ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 introduces the concept of sociolinguistic change and how this phenomenon can be analysed in the Irish context through the study of a diachronic corpus of radio advertisements.
The rationale for including corpus linguistics (CL) in this sociolinguistic study is set out. The chapter discusses the use of CL in diachronic sociolinguistic research and in sociophonetic analysis, as well as the issue of corpus size and the merits of using small and specialised corpora. The chapter goes on to look at specific corpus analysis tools for use in both large and small corpora, and their application to the present study. The key terminology used in the book in relation to variety is provided and the frameworks and theories on which the analysis is based are outlined. The chapter concludes with an overview of the book.
