Linguistic styles particularly variations in pronunciation, carry a wide range of meaning - from speakers' socio-economic class to their mood or stance in the moment. This book examines the development of the study of sociolinguistic variation, from early demographic studies to a focus on the construction of social meaning in stylistic practice. It traces the development of the 'Third Wave' approach to sociolinguistic variation, uncovering the stylistic practices that underlie broad societal patterns of change. Eckert charts the development of her thinking and of the emergence of a theoretical community around the 'Third Wave' approach to social meaning. Featuring brand new material alongside earlier seminal work, it provides a coherent account of the social meaning of linguistic variation.
Part I. Beginnings and Gascon: 1. The paradox of national language movements; 2. Diglossia: separate and unequal; 3. Back home; Part II. Jocks, Burnouts and the Second Wave: 4. Clothing and geography in a suburban high school; 5. Sound change and adolescent social structure; 6. The local and the extra-local; 7. Variation and a sense of place; 8. On the outs; 9. Communities of practice; 10. Liberated by gender; 11. The whole woman: sex and gender differences in variation; 12. Style; 13. Variation and personal/group style; 14. Back to elementary school; 15. Vowels and nailpolish: the emergence of linguistic style in the preadolescent heterosexual marketplace; Part III. The Third Wave: 16. Demystifying sexuality and desire; 17. /t/ release and beyond; 18. Agency; 19. Elephants in the room; 20. The nature of indexicality in variation; 21. Variation and the indexical field; 22. What kinds of signs are these?; 23. Where do ethnolects stop?; 24. The semiotic landscape; 25. Spreading vs circulation; 26. Where do we go from here?
