Sociolinguistic Variation and Change: Focus on English as a Second and Foreign Language

A special issue of Languages (ISSN 2226-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 June 2025 | Viewed by 631

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
English Linguistics, University College of Teacher Education, AT-6800 Vorarlberg, Austria
Interests: variationist sociolinguistics; world englishes; multilingualism; language variation and change; ESL; EFL

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I am happy to announce an invitation to contribute to a Special Issue of the journal Languages. This special issue aims to bring together research investigating sociolinguistic variation and change in in those settings where English is acquired and subsequently put to use as a second and/or a foreign language. This endeavour seems to be particularly pertinent against the backdrop that after decades of arduous labor English variationist dialectology has accrued a substantial amount of evidence that informs our understanding of the structure-internal and socio-cultural principles underpinning linguistic change in L1 English vernaculars. This is particularly evident in the works by William Labov (1972, 1994, 2001, 2010) whose academic verve has reverberated throughout the entire field of sociolinguistics, having shaped its current methods and theorizing. To that end, the principle of accountability (Labov 1972: 207) is a method of work with linguistic data that has stood the test of time having yielded a plethora of sociolinguistic studies that have informed our understanding of the mechanisms of language change. Labovian theories and conceptual frameworks explaining language variation and change in L1 speech communities have inspired variationist thinking over the past few decades, as reflected in works by Sali A. Tagliamonte and her associates (see inter alia Tagliamonte 2015; Tagliamonte & D’Arcy 2009; Tagliamonte & Derek 2014). More recently, Davydova (2021) has applied the theory of language transmission and diffusion (Labov 2007) to ESL/EFL settings.

With this said, the special issue invites contributions that build on the Labovian tradition of variationist sociolinguistics and in so doing, expand it to those sociolinguistic contexts and environments in which English has traditionally performed the role of an additional language, either a second or a foreign one (Kachru 1985). Proposed articles will address the following topics:

  1. Systematic comparisons of structured variation across ESL and EFL English (see Davydova 2012, Davydova 2019);
  2. Systematic comparisons of language attitudes across ESL and EFL English (see Davydova 2019);
  3. Analyses of empirical ESL/EFL data within the framework of existing theoretical models of language change such as Labov 2007, Schneider 2007, Mair 2013, Buschfeld & Kautzsch 2017 and possibly others.
  4. Developing new theoretical frameworks that would inform our understanding of the language-internal and sociolinguistic mechanisms underpinning the global spread of English.

The Special Issue pursues the explicit goal of expanding the variationist paradigm of doing and thinking about language variation and change to the newest forms of English. It further aims to create a forum allowing for the cross-pollination of the fields of English dialectology, second language acquisition and World Englishes.

The editorial office requests that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest editor ([email protected]) or to /Languages/ editorial office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the special issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

References

Buschfeld, Sarah & Alexander Kautzsch. 2017. Towards an integrated approach to postcolonial and non-postcolonial Englishes. World Englishes 36(1): 104-126.

Davydova, Julia. 2012. Englishes in the Outer and Expanding Circles: A comparative study. World Englishes 31(3): 366–385.

Davydova, Julia. 2019. Quotation in Indigenised and Learner English: A Sociolinguistic Account of Variation. [Language and Social Life, LSL 16, series editors: David Britain and Crispin Thurlow.] Berlin & Boston: Mouton de Gruyter.

Davydova, Julia. 2021. The role of sociocognitive salience in the L2 acquisition of structured variation and linguistic diffusion: Evidence from quotative be like. Language in Society 50(2): 171–196.

Kachru, Braj B. 1985. Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism: The English language in the outer circle. In: Randolph Quirk and H. G. Widdowson (eds.) English in the World: Teaching and Learning the Language and Literatures, pp. 11-30. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press for the British Council.

Labov, William. 1972. Sociolinguistic Patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Labov, William. 1994. Principles of Linguistic Change (vol. 1): Internal Factors. Wiley Blackwell.

Labov, William. 2001. Principles of Linguistic Change (vol. 2): Social Factors. Wiley Blackwell.

Labov, William. 2007. “Transmission and diffusion”. Language 83(2): 344–387.

Labov, William. 2010. Principles of Linguistic Change (vol. 3): Cognitive and Cultural Factors. Wiley Blackwell.

Mair, Christian. 2013. The World System of Englishes. Accounting for the transnational importance of mobile and mediated vernaculars. English World-Wide 34(3): 253-278.

Schneider, Edgar W. 2007. Postcolonial English: Varieties around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Tagliamonte, Sali A. & Alexandra D’Arcy. 2009. “Peaks beyond phonology: Adolescence, incrementation, and language change”. Language 85(1): 58–108.

Tagliamonte, Sali A. & Denis Derek. 2014. Expanding the transmission/diffusion dichotomy: Evidence from Canada. Language 90(1): 90-136.

Tagliamonte, Sali A. 2015. “Exploring the architecture of variable systems to predict language change”. Can We Predict Linguistic Change? (Studies in Variation, Contacts and Change in English 16), ed. by Christina Sanchez-Stockhammer. Helsinki: VARIENG. https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:varieng:series-16-6.

Dr. Julia Davydova
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • variationist sociolinguistics
  • second language acquisition
  • world englishes

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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