ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE

[AGELIKI NICOLOPOULOU]

  Another book that addresses a number of issues in adolescent language,
from a sociolinguistic perspective, is Penelope Eckert's JOCKS AND
BURNOUTS.  Eckert started out as a student of Labov's.  The main
focus of this book is on non-linguistic phenomena (centering on
group dynamics and identity formation), but her Labovian background
comes out in her attention to the forms of adolescent language and
the ways that they polarize between different subcultures (i.e.,
the social determinants of language change and differentiation).

  The references in the book also mention some of her articles
that have focused on the linguistic aspects of all this.  (JOCKS
AND BURNOUTS emerged, in a way, as a by-product of a study initially
designed with a primarily sociolinguistic focus.)  Her articles
would be worth looking at for people interested in these issues.

Ageliki Nicolopoulou

Department of Psychology
Lehigh University
17 Memorial Drive East
Bethlehem, PA  18015-3068

Tel:  610-758-3618
FAX:  610-758-6277