The Handbook of Language Variation and Change

Copyright © 2004 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

The Handbook of Language Variation and Change

Editor(s): J. K. Chambers, Peter Trudgill, Natalie Schilling-Estes

Published Online: 21 JAN 2008

Print ISBN: 9780631218036

Online ISBN: 9780470756591

DOI: 10.1002/9780470756591

About this Book

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About The Product

The Handbook of Language Variation and Change, written by a distinguished international roster of contributors, reflects the vitality and growth of the discipline in its multifaceted pursuits. It is a convenient, hand-held repository of the essential knowledge about the study of language variation and change.


  • Written by internationally recognized experts in the field.
  • Reflects the vitality and growth of the discipline.
  • Discusses the ideas that drive the field and is illustrated with empirical studies.
  • Includes explanatory introductions which set out the boundaries of the field and place each of the chapters into perspective.

Table of contents

    1. You have free access to this content
      Frontmatter (pages i–xii)

    1. Introduction (pages 1–2)

      J. K. Chambers, Peter Trudgill and Natalie Schilling-Estes

    1. Studying Language Variation: An Informal Epistemology (pages 3–14)

      J. K. Chambers

  4. Part I: Methodologies - Field Methods

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      Introduction (pages 15–19)

      Natalie Schilling-Estes

    2. Chapter 1

      Entering the Community: Fieldwork (pages 20–39)

      Crawford Feagin

    3. Chapter 2

      Language with an Attitude (pages 39–66)

      Dennis R. Preston

    4. Chapter 3

      Investigating Variation and Change in Written Documents (pages 67–96)

      Edgar W. Schneider

    5. Chapter 4

      Inferring Variation and Change from Public Corpora (pages 97–114)

      Laurie Bauer

  5. Part I: Methodologies - Evaluation

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      Introduction (pages 115–116)

      J. K. Chambers

    2. Chapter 5

      The Quantitative Paradigm (pages 117–141)

      Robert Bayley

    3. Chapter 6

      Implicational Scales (pages 142–167)

      John R. Rickford

    4. Chapter 7

      Instrumental Phonetics (pages 168–200)

      Erik R. Thomas

  6. Part II: Linguistic Structure

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      Introduction (pages 201–205)

      Natalie Schilling-Estes

    2. Chapter 8

      Variation and Phonological Theory (pages 206–243)

      Arto Anttila

    3. Chapter 9

      Investigating Chain Shifts and Mergers (pages 244–266)

      Matthew J. Gordon

    4. Chapter 10

      Variation and Syntactic Theory (pages 267–282)

      Alison Henry

    5. Chapter 11

      Discourse Variation (pages 283–305)

      Ronald Macaulay

  7. Part III: Social Factors - Time

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      Introduction (pages 307–311)

      Natalie Schilling-Estes

    2. Chapter 12

      Real and Apparent Time (pages 312–332)

      Guy Bailey

    3. Chapter 13

      Child Language Variation (pages 318–333)

      Julie Roberts

    4. Chapter 14

      Patterns of Variation including Change (pages 349–372)

      J. K. Chambers

  8. Part III: Social Factors - Social Differentiation

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      Introduction (pages 373–374)

      Peter Trudgill

    2. Chapter 15

      Investigating Stylistic Variation (pages 375–401)

      Natalie Schilling-Estes

    3. Chapter 16

      Social Class (pages 402–422)

      Sharon Ash

    4. Chapter 17

      Sex and Gender in Variationist Research (pages 423–443)

      Jenny Cheshire

    5. Chapter 18

      Ethnicity (pages 444–472)

      Carmen Fought

  9. Part III: Social Factors - Domains

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      Introduction (pages 473–474)

      Peter Trudgill

    2. Chapter 19

      Language and Identity (pages 475–499)

      Norma Mendoza-Denton

    3. Chapter 20

      The Family (pages 500–525)

      Kirk Hazen

    4. Chapter 21

      Communities of Practice (pages 526–548)

      Miriam Meyerhoff

    5. Chapter 22

      Social Networks (pages 549–572)

      Lesley Milroy

    6. Chapter 23

      The Speech Community (pages 573–597)

      Peter L. Patrick

  10. Part IV: Contact

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      Introduction (pages 599–602)

      Peter Trudgill

    2. Chapter 24

      Space and Spatial Diffusion (pages 603–637)

      David Britain

    3. Chapter 25

      Linguistic Outcomes of Language Contact (pages 638–668)

      Gillian Sankoff

    4. Chapter 26

      Koineization and Accommodation (pages 669–702)

      Paul Kerswill

  11. Part V: Language and Societies

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      Introduction (pages 703–706)

      J. K. Chambers

    2. Chapter 27

      Linguistic and Social Typology (pages 707–728)

      Peter Trudgill

    3. Chapter 28

      Comparative Sociolinguistics (pages 729–763)

      Sali Tagliamonte

    4. Chapter 29

      Language Death and Dying (pages 764–787)

      Walt Wolfram

    1. You have free access to this content
      Index (pages 788–807)

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