Summary
Penelope "Penny" Eckert is a professor of linguistics at Stanford University in Stanford, California. She is a prominent scholar of variationist sociolinguistics, and is the author of several scholarly works on language and gender.
Eckert received her PhD in linguistics in 1978 from Columbia University, where she was a student of William Labov. Her early work was on phonological variation in Gascon. Her more recent work focuses on the social meaning of linguistic variables, particularly in English. She is the author or co-author of three books on sociolinguistics, the co-editor of three collections, and author of numerous scholarly papers in the field.
| Current Institution | Stanford University |
| Department | Linguistics |
| Disciplines | |
| Address | 108 Margaret Jacks Hall Stanford California 94305-2150 United States Phone: (650) 725-1564 |
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Columbia University
Ph.D.,
Linguistics
(1978)
Columbia University
M.A.,
Linguistics
(1969)
Oberlin College
B.A.,
French
(1963)
Publication Summary
Books
- In pressLanguage and sexuality. Special issue of American Speech. (Penelope Eckert and Robert Podesva eds.)
- 2003Language and Gender. New York: Cambridge University Press. (Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet)
- 2001Style and Sociolinguistic Variation. New York: Cambridge University Press. (Penelope Eckert and John Rickford eds.)
- 2000Linguistic Variation as Social Practice. Oxford:Blackwell.
- 1991(ed.) New Ways of Analyzing Sound Change. New York: Academic Press.
- 1990The Cornell Lectures. Washington DC: Linguistic Society of America. (Alice Davison and Penelope Eckert eds.)
- 1989Jocks and Burnouts: Social Identity in the High School. New York: Teachers College Press.
Articles and Chapters
- In preparationCalifornia White Speech and the American imagination. Mary Bucholtz ed. Vox California. University of California Press.
- In preparationNew perspectives on sociolinguistic variation. Annual Review of Anthropology. 41.
- In pressLanguage and Sexuality. (introduction to special volume). American Speech (Penelope Eckert and Robert Podesva).
- in pressLanguage and power in the preadolescent heterosexual market. American Speech.
- In pressWhere does the social stop? Jeffrey K. Parrott, Pia Quist, and Frans Gregersen eds. Language Variation - European Perspectives III. Selected papers from the 5th
- International Conference on Language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE 5), Copenhagen, June 2009. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
- 2010Who's there? Social anthropology and interactional linguistics. Auer, Peter and Jürgen Schmidt eds. Handbook of language and space. The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter. 163-78
- 2010Affect, sound symbolism, and variation. In: Selected papers from NWAV 37. Penn Working Papers in Linguistics. 16.1.
- 2008Variation and the indexical field. Journal of Sociolinguistics. 12:4. 453-76.
- 2008 Where do ethnolects stop? International Journal of Bilingualism. 12:1. 25-42.
- 2008Ethnography and linguistic variation. Nik Coupland and Adam Jaworski eds. The New Sociolinguistics Reader. Palgrave/McMillan.
- 2008Style matters. Theodossia-Soula Pavlidou ed. Proceedings of the Conference on Language and Society. Thessaloniki.
- 2006Communities of practice. Enyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Elsevier. pp. 683- 5.
- 2006Putting communities of practice in their place. Journal of Gender and Language. 1. 27- 37. Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet.
- 2005What is the role of power in sociolinguistic variation? Journal of Sociolinguistics 9:4. 582-9. Penelope Eckert and Etienne Wenger.
- 2005Messing with style. in Janet Maybin and Joan Swann eds.. Creativity in everyday language. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
- 2005 The stylistic construction of social groups. in Crispin Thurlow and Angie Williams eds. Communication in Adolescence. New York: Peter Lang.
- 2005Consent as an ongoing process. Protecting Human Subjects. Spring. 3-4.
- 2004 The good woman. in Mary Bucholtz ed. Language and woman’s place: Text and commentaries. New York: Oxford University Press. 165-170.
- 2004Elephants in the room. Journal of sociolinguistics. 7:3. 392-7.
- 2004Variation and a sense of place. in Carmen Fought Ed., Sociolinguistic Variation: Critical Reflections. Oxford University Press.
- 2004Adolescent language. in Edward Finegan and John Rickford eds., Language in the USA. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- 2004The meaning of style. in Wai-Fong Chiang, Elaine Chun, Laura Mahalingappa, Siri Mehus eds. Salsa 11. Texas Linguistics Forum. 47.
- 2003Social Variation in America. Needed research in American dialects (Publication of the American Dialect society #88), ed. by Dennis R. Preston. Durham: Duke University Press.
