A New Perspective on the Research Process and Methods of Language Variation

语言变异的研究是社会语言学研究的核心，但在语言学领域中的发展并不是一开始就受到认可和重视。本文将对语言变异先期被语言学界排斥，后由拉波夫为代表的研究者慢慢发展壮大，并在近年来引入认知角度进行研究的发展历程进行回顾，介绍其最终成为认知社会语言学研究核心的过程。同时，本文还从崭新的角度重点介绍了语言变异研究的过程中其研究方法的变化和发展，介绍这些方法从最初的借助语言参数、核心语法等办法进行研究，发展到定性研究和定量研究，再到利用数据库进行多维度模型研究的拓展和突破。Language variation occupies the core of sociolinguistic research, however its study in the field of linguistics has not been recognized and emphasized from the very beginning. In this paper, we will review the development of language variation research, which was initially rejected by linguists, and then was gradually developed by researchers represented by Labov, and eventually became the centre of cognitive sociolinguistic study. From a new perspective, this paper also introduces the changes and developments of the research method, which developed from the initial way of language parameters and core grammar to qualitative research and quantitative research, eventually to multidimensional model research with database.