The Social Stratification of English in New York City

Second edition of William Labov's groundbreaking study, in which he looks back on forty years of achievements in sociolinguistics.

This groundbreaking study of New York speech founded the discipline of sociolinguistics, presenting a pioneering new account of social variation in language. In this second edition, Labov reviews forty years of findings in sociolinguistics, and brings the reader up to date on the methods, results and achievements of sociolinguistic research.One of the first accounts of social variation in language, this groundbreaking study founded the discipline of sociolinguistics, providing the model on which thousands of studies have been based. In this second edition, Labov looks back on forty years of sociolinguistic research, bringing the reader up to date on its methods, findings and achievements. In over thirty pages of new material, he explores the unforeseen implications of his earlier work, addresses the political issues involved, and evaluates the success of newer approaches to sociolinguistic investigation. In doing so, he reveals the outstanding accomplishments of sociolinguistics since his original study, which laid the foundations for studying language variation, introduced the crucial concept of the linguistic variable, and showed how variation across age groups is an indicator of language change. Bringing Labov's pioneering study into the 21st century, this classic volume will remain the benchmark in the field for years to come.