sociolinguistics

dialectology/dialect geography

systematic study of regional dialects

synchrony

the study of language at a specific point in time

diachrony

the study of how languages change over time throughout history 

panel survey

collecting data from same informants 

trend survey

collecting data from same community 

community of practice

an group of individuals who come together and are involved in the engagement in an endeavor… practices emerge in the course of this mutual endeavor

canonical community

the most local & insular units of a region, thought to be purist & strongest forms of variant

social networks

grouping based on frequency & quality of members’ interactions, how networks influence patterns of linguistic behaviour 

uniplex ties

1 link to another member eg. work colleague

multiplex ties

2+ links to another member eg. on football team, uni classes, live together

indexicality

“the process by which language comes to be associated with specific locally of contextually significant social characteristics”

Speech Accommodation Theory

Giles’ (1977) the idea that speakers can change their speech in interactions to align with or distance themselves from their interlocutors 

koineisation

the diversity of forms in an area is reduced, levelling of minority or marked forms which may be localised and/or stigmatised 

structural reallocation

specifically phonological, occurs when two or more variants in the dialect mix are retained but function as allophones occupying distinct phonological contexts

socio-stylistic reallocation

both variants are retained but each plays a different stylistic role, one indexing high/formal style, the other a low/informal style

intergenerational (social) mobility

mobility that occurs when a second generation is of a higher class than the first

intragenerational (social) mobility

mobility that occurs within an individual's lifetime

dissonance

a sense of conflict due to a contradiction between the individual's former and present lifestyle or that of their parents

gender paradox

Labov (1990, 2001) - women are both conservative and innovative in terms of linguistic variation & change 

discourse analysis

the examination of “language beyond the sentence”

Categorical context

the variable is realised either 0 or 100% of the time

discrete variation

involving phonetic variants that represent distinct alternative, often relies on a binary choice but can involve more variants 

continuous variation

no clear boundaries between variants, rather a range of realisations along a phonetic continuum 

linguistic variable

a linguistic unit with 2+ variants involved in covariation with other social and/or linguistic variables

principle of accountability

(Labov, 1982) analysts shouldn't selectively choose from the text variants of a variable which confirm their argument and ignore those that don't 

indicator

noticeable to linguists but not speakers

marker

carries social significance & information, could be shifted in certain circumstances as speaker is aware of implications

stereotypes

popular & conscious characterisation of speech forms associated with certain social groups 

focal areas

influential (urban) areas that change resonates from

isogloss

lines placed on maps to show a linguistic divide

relic areas

areas resisting change 

transition areas

series of changes spread across a region

wave model/contagion diffusion

earliest model of spatial diffusion of innovations, relies solely on friction of distance, innovations radiate from a central area