Studying language variation : an informal epistemology / J.K. Chambers -- Entering the community : fieldwork / Crawford Feagin -- Data in the study of variation and change / Tyler Kendall -- Investigating historical variation and change in written documents : new perspectives / Edgar W. Schneider -- The quantitative paradigm / Robert Bayley -- Sociophonetics / Erik R. Thomas -- Comparative sociolinguistics / Sali A. Tagliamonte -- Language with an attitude / Dennis R. Preston -- Variation and syntactic theory / Ralph W. Fasold -- Investigating chain shifts and mergers / Matthew J. Gordon -- Discourse variation / Ronald Macaulay -- Real time and apparent time / Patricia Cukor-Avila and Guy Bailey -- Child language variation / Julie Roberts -- Adolescence / Sam Kirkham and Emma Moore -- Patterns of variation including change / J.K. Chambers -- Investigating stylistic variation / Natalie Schilling -- Social class / Sharon Ash -- Gender, sex, sexuality, and sexual Identities / Robin Queen -- Ethnicity / Carmen Fought -- Social networks / Lesley Milroy and Carmen Llamas -- Communities of practice / Miriam Meyerhoff and Anna Strycharz -- Constructing identity / Scott F. Kiesling -- Space, diffusion and mobility / David Britain -- Linguistic outcomes of bilingualism / Gillian Sankoff -- Koineization / Paul Kerswill -- Supraregionalisation and dissociation / Raymond Hickey -- Community commitment and responsibility / Walt Wolfram