... approaches to language variation and language change. These sub-disciplines include, amongst others: language and ethnicity, language and gender, language and age, multilingualism, language planning ... 19 80s, reflecting the spread of English as an inter-national language, initially highlighted in A8. The expansion of different varieties ofEnglishes around the world has been intensified by English ... interactants.Another area of keen interest for sociolinguists alongside language variation is thestudy of language change, in particular, how language changes over time (see B8).You have already come across...