Abstract

If there were two pervasive myths about language that sociolinguists would like to dispel, they would probably be the myth that language can or should remain static, and the myth that one dialect can be inherently superior to another in some way. These commonly held myths contradict the primary principles of sociolinguistics – that the form of a language varies as a reflection of social variation between and within communities, and that at least some of this variation will result in long-term language change.