Variationist Sociolinguistics

Researchers in language variation seek to understand how linguistic, social, and individual factors influence speakers’ choices within sets of related variable forms as in, for example, the alternation between working and workin’ in English. A central premise in this approach is that the variation observed at all linguistic levels is not random. Rather, provided that one has sufficient information about speakers’ backgrounds and the linguistic contexts in which a variable form occurs (e.g., whether a final /t/ or /d/ in English followed by a consonant or a vowel), one can predict, in a probabilistic sense, which speakers will be more likely to choose one variant or another. Further, variationists maintain that variation is an essential characteristic of language change. By applying rigorous multivariate statistical analysis to a wide range of variable forms at all linguistic levels, ranging from phonetic detail to language choice, variationists have demonstrated conclusively that most of the variation that is observed in language is highly systematic. The demonstration of systematic variability has been particularly important for minority languages and dialects, which, until the development of sociolinguistics, were often regarded as imperfect copies of the standard languages or dialects with which they co-existed. In recent decades, variationists have expanded the scope of their work and shown that systematic variation is characteristic of all human languages regardless of modality or stage of development. Research on variation in sign languages, for example, has shown that they are subject to many of the same linguistic and social influences as spoken languages. Moreover, language learners, whether first, second, or nth, have been shown to vary systematically in their use of forms that are usually considered obligatory in the target language as well as in their use of forms that vary in the target language. Finally, variationists have sought to use the findings from their research to improve conditions in the communities from which they draw their data, particularly in education for children who speak a minority language or dialect.