The Quantitative Study of Sociolinguistic Variation
Labex EFL 2015
Penelope Eckert
eckert@stanford.edu
http://www.stanford.edu/~eckert/
September 14. The First Wave: The Macro-Social Structure of Variation
I begin by outlining correlations with macro-sociological categories found in the urban studies of the nineteen sixties and seventies. I will discuss the theoretical assumptions that emerged from these studies, most particularly the theory of the vernacular, the variable as social marker, and the apparent time construct.
September 21. The Second Wave: The Ethnographic Turn
Starting in the eighties, ethnographic studies examined the local categories and practices that underlie and partially explain the macro-social patterns. I will focus on my own work among adolescents in the Detroit suburban area. This study, based on a corpus of over 100 hours of ethnographically collected speech, shows how macro-social patterns are produced and reproduced in social practice at the local and the extra-local level.
September 28. The Third Wave: Stylistic Practice and Social Indexicality
Ethnographic work moved the focus from social categories to social types and personae, and to their stylistic construction. It produced a view of variables as underspecified, gaining specificity through participation in styles. I will discuss case studies of individuals across situations, and perception studies, as they show how variables gain meaning in context.
October 5: Integrating the Perspectives
The last week will explore issues in integrating the macro- and the micro- structure of variation. For example, eye tracking experiments have indicated that macro- and micro-indexicality both play roles in the perception of variation, but that perception of personae may be primary. The view of variables as indexical signs begs for the integration of variation into theories of semantics and pragmatics. And changes in personae, and changes in the indexicality of variables, are a mechanism of social change, making variation not a reflection of, but integral to, social change.