SOCIOLINGUISTICS AND LINGUISTIC GEOGRAPHY

Abstract

Sociolinguistics and linguistic geography should be considered as complementary rather than mutually contradictory approaches to the phenomena of language variation. Linguistic geography is a branch of historical linguistics based on samples of the stable and traditional, and necessarily somewhat biased in the selection of small communities, older informants, and traditional cultures; however, it provides a framework for interpreting studies of varied populations-in both rural and urban communities. The authors review criticisms of both linguistic geography and of sociolinguistics applications of linguistic geography, and suggest directions in which the findings of linguistic geography may be useful to sociolinguists and others in matters of interdisciplinary cooperation.