In Chapter 1, I introduced the term “citizen sociolinguistic arrest” to describe one possible point of entry into conversations about language, and this chapter addresses an equally common and recognizable speech event that sparks extended language discussions: wonderment. Citizen sociolinguistic wonderment is a blend of admiration and awe (sometimes touched with silliness, fear, or skepticism) regarding ways of speaking. This type of wonderment pulls us into conversations about language when, for example we listen to a comedian talking about “the world’s sexiest accents,” or hear teenagers describing their weekend, or when we travel and hear a new variety of our “own” language. Citizen sociolinguistic wonderment sparks conversation, deliberation, and discussion not only about language, but also about people’s associated understandings of the social characteristics of speakers of these languages, generalizations that may be reinforced or debunked, perpetuated or laid to rest. The wonderment surrounding the mere idea of “sexy accents,” teen-speak, or new forms of language of any kind can spark important conversation, expand people’s language awareness, and as we will see later, even motivate social action.

This chapter concludes the book with a call for language awareness for all: a roundup of approaches to exploring how we talk about language and an explanation for why we must. Any student, from pre-school through graduate school, and any human, of any age, can embark on this type of citizen sociolinguistic inquiry. This chapter calls readers to listen to their students, colleagues, children, and peers: What word, turn-of-phrase, or way of speaking has led to wonderment and sparked conversation? Hoagie? Lightening bug? Creaky voice? Eyebrows on fleek? Chinese? What sorts of citizen sociolinguistic arrests have you (or people you know) experienced? These experiences – good and bad – can be springboards to important citizen sociolinguistic inquiry. Over the years, I’ve developed the ideas in this book as a loose guide to push high-school, college and graduate students, and myself to explore language questions – whether sparked by wonderment, arrest, or something else, and to dwell with multiple possible answers to any of them. I provide examples of my own and encourage readers to build flexible and thoughtful habits with language, as citizen sociolinguists, and to share their discoveries through more acts of citizen sociolinguistics.