ABSTRACT
Variability is a hallmark of speech, and bilingual speech is no exception. The variationist perspective on language contact capitalizes on this recognition, arguing that the outcomes of language contact cannot be fully understood without accounting for the fine details of inherent variability – in both donor and recipient languages. Moreover, since many linguistic manifestations of language contact are difficult to identify out of context, proper identification ultimately resides not in abstract theory but in actual usage. This chapter reviews the methodological and analytical tenets associated with variationist sociolinguistics, focusing on the data privileged for analysis and the quantitative reasoning and standards of proof underlying the claims that are made.
