William Labov

William Labov
Born(1927-12-04)December 4, 1927
Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedDecember 17, 2024(2024-12-17) (aged 97)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation(s)Industrial chemist (1949–60); professor of linguistics
(1964–2014)
Known forVariationist sociolinguistics
Spouses
  • Teresa Gnasso
​
(m. 1993)​
Children7 (including Alice Goffman, his adoptive daughter)
Academic background
EducationHarvard University (BA)
Columbia University (MA), PhD)
Doctoral advisorUriel Weinreich
Academic work
DisciplineLinguist
InstitutionsColumbia University
University of Pennsylvania
Notes

William Labov (/ləˈboʊv/ lə-BOHV; (December 4, 1927 – December 17, 2024) was an American linguist. He was seen as the founder of sociolinguistics. He was called "one of the most influential linguists of the 20th and 21st centuries".

Labov was a professor in the linguistics department of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He retired in 2015.

Labov died on December 17, 2024 at his home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from problems caused by Parkinson's disease at the age of 97.

References

  1. ↑ Gordon, Matthew J. (2006). "Interview with William Labov". Journal of English Linguistics. 34 (4): 332–51. doi:10.1177/0075424206294308. S2CID 144459634.
  2. ↑ Tom Avril (October 22, 2012). "Penn linguist Labov wins Franklin Institute award". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
  3. ↑ E.g., in the opening chapter of The Handbook of Language Variation and Change (ed. Chambers et al., Blackwell 2002), J.K. Chambers writes that "variationist sociolinguistics had its effective beginnings only in 1963, the year in which William Labov presented the first sociolinguistic research report"; the dedication page of the Handbook says that Labov's "ideas imbue every page".
  4. ↑ McLemore, Cynthia; Liberman, Mark (2024-12-17). "Bill Labov". Language Log. Archived from the original on 2024-12-18. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  5. ↑ Chambers, Jack (14 January 2017). "William Labov: An Appreciation". Annual Review of Linguistics. 3 (1): 1–23. doi:10.1146/annurev-linguistics-051216-040225. ISSN 2333-9683. S2CID 151373995. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  6. ↑ "William Labov, Who Studied How Society Shapes Language, Dies at 97". The New York Times. December 24, 2024. Retrieved December 24, 2024.

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