dialectology in grad schools?

[Dennis R. Preston]

That said, however, some sociolinguistics programs have emphasized
region more than others. Georgia, NCState, Penn, MSU, and Toronto are
somewhat more invested in region (although by no means exclusively)
than, say, Stanford. This also overlooks programs where there are
well-known practitioners who can very ably train people (e.g., Bill
Kretzschmar at Georgia) although the institution or program itself
may not focus on region. In general, however, I agree with Ron that
"region" (dialect in the older sense) is now best seen as one of the
variables in the search for a socially and linguistically grounded
account of language structure, variation, and change.


dInIs





In a message dated 11/4/2002 6:55:40 PM, nerd_core at EXCITE.COM writes:

<<  A question about graduate school programs:

I know that dialect fanatics can apply to programs in either sociolinguistics
or anthropological linguistics.  Are there grad programs that specifically
focus on dialectology, however?


-Joshua >>

Anymore, is there is a difference between the study of dialectology and the
study of sociolinguistics. Even the "old line" dialect geographers (e.g.,
Raven McDavid, Harold Allen) recognized that there were social dimensions to
linguistic variation (hence the Type IA, IB, II, III etc. speakers). All that
has happened in the last 30 years can really be looked upon as an extension
of their original insights. If the question is, Do people today study dialect
apart from society, I think the answer is pretty much "no"!

--
Dennis R. Preston
Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic,
      Asian & African Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027
e-mail: preston at msu.edu
phone: (517) 353-9290