Variation and Language: Overview

doi:10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/04256-5

Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics (Second Edition)

2006, Pages 333-341

https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/04256-5 Get rights and content

The past half century has witnessed remarkable growth in the study of language variation, and it has now become a highly productive subfield of research in sociolinguistics. This article considers the locus of variability within language and discusses the linguistic variable as a heuristic construct in the analysis and the description of language variation. It further discusses the nature of systematic language variation, as well the role of structured heterogeneity in language change. Finally, it considers possible claims about representing language capability with respect to language variation and implications for a grammar of language.

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Walt Wolfram is William C Friday Distinguished Professor of Linguistics at North Carolina State University, where he also directs the North Carolina Language and Life Project. He has pioneered research on social and ethnic dialects since the 1960s, authoring or co-authoring 17 books and more than 250 articles on social and ethnic dialects of American English. His current research involves historically and culturally isolated ethnic dialect communities. Professor Wolfram is also vitally concerned with the application of sociolinguistic information to social and educational problems and the dissemination of knowledge about dialects to the public. Wolfram has served as president of the Linguistic Society of America, the American Dialect Society, and the Southeastern Conference on Linguistics.

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