Variation

Question 1

linguistic variable

Answer 1

linguistic element that has two or more variants

Question 2

indicator

Answer 2

linguistic variable that has little to no social import

Question 3

marker

Answer 3

carries (social) information

Question 4

stereotype

Answer 4

when a variant becomes a conscious characterization of the speech of a particular group.

Question 5

dependent variable

Answer 5

the linguistic variable

Question 6

independent variable

Answer 6

factor we can manipulate, such as social class, age, ethnicity, race

Question 7

quantitative sociolinguistics

Answer 7

studies

Question 8

requirements of quantitative sociolinguistics

Answer 8

representative, reliable, valid

Question 9

first wave studies

Answer 9

sought to establish correlations between predetermined macro-level categories (such as class, age race, gender ethnicity, etc.) and particular linguistic variables

Question 10

second wave studies

Answer 10

began to focus on speaker agency and sought to explain variation using ethnographically determined social categories and norms

Question 11

third wave studies

Answer 11

move from investigating how language reflects social identity to how linguistic practices are the means by which speakers position themselves as social beings. How do speakers/hearers link linguistic features to social meanings?

Question 12

first wave study example

Answer 12

Labov’s fourth floor study

Question 13

second wave study example

Answer 13

milroy focused on certain stable linguistic norms in three working-class areas in Belfast and showed how these linguistic norms emerge and maintain themselves in a community

Question 14

third wave study example

Answer 14

Podesva looks at the stylistic variation in a man named Heath who uses aspiration of intervocalic [t] and falsetto in certain contexts to create a ‘diva’ personality, and other contexts to create an identity of a competent and educated medical student