[2] Linguistic variation does not equate to ungrammatical usage of the language, but speakers are still (often unconsciously) sensitive to what is and is not possible in their native lect.
[4] Studies of language variation and its correlation with sociological categories, such as William Labov's 1963 paper "The social motivation of a sound change," led to the foundation of sociolinguistics as a subfield of linguistics.
[5][6] Although contemporary sociolinguistics includes other topics, language variation and change remains an important issue at the heart of the field.
Examples for phonetic variables are: the frequency of the glottal stop, the height or backness of a vowel or the realisation of word-endings.
Two well-known and frequently studied morphophonological variables are T/D deletion, the optional deletion of the sound /t/ or /d/ at the end of a word, as in "I kep' walking" (Wolfram 1969;[8] Labov et al. 1968[9]); and the ING variable, the optional pronunciation of -ing at the end of a word as -in', as in "I kept walkin'" (e.g. Fisher 1958;[10] Labov 1966/1982;[7] Trudgill 1974[11]).
[12]: 11–12 In 1970 Eugenio Coșeriu, revisiting De Saussure's synchrony and diachrony distinction in the description of language, coined the terms diatopic (place-related dialect), diastratic (social class/stratum related sociolect) and diaphasic (formality-related register) to describe linguistic variation.
They are: vernacular of a subgroup with membership typically characterized by a specific age range, age-graded variation, and indications of linguistic change in progress.
The reasons for this are the following: (1) To enhance their own cultural identity (2) To identify with each other, (3) To exclude others, and (4) To invoke feelings of fear or admiration from the outside world.
[citation needed] Strictly speaking, this is not truly age-based, since it does not apply to all individuals of that age bracket within the community.
A linguistic survey found that in 1979 two-thirds of the 12-year-olds in Toronto ended the recitation of the alphabet with the letter 'zee' where only 8% of the adults did so.
William Bright provides an example taken from American English, where in certain parts of the country there is an ongoing merger of the vowel sounds in such pairs of words as 'caught' and 'cot'.
Sociolinguists concerned with grammatical and phonological features that correspond to regional areas are often called dialectologists.
By the end of the 1960s, it was examined that linguistic and dialect diversity cannot be solely interpreted by geography, which social differences existed in the same geographical area.
[19][verification needed] Men and women, on average, tend to use slightly different language styles.
The Ebonics Controversy help to influence the way America thinks about African American English.
[citation needed] However, AAE is a rule-governed, valid language variety that adequately and uniquely expresses the collective experiences of its speakers.
[29] The homogenization of Asian Americans is problematic due to their distinct cultural and national backgrounds as well as history of immigration to the U.S.
[37] Despite the variety of ethnic background, Asian American speech shows distinctiveness in perception tests.
[38] While the amount of sound change studies are dearth, when they are addressed, it is focused mainly on "language maintenance issues or code switching",[39] and rarely feature linguistic portraits of Asian Americans who have grown up within the diverse atlas of the United States.