Linguistic Variant | Encyclopedia MDPI

Linguistic Variant: History

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Subjects: Language & Linguistics

Contributor: Encyclopedia Editorial Office

A linguistic variant is a particular form of a linguistic variable, representing one of the alternative linguistic features or realizations that occur within a language system ^[1]^[2]. Variants may differ in pronunciation, morphology, syntax, lexical choice, or other linguistic properties while serving comparable linguistic functions in a given context ^[1]^[2]. In sociolinguistics, linguistic variants are analyzed in relation to their distribution across speakers, social groups, styles, and communicative situations, including the linguistic and social factors associated with variation.

Linguistic variation
Linguistic variable
Sociolinguistics
Language variation

Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity • Language and Linguistics • Arts and Humanities • Social Sciences

References

Elizabeth Closs Traugott; William Labov, Sociolinguistic patterns. (Conduct and Communication, 4.) Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1972.. Lang. Soc. 1975, 4, 89-107, 10.1017/s0047404500004528.
Cuevas-Alonso, M. (2013). Sali A. Tagliamonte: Variationist Sociolinguistics. Change, Observation, Interpretation. Onomázein Revista De Lingüística Filología y Traducción. https://doi.org/10.7764/ONOMAZEIN.28.21

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