A brief history of American Sociolinguistics 1949–1989

Roger W. Shuy
Georgetown University

Summary

American sociolinguistics was created by a set of ideas, social influences and fortunate comings-together of like-minded scholars in a fortuitous rather than carefully orchestrated manner. Very little attention has been given to the birthing of sociolinguistics and this paper recounts some of these ideas, social conditions and comings-together so that contemporary scholars can have some insights into how this field developed. It is difficult, if not impossible, to separate the growth of sociolinguistics from the influences of the theoretical paradigms prevalent at any given period of its growth. Several disciplines influenced its creation and development and the summer months of 1964 brought things into focus to the extent that virtually all subsequent advances in the field can be seen to have dependence on that very crucial period. This paper treats not only where American sociolinguistics came from but also how it has changed, its methodologies, its cross-disciplinary struggles, its current status, and prospects for its future growth.

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