Moore, E. (2021) The social meaning of syntax. In: Hall-Lew, L., Moore, E. and Podesva, R.J., (eds.) Social Meaning and Linguistic Variation: Theorizing the Third Wave. Cambridge University Press , Cambridge , pp. 54-79. ISBN 9781108471626
Abstract
The study of syntactic variation has lagged behind the study of phonological variation in sociolinguistics, despite early claims that ‘[t]he extension of probabilistic considerations from phonology to syntax is not a conceptually difficult jump’ (Sankoff 1973: 58).1 Documented challenges to the study of syntactic variation include the increased difficulty in circumscribing a linguistic variable when dealing with levels of the grammar above phonology (Tagliamonte 2012: 206–7), and problems of convincingly quantifying syntactic variables which occur less frequently than phonological variables (Rickford et al. 1995: 106). Added to this, it has been argued that syntactic variables are less subject to social evaluation than phonological variables (Labov 1993, 2001: 28; Levon & Buchstaller 2015) and, even when they are, they tend to have ‘quite fixed social meanings associated with external facts like class and particularly education’ (Eckert 2018: 190).
Metadata
Item Type: | Book Section |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Editors: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 Cambridge University Press. This is an author-produced version of a book chapter subsequently published in Social Meaning and Linguistic Variation: Theorizing the Third Wave. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | sociosyntax; adolescence; negative concord; communities of practice; style |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Sheffield) > School of English (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 24 Jun 2019 14:43 |
Last Modified: | 12 Feb 2022 01:38 |
Published Version: | https://www.cambridge.org/9781108471626 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1017/9781108578684.003 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:146656 |