Introducing Sociolinguistics – Miriam Meyerhoff

(Sources, Labov 1972a; Pope et al. 2007). Martha’s Vineyard revisited In 2002, a couple of attempts were made to replicate Labov’s now classic study of Martha’s Vineyard and to see what has happened there in the 40 years since it was first studied. One researcher, Jenny Pope, set out to replicate Labov’s study as closely as possible. She hoped that by using the same or similar sociolinguistic tasks (recording a reading passage, word lists and conversational speech) her results would provide real time data that was maximally comparable with Labov’s.

To further improve the comparability of her results with Labov’s, she also grouped speakers according to the year they were born. As in the Montreal study, Pope’s results provide broad support for the practice of draw- ing inferences about change in progress from the distribution of variants in speakers of dif- ferent age groups. Where her results diverged from the apparent time predictions, this was consistent with the findings from the Montreal study of (r). That is, where Pope’s results differed from Labov’s, they suggest that inferences about change in progress that are drawn on the basis of apparent time data underestimate the rate of a change but in no way challenge the basic inference about the nature of the change in progress.

(Note that Pope’s study is a real time trend study, and not a real time panel study like the Montreal data.) Figure 7.10 shows the results for centralisation of (ay) and (aw) on Martha’s Vineyard in Labov’s and Pope’s studies. In order to see both samples on one graph, speakers are repre- sented according to their year of birth along the x-axis (bottom axis).

This models the passage of time for the whole community. Following Labov’s original work, the higher the centralisation index, the more raised the onset of the diphthongs (ay) and (aw). The peak and fall of overall centralisation in 2002 is absolutely consistent with the peak and fall documented in 1962. (Remember from Chapter 2 that Labov found evidence from regional dialect surveys indicating that centralisation of (ay) and (aw) has gone in waves on Martha’s Vineyard for more than a hundred years. Pope’s results confirm this.) However, it is equally clear that Pope’s results differ from Labov’s in the overall rate of centralisation.

The index in her study is consistently higher than it was in Labov’s, even when we consider the cohorts of speakers who were recorded in both studies (those born between 1902 and 1948). Figure 7.11 shows that this is very largely due to a dramatic increase Meyerhoff, Miriam. Introducing Sociolinguistics, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018.

ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uunl/detail.action?docID=5494448. Created from uunl on 2021-02-11 02:41:53. Copyright © 2018.

Meyerhoff, M. (2018). Introducing sociolinguistics. ProQuest Ebook Central http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Created from uunl on 2021-01-30 23:16:10. Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. Introducing Sociolinguistics This third edition of Miriam Meyerhoff’s highly successful textbook provides a solid, up-to- date appreciation of the interdisciplinary nature of the field and covers foundation issues, recent advances and current debates. It presents familiar or classic data in new ways, and supplements the familiar with fresh examples from a wide range of languages and social settings. It clearly explains the patterns and systems that underlie language variation in use, as well as the ways in which alternations between different language varieties index personal style, social power and national identity.

New features of the third edition: ■ Every chapter has been revised and updated with current research in the field, including material on sexuality, polylanguaging and lifespan change; ■ Additional Connections with theory and Facts: No, really? are included throughout; ■ Data from sign languages, historical linguistics and Asia-Pacific sociolinguistics have been revised and expanded; ■ A brand new companion website featuring more examples and exercises can be found at www.routledge.com/textbooks/meyerhoff. Chapters include exercises that enable readers to engage critically with the text, break-out boxes making connections between sociolinguistics and linguistic or social theory, and brief, lively add-ons guaranteed to make the book a memorable and enjoyable read.

With a full glossary of terms and suggestions for further reading, this text gives students all the tools they need for an excellent command of sociolinguistics. It can also be used in conjunction with The Routledge Sociolinguistics Reader, Doing Sociolinguistics and the online resources shared by all three books. Miriam Meyerhoff has taught sociolinguistics in places as diverse as New Zealand, Hawai‘i, the mainland United States, Vanuatu and Scotland. She has consulted on sociolinguistic issues for the print and broadcast media and published books and articles on language variation, language and gender and language contact.

She is Professor of Linguistics at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Meyerhoff, M. (2018). Introducing sociolinguistics. ProQuest Ebook Central http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Created from uunl on 2021-01-30 23:16:10. Copyright © 2018. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. ‘Fizzing with examples from around the world and presenting cutting-edge theoretical wisdom, this book is an absolute must for all students of sociolinguistics.’

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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