Cover; Half-title; Title; Copyright; Contents; Introductory note to the first edition; Preface to the first edition; Preface to the second edition: forty years later; Part I Problems and methods of analysis; 1 The study of language in its social context; The study of linguistic structure; Some earlier restrictions on linguistic study; Some earlier studies of language in its social context; 2 First approach to the structure of New York City English; Results of the exploratory interviews; Resolution of the problem; The five phonological variables; The problem of stylistic variation
The problem of social variation3 The social stratification of (r) in New York City department stores; The method; Overall stratification of (r); The effect of other independent variables; Differentiation by age of the informants; Some possible sources of error; Conclusion; 4 The isolation of contextual styles; The problem of casual speech; Channel cues for casual speech; The array of stylistic variation; The structure of stylistic variation; 5 The linguistic interview; The interview situation; The questionnaire; Interviewing several members of the household
6 The survey of the Lower East SideThe selection of the area; Procedures of the MFY survey; A view of the Lower East Side; The ALS survey population; Selection of native speakers; The ALS sample population; The ALS television interview; Characteristics of the ALS respondents; Redefinition of "native speaker" and "New Yorker"; Class distribution of the ALS respondents; Ethnic distribution of the ALS respondents; Interviewing other members of the household; Summary of possible sources of error; Part II Social differentiation; 7 Class differentiation of the variables
Social class as a measure of social stratificationTwo approaches to social variation in language; The socio-economic class index; Class stratification of the five variables; The possible relations of class to language; The social structure of (r); The social structure of (th) and (dh); The deviant case of Nathan B.; The social structure of (æh); The social structure of (oh); The hypothesis of real deviation; Evidence of the out-of-town informants; Summary; 8 Further analysis of the variables; The logical ordering of the independent variables in time
Education of respondent as an independent variableOccupation of respondent as an independent variable; Occupation and education combined; Ethnic group as an independent variable; Relation of ethnic membership to (oh); Relations of ethnic groups to socio-economic class; Jewish and Italian differences for other variables; Comparison of men and women; Temporal relations of the variables; 9 Distribution of the variables in apparent time; Methods for the synchronic study of change; The relative stability of class patterns; The possible relations of apparent time and real time
Summary
Second edition of William Labov's groundbreaking study, in which he looks back on forty years of achievements in sociolinguistics
Notes
Originally published: Washington D.C. : Center for Applied Linguistics, 1966
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 462-472) and index
