The variationist approach to sociolinguistics began during the 1960s, when Labov, working with Uriel Weinreich, developed a theory of language change (Weinreich et al. 1968). Thereafter, Labov continued to advance the method and analysis of language variation and change, which today is often referred to as variation theory (e.g. Labov 1963, 1966/1982).

In the 1970s, one of Labov's graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania was Shana Poplack. In 1981, Shana became a professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of Ottawa's Department of Linguistics, the same year I entered the MA programme. I was fortunate to be Shana's student until I completed my Ph.D. dissertation in 1991. Everything you will read in this book has come directly from what has been passed on from this lineage – training, techniques, insights, knowledge, and sheer passion for the field. The entire period from 1981 to 1995 was an invaluable apprenticeship through my studies with Shana and our many collaborations (e.g. Tagliamonte and Poplack 1988, Poplack and Tagliamonte 1989, 1991). I also benefited tremendously from the influence of David Sankoff, whose input to my questions of method and analysis was innumerable.

Most knowledge and learning in variation theory has been acquired like this, passed on through word of mouth, from one researcher to the next (see also Guy 1988: 124). In fact, it has often been noted that the practical details of how to actually do variation analysis are arcane, largely unwritten and, for the most part, undocumented (but see Paolillo 2002).