The sociolinguistic problem of generations

There exists a strong tendency – both on the part of participants and outside observers – to treat linguistic change as a process that takes place across static generational grids. However, age needs to be treated as more than just an independent variable; it is a dimension of identity as complex and constructed as gender, race, or class. This is especially true in contexts where language shift is taking place. In this essay, I take a critical look at how the notions of inter-generational relations and youth identity have been employed by linguists and linguistic anthropologists and offer some suggestions about how to investigate the linguistic dimensions of generational identity.