Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-kwt9d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-14T17:59:38.482Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Two Models of Socially Significant Linguistic Variation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Ralph W. Fasold
Ralph W. Fasold*
Affiliation:
Center for Applied Linguistics
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There are currently two prominent competing approaches to the study of the social significance of variation in language. One approach is the observation of the frequency of variants in actual speech and their correlation with social factors. The other approach, scalogram analysis, instead of recording the frequency of variants, systematically shows what the use of one variant implies for the use of another. It is argued here that the observation of frequency leads to generalizations not revealed by the use of scalogram analysis alone. Finally, some suggestions are made concerning the application of both models to problems of the teaching of reading and of socially standard English.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , September 1970, pp. 551 - 563
Copyright
Copyright © 1970 Linguistic Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bailey, Charles-James N. 1969. The integration of linguistic theory: internal reconstruction and the comparative method in detcriptive linguistics. Working Papers in Linguistics 2. 85–122. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, Department of Linguistics.Google Scholar
Baratz, Joan C., and Shuy, Roger W. (eds.) 1969. Teaching black children to read. (Urban language series, 4.) Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
DeCamp, David. 1968. Toward a generative analysis of a post-Creole speech continuum. Paper delivered at the Conference on Pidginization and Creolization of Languages, Mona, Jamaica.Google Scholar
Elliott, Dale, Legum, Stanley; and Thompson, Sandra Annear. 1969. Syntactic variation as linguistic data. Papers from the Fifth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, ed. by Binnick, Robert I. et al., 52–9. Chicago: University of Chicago, Department of Linguistics.Google Scholar
Fasold, Ralph W., and Shuy, Roger W. (eds.) 1970. Teaching standard English in the inner city. (Urban language series, 6.) Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
Fasold, Ralph W., and Wolfram, Walter. 1970. Some linguistic features of Negro dialect. In Fasold and Shuy, 41–86.Google Scholar
Feigenbaum, Irwin. 1969. Using foreign language methodology to teach standard English: evaluation and adaptation. Florida Foreign Language Reporter 7:1.116 ff.Google Scholar
Feigenbaum, Irwin. 1970. The use of nonstandard English to teach standard: contrast and comparison. In Fasold and Shuy, 87–104.Google Scholar
Guttman, Louis. 1944. A basis for scaling qualitative data. American Sociological Review 9. 139–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessler, Sister Carolyn. 1969. Noun plural realizations in Black English. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University, School of Languages and Linguistics (unpublished term paper).Google Scholar
Labov, William. 1966. The social stratification of English in New York City. (Urban language series, 1.) Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
Labov, William. 1968. Negative attraction and negative concord in various English dialects. Paper delivered at the Linguistic Society of America annual meeting, New York City.Google Scholar
Labov, William. 1969. Contraction, deletion, and inherent variability of the English copula. Lg. 45. 715–62.Google Scholar
Labov, William, Cohen, Paul, Robins, Clarence; and Lewis, John. 1968. A study of the nonstandard English of Negro and Puerto Rican speakers in New York City. Voi. 1. Final report, Cooperative Research Project 3288, U.S. Office of Education. (ERIC ED 028 423.)Google Scholar
Stewart, William A. 1969. On the use of Negro dialect in the teaching of reading. In Baratz and Shuy, 156–219.Google Scholar
Stolz, Walter, and Bills, Garland. 1968. An investigation of the standard-nonstandard dimension of Central Texas English. (Final report to the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity. (Austin: Child Development Evaluation and Research Center, University of Texas.Google Scholar
Wolfram, Walter A. 1969. A sociolinguistic description of Detroit Negro speech. (Urban language series, 5.) Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
Wolfram, Walter A. 1970. Sociolinguistic implications for educational sequencing. In Fasold and Shuy, 105–19.Google Scholar