Robert Lawson

What Can Ethnography Tell us about Sociolinguistic Variation over Time? Some Insights from Glasgow

Although a well-established methodological framework in anthropology, criminology, and sociology (Atkinson and Hammersley 2007: 1–10), it has only been over the past 10–15 years that ethnographic methods have seen increased use in (quantitative) sociolinguistics in the UK (see Rampton 2007 for a discussion of linguistics and ethnography in the UK). Scotland in particular has been a key site for research which integrates ethnographic approaches with sociolinguistic investigations of language use and linguistic variation and change in a variety of contexts. This has included research on community organisations (Clark 2009; Clark and Trousdale 2009), Gaelic communities (McEwan-Fujita 2010; Smith-Christmas 2012), national parliaments (Shaw 2009–2011), rural communities (Thomson 2012), schools (Alam 2007; Lambert, Alam and Stuart-Smith 2007; Lawson 2009; Nance 2013), sports clubs (Wilson 2007), and the workplace (Eustace 2012).

Sociolinguistics: the study of speakers’ choices

Murray Munro also highlight this emphasis on teacher training in the final chapter of the section: they consider how to teach native speakers to listen to L2 speech. The salience of L2accented speech is heightened in an era of globalisation, in which targeting attitudes towards accents becomes increasingly essential. The final section is ‘The Social Impact of Speech’. Okim Kang and Donald Rubin begin by situating the reception of L2 accent in both social and material terms, highlighting the fact that accents are not easily separated from structures of power and domination in society, and showing how perceptions of speakers’ voices can have real and long-lasting consequences for learners. Gai Harrison complements their treatment by detailing how one’s pronunciation is a form of cultural capital, and much more than a simple marker of identity. She describes the damaging effects of L2-accent discrimination in society – when, for instance, L2 speakers forego financially advantageous opportunities because of their worries about attitudes to nonnative speech. A final chapter by Levis and Moyer brings the discussion full circle. They conclude by highlighting some of the book’s most noteworthy findings, and linking them to the theoretical, methodological and pedagogical parameters that they hope will inform future work and practice. While Levis and Moyer do not endorse a specific theoretical or methodological model for future research in L2 pronunciation – a point that seems to be missing from their concluding discussion – readers are nevertheless left with a clear impression of the epistemic and ontological foundations that will be needed to inform such work. As the editors note, many of their authors voice a clear need to (re-)approach L2-speaker agency (particularly learner awareness and control) from relativistic and speaker-centred perspectives. Although they ultimately encourage studies from a number of other frameworks as well, the larger issue of agency underlines how important it is for subsequent scholarship to eschew the dichotomous understandings of structure and action that have long defined L2 studies. Readers also find here an unvoiced appeal to explore the social dynamics of L2 accent far beyond the classroom, especially where speakers’ ‘socioculturally mediated capacity to act’ may look quite unfamiliar to Western eyes. It is with these calls to action that the collection is most important for the future of pronunciation research and pedagogy. Levis andMoyer’s collection shows that future scholarship and educational practices should prioritise a focus on L2 speakers, and consider how their voices both reflect and refract multicultural and multilingual contexts. Their book offers much more than an insightful glimpse into how speakers come to sound as they do in a non-native language. As a critical examination of innovative research, it celebrates the advances that sociolinguistically focused approaches bring to the study of L2 speech, and it will serve as an invaluable reference for future scholarship in L2 phonology, language learning, and studies of languages and cultures in contact.

Introduction: An Overview of Language in Scotland

In recent years, sociolinguistic research has gained considerable ground in Scotland. This is not surprising given that, as Manfred Gorlach points out, Scotland is something of a ‘paradise’ for researchers interested in the intersection of language and society (Gorlach 1985: 3). With its complex linguistic history, rich literary tradition, and intersecting language varieties, Scotland is an ideal ‘sociolinguistic laboratory’, and despite its small size and concentrated population located mainly in the Central Belt, linguistic diversity remains strong.