Expanding Variationist Sociolinguistic Research in Varieties of German

by James M. Stratton (Editor), Karen V. Beaman (Editor)

Overview

This collection provides a broad account of variationist sociolinguistic research on varieties of German, with the goals to encourage greater geolinguistic diversity in the field and to expand our understanding of language variation and change.

This book illustrates that incorporating a wider variety of language data in sociolinguistic studies provides a broader, more holistic picture of variation and change. On the one hand, this book examines how variationist methods can contribute to the study of varieties of German, with each chapter following the principles of variationist sociolinguistics. On the other hand, the chapters examine how both intra- and extra-linguistic factors can influence variation and change. The volume also seeks to provide a broader understanding of German variation and change across time and space. This book highlights how the study of varieties of German through a variationist lens can offer new insights into language change more broadly, with applications for further research into other languages. This volume will be of most interest to scholars in language change, sociolinguistics, dialectology, and historical linguistics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032456591
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/29/2024
Series:	Routledge Studies in Language Change
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

James M. Stratton is an assistant professor of German and Linguistics at Pennsylvania State University. He specializes in language variation and change in Germanic languages, both past and present, with a particular emphasis on lexis and discourse-pragmatics.

Karen V. Beaman is a lecturer and post-doctoral fellow in sociolinguistics at the University of Tubingen, Germany. Her research interests concern language variation, coherence, and change, with particular focus on how factors of identity, mobility, and social networks affect change.

Table of Contents

List of contributors
Foreword - Sali A. Tagliamonte
Acknowledgements

1. Variationist sociolinguistics: theoretical and methodological foundations

James M. Stratton and Karen V. Beaman

PART I: Bridging German dialectology and variationist sociolinguistics

2. The social versus the regional: a multivariate analysis of (morpho-)syntactic variation in Austria’s rural dialects

Philip C. Vergeiner, Lars Bülow, and Stephan Elspaß

3. Dialect maintenance in German Alemannic and the role of pro-Alsatian attitudes and orientations

Peter Auer, Martin Pfeiffer, Göz Kaufmann, and Julia Breuninger

4. Sociolinguistic variation in a non-native variety of Swiss German: Romansh migrants in the city of Berne

Andrin Büchler

PART II : Diving into social-discursive functions

5. Fei schee: the social meaning of intensifier use in Swabian

James M. Stratton and Karen V. Beaman

6. Subjunctive and diminutive use as politeness strategies in German in Austria: comparative evidence from sociolinguistic interviews and conversations among friends

Katharina Korecky-Kröll and Anja Wittibschlager

7. A socio-stylistic analysis of variation in support verb constructions in a corpus of spoken German

Colleen Neary-Sundquist and John D. Sundquist

8. Sociolinguistic variation in German: the case of the modal particles halt and eben

Oliver Bunk, Antje Sauermann, and Fynn Raphael Dobler

PART III: Merging historical and sociolinguistic perspectives

9. Variation in an Austrian winegrower’s 19th-century chronicle

Anna D. Havinga and Simon Pickl

10. Socio-historical data and the need for representative historical corpora

Katrin Fuchs

Afterword

Index