Sociolinguistic Approaches to Lexical Variation in English

This volume offers an in-depth and up-to-date exploration of lexical variation from sociolinguistic perspectives, addressing a notable gap in lexis-focused research within the field. Drawing on a wide array of examples from the English language, the collection showcases cutting-edge approaches to understanding how lexical variation operates across different social and linguistic contexts. Organised into three thematic sections, the book begins with a focus on contemporary developments in dialectology. The first section not only highlights regional and social variation in lexis but also offers critical insights into the methodological innovations shaping 21st-century dialect research. The second section highlights innovative perspectives emerging from corpus linguistics, wheras the final section examines lexical variation through the lens of social meaning, including contributions from third-wave variationist sociolinguistics. Together, these chapters argue for the significance of lexical analysis in sociolinguistic inquiry - both as a window into society and as a means of uncovering mechanisms of language variation and change. This collection will be a valuable resource for students, researchers, and scholars in language variation and change, dialectology, corpus linguistics, and sociolinguistics more broadly.

Rhys J. Sandow is a senior research associate at Concept Analytics Lab, University of Sussex, UK Natalie Braber is Professor of Linguistics at Nottingham Trent University, UK.

Foreword: The Cinderella of sociolinguistics - Joan C. Beal; Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction: An overview of sociolinguistic approaches to lexical variation in English - Rhys J. Sandow and Natalie Braber. Section I: Dialectology 2. A socio-geographical investigation of lexical variability in England: Evidence from the English Dialects App - David Britain, Tamsin Blaxter and Adrian Leemann; 3. Lexical variation among mobile speakers: A case study of words for bread in the United Kingdom - George Bailey, Laurel MacKenzie and Danielle Turton; 4. Welsh-English social-media lexicon in comparative context: Adjectives of positive evaluation and terms of address - David Willis; 5. Lexical variation in Irish English - Raymond Hickey; 6. 'Pit talk' of UK coal miners - a comparative study - Natalie Braber and John Bellamy. Section II: Corpus linguistics 7. Lexico-grammatical variation in spoken British English corpora - Robbie Love and Nele Põldvere; 8. Light verbs on the contact continuum - Gabriel Ozón and Melanie Green; 9. The social conditioning of lexical items for man in British English: The demise of man and the rise of guy - James M. Stratton; 10. Conceptual variation: Gendered differences in the lexicalization of the concept of COMMODITY in environmental narratives - Justyna A. Robinson, Rhys J. Sandow and Albertus Andito; 11. 'Our speech defines us': The language of Caribbean female prime ministers - Guyanne Wilson. Section III: Social meaning 12. Bare social meanings: The production and perception of the quantifier bare - Rhys J. Sandow, Christian Ilbury, George Bailey, and Natalie Braber; 13. A word in a word: Social perceptions of expletive infixation - Matthew Hunt and Linnaea Stockall; 14. 'Well first of all, you spelled sus wrong': Epistemic authority and the social negotiation of 'slang' - Teresa Pratt; 15. Disenregistering dude: Shifts in familiarizing vocative meaning and use in American English - Scott F. Kiesling and Soobin Choi; 16. 'TikTok Slang': Lexical variation and change in social media - Christian Ilbury; 17. Perspectives on lexical variation of English in Vietnam - John Bellamy and Mai Xuan Nhat Chi Nguyen