**** Implicational ordering: the panlectal grid

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David DeCamp applied Labov's construct of variation to a study of a Jamaican Creole speech community. However, he defines his variables in strictly linguistic terms. What he found was an implicational ordering of features from what he called the "acrolect"--nearest the local standard superstrate--to the "basilect"--farthest from the standard superstrate.

The easiest way to discuss his method is to give an example. For a group of seven speakers, sharing six binary-valued variables (child/pikni, cat/nyam, granny/nana, didn't/no ben, and two phonological choices) he found that of all possible combinations of speakers and variables only seven could actually be observed or elicited. When he ordered them in what he labels a "panlectal grid" he found a unidirectional implicational hierarchy--the presence of one feature implied the presence of other features in an ordered way.

For an example of a panlectal grid ................ <[LINK]>

For extensions and critiques of this method ..... {<[LINK]> hook in}

Labov's variation .................................... <[LINK]>

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Decamp??

quoted from Mühlhäusler, _Pidgin and Creole Languages_; 43-46