ABSTRACT
In sociolinguistics, descriptive approaches that presume the systematically ordered heterogeneity of natural languages. Such linguistic variants result from (a) spatial differences ( dialect), (b) class-specific linguistic behavior, (c) situative factors (e.g. formal vs informal conversational contexts), (d) stages of language acquisition, (e) language contact, and (f) the origin and development of pidgin and creole languages. In all cases phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical, and pragmatic traits of linguistic behavior vary with regard to extralinguistic factors. Concerning the empirical investigation and the theoretical description of linguistic variations, two recent methodological positions can be differentiated: first, the concept of quantitatively determinable variable rules (see Labov, Cedergren and Sankoff); and second, the approach of implicational analysis (see DeCamp, Bailey, Bickerton). Besides the description of linguistic variety, variational linguistics is concerned with the problems of the origin and quantification of linguistic varieties in relation to extralinguistic factors, above all with certain aspects of applied linguistics such as linguistic norms, language acquisition, and language contact.
