Patterns of Variation including Change

Abstract

This chapter illustrates some of the patterns of language change and language variation and discusses their implications. As illustrations, the author has tried to select case studies that are prototypical, that is, as close to “pure” examples as he can find. As befits a social science, these cases are rooted in times and places, but he have tried to emphasize their general properties as far as possible, seeking the broader implications that underlie the cases. An ancillary theme of the chapter involves the creative uses of these partly predictable patterns. Individuals and sub-groups disrupt the norms in order to establish their own social space. These acts of identity gain salience largely by their “distance” from the sociolinguistic baseline.

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