This book provides an up-to-date description of language variation in American English, covering regional, ethnic, and gender-based differences.
Over the past three decades,
Walt Wolfram has pioneered research on a wide range of American vernacular dialects and authored or co-authored 13 books and over 150 articles. After 25 years as the Director of Research at the Center for Applied Linguistics, he was named the first William C. Friday Distinguished Professor at North Carolina State University in 1992.
Natalie Schilling-Estes has coordinated field research for the North Carolina Language and Life Project at North Carolina State University since 1993. She has conducted research on historically isolated coastal dialects of American English, focusing on phonological variation and style shifting.