Before the age of corpora was also before the age of cellular telephones, laptops, digitization of sound files and human subject regulations. In 1969, sociolinguistics was in its infancy. Research planning began during the academic year 1969–70, with a two-semester seminar devoted to The Social Stratification of English in New York City (SSENYC) at the Universite de Montreal. SSENYC broke new ground in establishing the social dimensions of sex, age and social class acted as constraints on language variation. Data collection for the study took place between June and September 1971. A basic qualification was that each subject have been born in Montreal, or at least have lived there since age six. Interviews were recorded on 5-inch reel-to-reel Uher portable tape recorders, and the transcription process began immediately. Rapid social change was occurring in Québec in the early 1970s, and issues of language were never absent from public debate.