Book contents
- Social Meaning and Linguistic Variation
- Social Meaning and Linguistic Variation
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- 1 Social Meaning and Linguistic Variation: Theoretical Foundations
- Part I Where Is (Social) Meaning?
- 2 Social Meaning and Sound Change
- 3 The Social Meaning of Syntax
- 4 The Social Meaning of Semantic Properties
- 5 Pragmatics and the Third Wave: The Social Meaning of Definites
- 6 The Cognitive Structure behind Indexicality: Correlations in Tasks Linking /s/ Variation and Masculinity
- Part II The Structure of Social Meaning
- Part III Meaning and Linguistic Change
- Index
- References
2 - Social Meaning and Sound Change
from Part I - Where Is (Social) Meaning?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 July 2021
Book contents
- Social Meaning and Linguistic Variation
- Social Meaning and Linguistic Variation
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- 1 Social Meaning and Linguistic Variation: Theoretical Foundations
- Part I Where Is (Social) Meaning?
- 2 Social Meaning and Sound Change
- 3 The Social Meaning of Syntax
- 4 The Social Meaning of Semantic Properties
- 5 Pragmatics and the Third Wave: The Social Meaning of Definites
- 6 The Cognitive Structure behind Indexicality: Correlations in Tasks Linking /s/ Variation and Masculinity
- Part II The Structure of Social Meaning
- Part III Meaning and Linguistic Change
- Index
- References
Summary
Why does a sound change spread faster among one group of people than another? While variationist sociolinguistics was founded on the idea that a variant’s social meaning might be part of the answer, the proposal is still the source of active debate. Eckert (2008, 2012) calls for a renewed focus on social meaning, articulating the core interest of ‘third wave’ research. Here, we join some recent work that highlights the benefits of combining analytic perspectives from all of Eckert’s (2012) three waves, particularly with respect to the study of sound change. By directly comparing insights from parallel analyses of the same data, we argue that all sound change researchers can potentially benefit from considering a third-wave perspective, in the sense that social change results in indexical change, and this may explain the trajectory of a sound change. Our data come from white and Chinese American residents of San Francisco’s Sunset District, recorded in 2008. As with the COT-CAUGHT merger (Hall-Lew 2013), focus on social change over time suggests that the individuals who came of age during the peak of social change are key to mapping the trajectory of GOAT-fronting.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Social Meaning and Linguistic VariationTheorizing the Third Wave, pp. 27 - 53Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
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