William Labov (1927–2024)

“I have resisted the term sociolinguistics for many years, since it implies that there can be a successful linguistic theory or practice which is not social.” ~ William Labov

William Labov, father of sociolinguistics and one of the most influential linguists of the past century, passed away yesterday at the age of 97.

Labov pioneered the study of dialectology, showing how linguistic variables like subtle differences in the pronunciations of words correlate to social categories like class and race.

One of his studies is famously known as the Fourth Floor experiment: In 1966, Labov went to department stores around New York City and asked the sales assistants where he could find items that he already knew were on the 4th floor. Then he would note whether the salesperson pronounced the /r/ in “fourth floor”. He found that the pronunciation of /r/ correlated strongly with socioeconomic status, where salespeople in the more upper-class stores were more likely to pronounce the /r/.

Labov’s work on the linguistic features of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) also made a huge impact in destigmatizing the way black people speak, both among academic linguists and the general public. His work showed that AAVE is every bit as rule-governed and well-structured as Standard American English, with just slightly different grammatical rules.

Overall, his work helped the field of linguistics understand the immense degree of variation that occurs across dialects within a language, and the social categories attached to these differences.

If you’d like to read more of Labov’s work, check out his book for a popular audience, Dialect diversity in America: The politics of language change.

Dialect Diversity in America: The Politics of Language Change (Page-Barbour Lectures) - Kindle edition by Labov, William. Politics & Social Sciences Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

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Kindle edition by Labov, William. Politics & Social Sciences Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.Follow