28.77, Review: Discipline of Ling; Socioling: Dollinger (2015)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-28-77. Wed Jan 04 2017. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 28.77, Review: Discipline of Ling; Socioling: Dollinger (2015)

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Date: Wed, 04 Jan 2017 17:59:09
From: Benjamin Jones [benjamin.jones1 at uky.edu]
Subject: The Written Questionnaire in Social Dialectology

 
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/27/27-573.html

AUTHOR: Stefan  Dollinger
TITLE: The Written Questionnaire in Social Dialectology
SUBTITLE: History, theory, practice
SERIES TITLE: IMPACT: Studies in Language and Society 40
PUBLISHER: John Benjamins
YEAR: 2015

REVIEWER: Benjamin G Jones, University of Kentucky

Reviews Editor: Helen Aristar-Dry

SUMMARY

Stefan Dollinger’s textbook, “The Written Questionnaire in Social
Dialectology: History, theory, practice,” is intended for a general audience
that is interested in employing written questionnaires for the collection of
linguistic data, specifically for the purposes of dialectal research. While
presented in such a manner as to be accessible for individuals just beginning
to undertake such projects (particularly students), researchers who have a
history of conducting written questionnaires will be able to appreciate much
of the content. Of interest to the established researcher will be the topics
of data collection and management (discussed below). That being said, this
volume is intended for students or those who are preparing their first foray
into questionnaire-style fieldwork.

The first chapter serves as an introduction that frames the rest of the text,
beginning with a brief overview of the origins of variationist
sociolinguistics. This discussion then transitions to a short outlining of the
types of fieldwork data, followed by the introduction of two approaches to how
this data can be collected: the fieldworker interview and the written
questionnaire. Finally, an outline of the textbook is provided, demonstrating
how these points are covered in later chapters. The book is broadly grouped
into two sections: “History & theory” and “Practice.”

The “History & theory” unit begins in the second chapter with a detailed
account of the history of written questionnaires used in linguistic atlas
projects. Starting with the first projects to utilize questionnaires to
catalog variation in German-speaking regions, Dollinger provides an account of
how dialectologists (or specifically, dialect geographers) have employed this
method through to the modern day. Advancements in the deployment of the
questionnaires, as well as methodological concerns, are also presented in this
chapter. A discussion is presented as to how this method fell out of favor
over time to eventually be replaced by the fieldworker interview, especially
in the United States.

The third chapter continues this discussion, comparing the questionnaire
method with other techniques for collecting data. Results obtained from the
methods of data collection in corpus linguistics and
fieldworker/sociolinguistic interviews are contrasted with results obtained
from written questionnaires. The strengths and weaknesses of all methods are
outlined (including several charts and summary tables) to highlight how each
method can be applied. This topic naturally transitions to the next chapter,
where the types of linguistic variables that are most appropriately captured
by questionnaires are enumerated. Real-world examples are provided (mostly
from a Canadian English context) which highlight how questionnaires have
traditionally given insight into dialects, with opportunities for the reader
to consider future applications.

The fifth chapter moves beyond the native speaker or Inner Circle English
paradigm (Kachru 1985) , examining how written questionnaires can be applied
to World Englishes and to contexts where English serves as the lingua franca.
Particular attention is given to identifying regional innovations in the
varieties as opposed to contact-induced changes. Additionally, potential
problems that may be encountered in the design of the questions are treated.

Chapter Six looks to situate written questionnaire data into broader
linguistic theory. The ways in which social questionnaires can address issues
of apparent- and real-time data, how various social factors can contribute to
changes from above and below, and border effects are all given consideration.
A good portion of the chapter is devoted to how written questionnaires can
contribute to the understanding of sociohistorical effects on language
varieties. The models of Trudgill’s (1986) New Dialect Formation and
Schneider’s (2003) Dynamic Model are contrasted, compared, and discussed in
terms of how written questionnaires can serve to bridge between two models
that Dollinger contends are not as immiscible as might be thought.

The seventh chapter begins the “Practice” section of the book, where the more
nuts-and-bolts approach to questionnaire formation is adopted. This chapter
covers rudimentary elements of question design, including how long a
questionnaire can reasonably be expected to be, how to craft questions so as
to elicit the data with which the linguist is concerned, and different types
of response inputs (e.g., Likert scales, open response) that can be
implemented for different purposes. Issues of online and in-person
administration (including topics of available resources for online
distribution) as well as participant and community reporting are also
discussed.

Chapters Eight and Nine are concerned with using specific technologies in
managing and processing written questionnaire data. Chapter Eight provides
step-by-step instructions for using Microsoft Excel to manage data in tabular
format, while Chapter Nine introduces the statistics software package R
alongside a (rudimentary) overview of statistical tests for making meaning of
the raw data. Usage of these tools is facilitated through a hands-on
manipulation of data taken from the Dialect Topography of Canada, with
specific data sets available on the book’s companion website with which the
reader is encouraged to work. In presenting these tools, Dollinger offers
suggestions on how best to manage the data within these programs. Also
included are instructions on how to manipulate the data in Excel to quickly
summarize and visualize the data.

