ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the variation in the lexical verb apparent in the speech of inner-Sydney adolescents. It focuses on variation in irregular past tense and past participle forms. The informants should be Australian-born of Australian-born parents. Given the high migrant population of the inner-city area of Sydney, this was important to eliminate the possibility of language interference. Social class was not a strict criterion of selection, but as this area of Sydney is to a large extent characterized as low status, the informants tended to be at the lower end of the social spectrum. The data were analysed using the quantitative approach of variation theory pioneered by William Labov in his study of social stratification in New York speech. Such an approach is based on the assumption that linguistic variation is not random or free but part of a coherent underlying system.
