Linguistic emergence on the ground: A variationist paradigm

Observing that linguists' intuitions about the function of forms may be far removed from the motivations for variant choice operating in real interactions, we propose that the structure of variability inherent in speech can be marshaled to detect emergence on the ground. In discourse, emergence is observable in the favoring effect of contextual factors that operationalize putative functions on the selection of a given form over any of its competitors in the same ("variable") context. We show how situating emergent forms in the social and linguistic structures in which they are embedded helps pinpoint the operation of the mechanisms involved in emergence.