To readers who might think that variable language data are investigated only in certain sectors of sociolinguistics, this volume from Warren Maguire and April McMahon proclaims that variation is not just for variationists anymore. Researchers across many linguistic specialties have developed fruitful approaches to exploring variation in English and other languages. So, like the cool kids who were listening to the important bands before it was popular to do so, sociolinguists now find that many of our colleagues in other subfields have come around to our way of thinking about the nature of variation and the value of investigating it. To be sure, there are linguists who still treat variation as an inconvenience and something to be abstracted away from in order to get at the categoricity on which language is presumed to depend. But, the contributions to this collection illustrate a range of alternatives to such views and underscore the editors' statement that “the collection, analysis and explanation of variable data is one of the most lively and fascinating challenges of current linguistics” (1).
While the book offers something for scholars at any stage in their careers, the discussion targets students embarking on research projects. The authors have taken care to make their contributions accessible to readers with limited background in the field. Also, each chapter includes a “Where next?” section that suggests follow-up references and highlights open questions and issues in need of further investigation. The selection of chapters will appeal to students as well as other readers seeking a broad perspective on how variation is studied today. The twelve chapters are organized into two sections—the first focused on methods of analysis and the second on the relevance of variation to questions posed by different subfields of linguistics and by other disciplines.
Some of the chapters in the first section take a survey approach to their topics and present the state of the art. Erik R. Thomas adopts this strategy in his consideration of “Collecting data on phonology.” He offers some useful historical perspective by comparing approaches favored by dialect geographers in the linguistic atlas tradition with those current in sociolinguistics. With regard to the latter, Thomas gives a convenient summary of how vocalic variation is studied, but he also discusses intonation and other phonological elements that are less commonly studied but no less interesting sociolinguistically. Similar in spirit is Alexandra D'Arcy's chapter on corpus-based studies of variation. She describes large corpora like the British National Corpus, useful to researchers in a range of disciplines studying current and historical patterns in both written and spoken English. She also treats “unconventional” corpora, those focused on particular dialects and often collected by sociolinguists. In addition to providing a review of “what's out there,” D'Arcy explores key issues in corpus design and offers suggestions for researchers looking to construct their own corpora.
Some contributors frame their methodological discussions more as case studies. For example, Isabelle Buchstaller & Karen Corrigan take on the thorny issue of investigating syntactic variation. They review a range of instruments for eliciting grammaticality judgments, drawing on their experience with many such tools in the study of vernacular features in the northeast of England. They argue that researchers can successfully tap into speakers' intuitions by moving beyond the traditional “Can you say X?” technique. The chapter by Chris Montgomery & Joan Beal explores intuitions of a rather different sort under the heading “Perceptual dialectology.” These authors give a brief but comprehensive review of this area, noting early studies in Japan and the Netherlands as well as the more recent contributions by Dennis Preston on American English. They supplement this survey with examples from Montgomery's innovative research in northern England.
The other methodological chapters turn the focus to quantitative matters. The volume's editors take up the problem of “Quantifying relations between dialects.” Maguire & McMahon explore a number of traditional and more recent techniques for measuring similarities and differences between varieties. Their discussion includes an accessible, critical overview of work in dialectometry practiced by scholars such as John Nerbonne. One of the statistical tools sometimes used in dialectometrical research is cluster analysis, which Hermann Moisl also explores in his chapter on “Hypothesis generation.” Cluster analysis is a computational method for exploring patterns and correlations in large, multidimensional datasets. It serves as a useful technique for generating hypotheses because it examines the data across many vectors without making assumptions beforehand about what factors are likely to shape the variation. Moisl illustrates the basics of this approach with examples from his research on Newcastle English.
The second half of the volume pursues the question “Why does it matter?” and draws connections between the study of linguistic variation and several fields. Opening this section, Patrick Honeybone surveys the broad terrain of linguistic theory. He offers a thoughtful exploration of what the existence of variation entails for the core notions of language and grammar. The chapter makes clear why variation presents a challenge for many theories and highlights several approaches that have risen to this challenge.
Naturally, work in sociolinguistics is also covered. Gregory R. Guy addresses the connection between variation and change, providing an insightful review of the research paradigm founded by William Labov. In addition to explaining the fundamentals of the study of change in progress, Guy examines how variationist work has informed investigations of change outside of sociolinguistics. Emma Moore's chapter complements Guy's nicely by reviewing recent developments in variationist research. She frames her discussion around “identity,” a concept at the heart of much of the work in what Penelope Eckert has dubbed “third-wave” variationist research. Scholars in this area challenge the traditional understanding of linguistic variables as markers of static social categories, holding that “language does not just reflect social identities, it also helps to construct them” (222). Drawing examples from several studies, including her own ethnographic study in an English school, Moore underscores how this approach refocuses variationist research on the dynamics of social meaning.
The remaining three chapters look beyond the disciplinary boundaries of linguistics. Building bridges to the field of education, Graeme Trousdale reminds us of what is at stake in the linguistically diverse classroom and why knowledge of language variation needs to be cultivated among teachers and educational policymakers. Frances Rock turns the focus to the law in her discussion of forensic linguistics. She outlines the many applications of scholarship on linguistic variation to legal matters including identifying individuals by their speech or writing and promoting greater awareness of how variation in, for example, language, discourse style, and so on influences court proceedings. Finally, we come to a rather unexpected contribution by Rob McMahon, a molecular geneticist, whose chapter on “Variation and populations” asks “whether differences in our genes are relevant to understanding differences in language” (237). He points out a number of parallels between linguistic and genetic variation and highlights potential areas in which linguists and biologists might collaborate, punctuating his discussion with a case study of the fifth-century Germanic invasion of Britain and the question of whether it involved genocide of the Celtic population.
As my comments suggest, the editors have collected a range of scholarly perspectives on the topic of variation. The chapters cover well those branches of linguistics where variation has long been a central concern, but they also signal how interest in variation has expanded and how linguists can connect their knowledge of variation to other disciplines. While most of the work discussed deals with variation in English, the methods and themes addressed are relevant to the study of any language. Moreover, the editors gave the authors flexibility in structuring their discussion, and thus the collection includes a variety of presentational approaches with survey discussions in one chapter complementing more data-oriented explorations in another. Such variety will serve well the primary audience of students and others planning projects as it provides the background needed to formulate productive research questions as well as models for addressing those questions.
