Linguistic variation and change : on the historical sociolinguistics of English

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Linguistic variation and change : on the historical sociolinguistics of English

James Milroy

（Language in society, 19）

B. Blackwell, 1992

  • : hc
  • : pbk

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Note

Bibliography: p. [229]-239

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This book is concerned with the explanation of linguistic change. Focusing on variation in the English language, it explores the extent to which language change is a social phenomenon. Language, James Milroy holds, cannot adequately be observed or described independently of society. In analyzing patterns of language use, we must be aware of social and situational contexts and of the norms of usage in the speech community. He discusses these methodological issues in relation to his own sociolinguistic research in Belfast, and argues that in explaining language variation we need first to understand these factors which maintain language and resist change. In contrast to the intra-linguistic approach of traditional historical work, this book presents a social model of change derived from the study of social networks and the links between networks and social class. Language change, Professor Milroy suggests,is made possible to the extent that it is passed from person to person in conversational encounters.

Table of Contents

  • Language change and variation
  • social and historical linguistics
  • analyzing language in the community - general principles
  • interpreting variation in the speech community
  • on the time-depth of variability in English
  • speaker innovation and linguistic change
  • towards an integrated social model for the interpretation of language change.

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