Language and a Sense of Place: Studies in Language and Region

Place has always been central to studies of language, variation and change. Since the eighteenth century, dialectologists have been mapping language features according to boundaries - both physical and institutional. In the twentieth century, variationist sociolinguists developed techniques to correlate language use with speakers' orientations to place. More recently, perceptual dialectologists are examining the cognitive and ideological processes involved in language-place correlations and working on ways to understand how speakers mentally process space. Bringing together research from across the field of language variation, this volume explores the extent of twenty-first century approaches to place. It features work from both established and influential scholars, and up and coming researchers, and brings language variation research up to date. The volume focuses on four key areas of research: processes of language variation and change across time and space; methods and datasets for regional analysis; perceptions of the local in language research; and ideological representations of place.

Chris Montgomery is a Lecturer in Dialectology at the University of Sheffield. His research focuses on non-linguists' perceptions of dialects. He has published articles in the Journal of Sociolinguistics and Studies in Variation, Contacts and Change in English. He was the editor of Cityscapes and Perceptual Dialectology (with Jennifer Cramer, 2016) and of a special issue of English Language and Linguistics (with Karen Corrigan, 2015) focussing on the role of place in historical linguistics.

Emma Moore is a Senior Lecturer in Sociolinguistics at the University of Sheffield. Her research explores how individuals and communities use language to construct social styles and create social meaning. Emma's most recent project is an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project exploring language variation and change in a rather unique place: the Isles of Scilly. She has published in the Journal of Sociolinguistics, Language Variation and Change, and Language in Society, and is on the Editorial Board of Language in Society and Gender and Language.