The sociolinguistic turn of the 60's has been remarkably successful:
variability of language is no longer an issue open to debate. But
studies of variation have by and large been restricted to the level of
expression. This volume offers a critique of present day
sociolinguistics, arguing that since meaning is critical to all contexts
of life in society, ignoring it has led to a number of serious problems,
foremost among them a mis-conception of the nature of sociolinguistics
itself. By examining the possibility of systematic variation at the
level of meaning, the volume makes a positive contribution to opening up
a debate about the possibility of the neglected/ misrepresented notion
of semantic variation. Most chapters of the volume present an account of
certain aspects of an empirical research which strongly supports the
view that systematic variation in the choice of semantic features occurs
across different social groups. Mothers and their young children less
than four years old showed in their naturally occurring conversation a
highly systematic, statistically significant, orientation to distinct
styles of meaning, which correlated with their social positioning,
and/or with the gender of the children. The comparison of kindergarten
teachers' ways of meaning with those of mothers' provides empirical
proof that teacher talk is an exaggerated version of middle class
mothers' talk. The volume is relevant on the one hand to theoretical
issues in linguistics and sociolinguistics and on the other, to any
serious discourse about equitable education.
