ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses around a few of the basic concepts and terms developed by sociolinguists in connection with their study of language variation. It looks at the question of the relationship between lexical variation and cultural variation and the impact, if any, of lexical variation on perceptions and thought patterns. A continuum of variation is precisely what one usually finds in social context-related variation, which is sometimes referred to as style-shifting. For example, there is interplay between geographical variation and social variation, with non-standard regional accents and expressions being more frequently found in working-class language use than in the language use of the middle classes. The chapter turns now to the issue of the relationship between language variation and ethnicity. Obviously, one component of a culture which very often plays an important role in identifying an ethnic group is language.
