Language Change From Adolescence to Adulthood

1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-138-92807-7
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 296 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: Routledge Studies in Language Change

Language Change from Adolescence to Adulthood fills a critical need for more sociolinguistic panel studies by presenting an in-depth examination of 40 individuals, addressing key questions regarding the impact of social factors on post-adolescent language change. Suzanne Evans Wagner’s analysis offers important insights into how the rate of community language change intersects with individual linguistic trajectories, advancing our understanding of the lability of language use over the lifespan.

Wagner’s study follows a cohort of 40 young women as they pass from high school to college to early adulthood. Addressing these women’s use of phonetic and discourse-pragmatic variables, Wagner shows that many aspects of their sociolinguistic repertoire exhibit post-adolescent modification, depending on a range of macro- and micro-social factor, including socioeconomic background, educational attainment, and orientation to the local community. This foundational study lays the groundwork for a deeper understanding into the nature of language change and will appeal to variationist sociolinguists, historical sociolinguists, ethnographic sociolinguists, sociophoneticians, and qualitative researchers interested in the role of the individual in community variation and community change.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wagner, Suzanne Evans

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. The community and the individual in real time 2. Language change in the Philadelphia speech community 3. Adolescence 4. College and young adulthood 5. Discourse-pragmatic variables 6. Vowels above the social radar 7. Vowels below the social radar 8. Conclusions

Über Autor(innen)

Suzanne Evans Wagner is Assistant Professor of Linguistics at Michigan State University and is co-editor of the series Routledge Studies in Language Change.