Making Waves: The Story of Variationist Sociolinguistics [Paperback]

Making Waves tells the human story of an academic field based on one-to-one interviews with 43 of the most famous scholars in Variationist Sociolinguistics. Explanations of concepts, ideas, good practice and sage advice come directly from the progenitors of the discipline.

• An authentic, inside story about the origins of Sociolinguistics as Language Variation and Change, recording the context and spirit of sociolinguistics
• Gives students access to the views on language variation of major sociolinguists such as Bill Labov and Peter Trudgill
• Offers a human story of an academic field, and is written in the style of a novel, offering complete accessibility with minimal in-group terminology
• Provides a timely audio archive of the reminiscences of the major Sociolinguists, including Labov, Fasold, Milroy, Trudgill, and Wolfram, with a companion website featuring 400 audio clips from the interviews. Visit the site at www.wiley.com/go/tagliamonte/makingwaves

Preface viii

1 Where It Begins 1

2 Synchronicity and Sociolinguistics 25

3 A Crescendo of Research 53

4 Roots of Variationist Thinking 74

5 Sociolinguistics in the Street 88

6 Why Statistics Is in Your Head 107

7 Sociolinguistics From the Heart 121

8 Branching Out; Bursting at the Seams 131

9 Why Do You Like Variation? 158

10 Launching the Future 169

Afterword 185

Appendix A List of Interviews 186

Appendix B VSLX Family Tree 187

References 194

Index 202