly to the quantitative data that define the field. At each turn, we benefit from his personal and insightful weighing of the evidence on why we speak the way we do." William Labov, University of Pennsylvania

"This book is indispensable for everybody in the field, from undergraduates to advanced researchers. Well-written, engaged, and inspiring, it is at the same time a state-of-the-art account of variationist sociolinguistics and a challenge to go on and enhance our knowledge." Daniel Schreier, University of Zürich

"Professor Chambers's book successfully combines a theoretical grounding in variationist sociolinguistics with generous descriptions of the research on which the theories are based. This makes it particularly inspiring for students who themselves want to try their hands at this field of study." Mats Mobärg, University of Gothenburg

"Chambers offers a lucid introduction to the basic issues that relate language and society, and leads the reader directly to the quantitative data that define the field. At each turn, we benefit from his personal and insightful weighing of the evidence on why we speak the way we do."
 
William Labov, University of Pennsylvania
 

"This book is indispensable for everybody in the field, from undergraduates to advanced researchers. Well-written, engaged, and inspiring, it is at the same time a state-of-the-art account of variationist sociolinguistics and a challenge to go on and enhance our knowledge."
 
Daniel Schreier, University of Zürich
 

"Professor Chambers's book successfully combines a theoretical grounding in variationist sociolinguistics with generous descriptions of the research on which the theories are based. This makes it particularly inspiring for students who themselves want to try their hands at this field of study."
 
Mats Mobärg, University of Gothenburg