variationist

English

Etymology

variation +‎ -ist

Noun

variationist (plural variationists)

1. (linguistics) A person who studies variation in usage among speakers of the same language

Adjective

variationist (not comparable)

1. (linguistics) Focused on synchronic or historical variation in the forms of language used
   • 2013, Robert Bayley, “Variationist sociolinguistics”, in Robert Bayley, Richard Cameron, Ceil Lucas, editors, The Oxford Handbook of Sociolinguistics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 11:

     The central ideas of variationist sociolinguistics are that an understanding of language requires an understanding of variable as well as categorical processes, and that the variation witnessed at all levels of language is not random.