Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- List of Figures -- Chapter 1: The challenges of Labov -- A brief biography -- Labov in perspective -- Sociolinguistics within linguistics -- The field(s) of sociolinguistics -- Labovian sociolinguistics -- Overview of Labov: A Guide for the Perplexed -- Notes -- Chapter 2: Linguistics and sociolinguistics before Labov -- Linguistics as the "science of language" -- Descriptivism -- The structure of language -- More about sounds -- Phonetics -- Phonology -- Approaches to variation before labov -- Dialect geography -- Notes -- Chapter 3: How to establish a field as a graduate student -- The Martha's vineyard study -- The new York City study -- The department store study -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Chapter 4: A variationist approach to language -- Structured variation -- Variables and variable rules -- Speech communities -- Socially realistic linguistics -- Quantitative methods -- Accountability principle -- Labov and statistics -- Summary -- Notes -- Chapter 5: Speech styles and discourse -- The sociolinguistic interview -- Isolating contextual styles -- Insights from the study of style -- Critiques and new directions -- Labov's discourse analysis -- Notes -- Chapter 6: The "socio" of sociolinguistics -- Social class -- Social networks -- Gender -- Ethnicity -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Chapter 7: Labov as historical linguist -- The study of change in progress -- A variationist theory of language change -- The life cycle of change -- How do changes spread? Social factors -- How do changes spread? Linguistic mechanisms -- General patterns of sound change -- The Atlas of North American English -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Chapter 8: African American English: Lessons learned, lessons taught -- What is African American (Vernacular) English? -- The principle of error correction.

AAVE in schools: Ann Arbor and Oakland -- AAVE and reading research -- The past, present, and future of AAVE -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Chapter 9: The revolution at 50 -- Variationists united -- Variationist study of language change -- Perceptual aspects of variation -- Variation and social meaning -- Concluding remarks -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.