Additional literature
In the first volume of his work, Labov explains and examines language internal factors and their influence on language change. He traces the principles of chain shifting, lexical diffusion and rules that govern mergers and splits.
In the second volume, social or external factors are discussed. Beginning with Darwin, Labov tries to explain the social effects of language change and examines variables such as social class, gender, neighborhood and ethnicity as well as the reasons for change.
The book is ideal for beginners who have no background knowledge of statistics. It explains the process of finding appropriate software and provides essential theoretical background information. Furthermore, there are concrete examples of variation given and a discussion of the variable rule program is included.
This book, which was published by David Sankoff, is a compilation of articles which deal with variable rule analysis. It is not a manual which explains how to do an analysis, but it provides the reader with theoretical background on the topic of variation (statistical explanation of variability, lexical and semantic variation, methodological problems, etc.). Furthermore, research examples are provided which show what kind of results can be produced by means of a variable rule analysis.
“Variable Rules” is a short article, published by David Sankoff, about analysing language change by means of a variable rule analysis. The author explains the process of analysing data and also offers mathematical background information. Although not a manual per se, the article provides much information as to what can be done with Goldvarb. In contrast to Tagliamonte's Analysing Sociolinguistic Variation, it is not a practical manual which explains every single step, but it gives a theoretical overview of variable rule analysis. It is therefore advisable that the reader familiarize him- or herself with the method and its terminology before reading the article in order to fully understand everything that is being said.
This book is especially designed for researchers using Goldvarb. It includes very detailed explanations of all possible functions and results Goldvarb can provide. The author guides the reader through his or her research, beginning with fieldwork. The main topics of the book are: conducting interviews, organizing data, finding the linguistic variable, theoretical background on variable rule and how to analyze data with Goldvarb. As every detail is elaborately explained, leafing through the book can be quite time consuming. There are many cross-references which require the reader to switch from one chapter to another. So if one has hopes of finding a kind of quick-start guide, this book will most likely leave them unanswered. However, if there is enough time before starting the research project, the book should be read in any case. Additionally to the book, there is also an accompanying website with further materials.
This book gives a practical overview of the methodology applied in researching language variation and change. Also starting with fieldwork, it is not explicitly designed for working with Goldvarb, but provides more general information about the topics connected to the research of language variation. Methods to evaluate written documents or public corpora as well as the influence of certain social factors or the possible consequences of language contact are described in much detail.
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