The conventional methodology of variationist linguistics foregrounds the variable as the object of study: each variant is situated in the envelope of variation against the other variants it competes with. This paper argues that it is necessary to look beyond the context of the alternations a variant participates in in order to get a full picture of the factors affecting variation. The multi-functional variant like is used as a case study to illustrate the value of a variant-centered analysis: the fact that several distinct variables are all simultaneously changing toward the variant like suggests that a variant can be targeted for change across multiple variables, parallelling Campbell-Kibler (2011)’s model of the variant as the carrier of sociolinguistic meaning. It is conjectured that the set of changes toward like can be explained as a top-down discursive change targeting like as an indicator of vague literality, a function it retains in multiple distinct variable contexts.
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2018. The role of the Avant Garde in linguistic diffusion. Language Variation and Change 30:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Maddeaux, Ruth & Aaron Dinkin
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Schweinberger, Martin
2018. Alexandra D’Arcy.Discourse-pragmatic variation in context – eight hundred years of LIKE. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 2017. 235 pp. DOI 10.1075/slcs.187. ISBN 978 90 272 5952 3 (HB), ISBN 978 90 272 6531 9 (EBOOK).. ICAME Journal 42:1 ► pp. 219 ff.
Weston, John
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