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Where does the sociolinguistic variable stop?
Abstract
In 1972 Labov described the basic sociolinguistic question as the one ‘posed by the need to understand why anyone says anything’ (1972:207). Clearly the aim is very different from that of specifying the form of a grammar that generates all and only the well-formed sentences of a language. The goal is a theory of utterances. Moreover, the ‘why’ question can also be read as ‘what for’. What does anyone say anything for? I think we can safely say that this question places sociolinguistic analysis in a functional framework. If sociolinguistics looks for answers to the ‘why’ of saying something, it is seeking functional explanations.
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Citations
Cited by
Variation and the indexical field 1
Eckert, P. (2008) · Journal of Sociolinguistics · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9841.2008.00374.x · Cited by 2,046
Analysing Sociolinguistic Variation
Tagliamonte, S. A. (2006) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511801624 · Cited by 1,082
Grammar is grammar and usage is usage
Newmeyer, F. J. (2003) · Language · doi:10.1353/lan.2003.0260 · Cited by 600
Defaults and indeterminacy in temporal grammaticalization: The ‘perfect’ road to perfective
Schwenter, S. A., & Cacoullos, R. T. (2008) · Language Variation and Change · doi:10.1017/s0954394508000057 · Cited by 339
Style, indexicality, and the social meaning of tag questions
MOORE, E., & PODESVA, R. (2009) · Language in Society · doi:10.1017/s0047404509990224 · Cited by 288
Metadata
- Authors
- Lavandera, B. R.
- Venue
- Language in Society
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 1978-08
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 171-182
- ISSN
- 0047-4045 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8013
- OpenAlex
- W2161071718
- Cited by
- 619
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 14.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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