The final chapter, titled “Epilogue,” ties together all of the elements of the
preceding chapters. Dollinger condenses his arguments for why the written
questionnaire should be implemented more often in the practice of social
dialectology and invites the reader to look further into how the method can be
strengthened. Questions of replicability and the robustness of methods are
raised, with potential answers to these queries left as an avenue for future
researchers to undertake.

The book’s companion website is a straightforward interface that allows the
user to download examples presented in Chapters Eight and Nine, consisting of
Excel files and R code. Also of interest is the repository of the book’s
references in one of the sidebar links; here, the reader can access links to
the many journal articles that are cited in the text (although it should be
noted that most still exist within the publisher’s websites; thus many of the
links will lead to paywalls). 

EVALUATION

Dollinger’s investment (and perhaps passion) in the method of the written
questionnaire comes across clearly in this textbook. The early chapters
constitute a very clear, yet detailed, account of how this method was
developed, has been utilized, and has fallen into a more general disuse within
social dialectology. Both established researchers and students will benefit
from this carefully laid out history as they consider using questionnaires in
their own studies. Dollinger provides arguments both for and against using
questionnaires alongside a thorough examination of the critiques the method
has faced (particularly within American dialectology) to aid the
researcher/student in determining whether the method is suitable for their own
purposes. Later chapters strengthen his argument that the method should be
brought back into more widespread use through comparing the results of written
questionnaires to other empirical methods, namely corpus linguistics.
Dollinger does not dismiss earlier critiques of the method, but rather
illustrates how questionnaires can be (and have been) refined to meet current
research questions in social dialectology. This is a topic that is revisited
in nearly every chapter, with examples taken from more modern
questionnaire-based studies (almost entirely from dialectology projects
concerned with Canadian English) to help emphasize the contributions that
questionnaires have made to the understanding of dialectal variation.

The discussion of the Dynamic Model and New Dialect Formation models in
Chapter Six is certainly thought provoking (and will lend itself well to more
detailed conversations in a class utilizing this text as a source). His
arguments for finding a way of bringing the two models closer together, rather
than seeing them as being in direct competition, is well articulated and,
through his examples, supported. His suggestions for how carefully designed
written questionnaires can help examine the two models further are also well
presented. These suggestions are clear enough that a beginning researcher can
outline their own research agenda based upon Dollinger’s comments, should they
wish to pursue these theories.

The presentation of the tools Excel and R in Chapters Eight and Nine should be
commended on two counts. First, Dollinger does an excellent job of walking the
reader through using the tools step-by-step. Especially for a student
unfamiliar with these tools (namely pivot tables in Excel), these guides will
provide an excellent starting point for working with their own data. The
second point on which Dollinger should be commended is the intentional
inclusion of problems within the data. While the examples are crafted in a
manner that is easily manageable for the reader working alone, problems help
to develop a sense of awareness of the challenges one might face in working
with their own or other’s data. Furthermore, they aid in establishing
problem-solving skills in the more novice reader, especially in the event that
R returns an error due to either data format or command line errors. Dollinger
also alerts the reader that many other types of problems are possible and
provides a list of resources (for R) to which the reader can refer or turn to
for more advanced help.

One point on which the reader may become frustrated with the text is the
repetition across the chapters of the same few examples. While using the same
examples across the text helps to illustrate the applicability of the method
and create a sense of familiarity, some readers may find the regular
discussions of the same sample lexical items somewhat tiresome. Another
challenge of the text is the regular use of abbreviations; while the first few
pages include a glossary, not all items are included. While Dollinger’s
writing style does not inspire the desire to set the book down mid-chapter,
should the reader have to come back to a chapter for a specific page they may
have to do some backtracking in order to ascertain to what an abbreviation is
specifically referring.

All told, “The Written Questionnaire in Social Dialectology: History, theory,
practice” is a valuable resource for any dialectologist looking to adopt this
method into their own research.

REFERENCES

Kachru, Braj.1985. Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism: The
English Language in 
the Outer Circle. In English in the World: Teaching and Learning of Language
and Literature. Randolph Quirk and Henry G. Widdowson (eds.), 11-36.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Schneider, Edgar W. 2003. The dynamics of New Englishes: From identity
construction to 
dialect birth. Language 79: 233-288. 

Trudgill, Peter. 1986. Dialects in Contact. Oxford: Blackwell.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Ben Jones is a recent graduate of the University of Kentucky's MA in
Linguistic Theory and Typology program who received his BA in Linguistics from
the University of Southern Maine. His research interests include (perceptual)
dialectology, linguistic geography, change and variation, and linguistic
revitalization.





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