Real Time and Apparent Time

Abstract

In work on Martha's Vineyard, William Labov developed methodological innovations that allowed linguists to track the progress of linguistic changes and established the basis for a synchronic approach to language change. Perhaps the most important innovation was the apparent-time construct, a surrogate for the real-time examination of data at different points in history. Over the last 30 years linguists have used the apparent-time construct in many situations to make inferences about ongoing changes. Researchers desiring to use real-time evidence for studying language change have two options: (i) comparison of evidence from a new study to some pre-existing data, or (ii) re-survey of a community or a group of informants after a time-lapse. Researchers should be careful when making assumptions based on apparent-time data from adolescents and teenagers, and they must be alert both to the possible effects of sociolectal adjustments and to age-grading with adult cohorts.

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