Sociolinguistic Method and Linguistic Theory

Publisher Summary The sociolinguistic method is neither new to sociolinguistics nor universally adhered to by sociolinguists. It is a working hypothesis with a distinctive methodological and conceptual apparatus built up over the past 10 to 15 years in response to the particular needs of research guided by this hypothesis. The chapter discusses that the primary data for the study of linguistic structure, function, and change is the spoken language, more specifically spontaneous unreflecting speech in its natural context. Some of the consequences are traced of the natural speech hypothesis on not only the methodological level but also extending into linguistic theory. On the theoretical level, it focuses on two topics: one about the existence of the “syntactic variable” and the second on the “wave” theory.