Labov, William

US Sociolinguist.

1927 - Born 4th of December in Rutherford, New Jersey.

1948 - Studied at Harvard.

1949-1961 - Worked as an industrial chemist before turning to linguistics.

1963 - Finished MA thesis he completed a study of change in the dialect of Martha's Vineyard.

1964 - Took up his PhD at Columbia University studying under Uriel Weinreich.

1966 - Wrote "The Social Stratification of English in New York City".

1971 - Professor of linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania.

1972 - Wrote Language in the Inner City: Studies in Black English Vernacular and Sociolinguistic Patterns.

1977 - Became Director of the university's Linguistics Laboratory.

2001 - Principles of Linguistic Change (vol.I Internal Factors, 1994; vol.II Social Factors, 2001).

2006 - Together with Sharon Ash and Charles Boberg, The Atlas of North American English.