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 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.