- 2003Language and adolescent peer groups. in Angie Williams ed. Report of the task force on language, communication and adolescence. International Association of Language and Social Psychology. Journal of language and social psychology. 22:1.
- 2003Language and gender in adolescence. in Janet Holmes and Miriam Meyerhoff eds., Handbook of Language andGender. Oxford: Blackwell.
- 2002Getting real in the golden state. in Language magazine. March. 29-34 (Penelope Eckert and Norma Mendoza-Denton).
- 2002Demystifying sexuality and desire. in Kathryn Campbell-Kibler, Sarah Roberts, and Andrew Wong eds., Language and sexuality: Contesting meaning in theory and practice. CSLI Publications.99-110.
- 2001Style and social meaning. in Penelope Eckert and John Rickford eds., Style and Sociolinguistic Variation. New York: Cambridge University Press. 119-126
- 2001Introduction. in Penelope Eckert and John Rickford eds., Style and Sociolinguistic Variation. New York: Cambridge University Press.1-18 (John Rickford and PenelopeEckert).
- 2000Supporting Community Involvement in the Digital Age. Tom Ehrlich ed.Civic Responsibility and Higher Education.. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement ofTeaching. Phoenix: Oryx Press. (Penelope Eckert and Peter Henschel)
- 1999Learning at work. In: Nevzer Stacey Ed. How Adults Learn. Proceedings of joint international conference of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the United States Department of Education, Washington DC, 6-8 April, 1998. (James Greeno, Penelope Eckert, Patricia Sachs,Susan Stucky and Etienne Wenger)
- 1999New generalizations and explanations in language and gender research. (Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet). Language in Society. 28.2. 185-202.
- 1999Entitled to know. James Greeno and Shelley Goldman eds., Thinking Practices. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- 1998Vowels and nail polish: The emergence of linguistic style in the preadolescent heterosexual marketplace.Proceedings of the 1996 Berkeley Women and Language Conference. Berkeley: Berkeley Women and Language Group
- 1998Gender, social engagement, and linguistic style. Inge Lise Pedersen, Jann Scheuer Eds., Sprog, Koen - og Kommunikation. Rapport fra 3.Nordiske Konference om Sproeg og Koen. Koebenhavn, 11. - 13. oktober 1997. Copenhagen: C.A.Reitzels Forlag
- 1997Why ethnography? Ulla-Britt Kotsinas, Anna-Brita Stenstrom and Anna-Malin Karlsson eds., Ungdomssprak i Norden,. Stockholm: Stockholm University, 52-62.
- 1997 Gender and sociolinguistic variation. in Jennifer Coates ed. Readings in Language and Gender. Oxford: Blackwell.
- 1996Age as a sociolinguistic variable. Florian Coulmas ed., The Handbook of Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.
- 1996(ay) goes to the City: reminiscences of Martha’s Vineyard. In John Baugh, Gregory Guy, Deborah Schiffrin eds., Festschrift for William Labov.Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
- 1995 Constructing meaning, constructing selves: Snapshots of language, gender and class from Belten High. In Mary Buchholtz and Kira Hall eds., Gender Articulated: Language and the Culturally Constructed Self, Routledge, 469-507. (Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet)
- 1995Adolescent Trajectory and Forms of Institutional Participation. In Lisa Crockett andn Ann Crouter eds., Pathways Through Adolescence: Individual Development in Relationto Social Contexts. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 175-96.
- 1994Identities of subordination as a developmental imperative. Working Papers on Learning and Identity, 2. Palo Alto: Institute for Research on Learning.
- 1994From School to Work: an Apprenticeship in Institutional Identity. Working Papers on Learning and Identity, 1. Palo Alto: Institute for Research on Learning. (Penelope Eckert and Etienne Wenger)
- 1992 Communities of Practice: Where Language, Gender and Power all Live. In Kira Hall, Mary Bucholtz and Birch Moonwomon eds., Locating Power, Proceedings of the 1992 Berkeley Women and Language Conference. Berkeley:Berkeley Women and Language Group, 89-99. (Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell–Ginet). Reprinted in Jennifer Coates ed. (In press). Readings in Language and Gender. Cambridge: Blackwell.
- 1992Think Practically and Look Locally: Language and Gender as Community–Based Practice (Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell–Ginet). Annual Review of Anthropology, 21, 461-90. Reprinted in Camille Roman, Suzanne Juhasz and Christanne Miller eds. (1994). TheWomen and Language Debate. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. 432-60.
- 1991Quantitative Studies of Linguistic Variation. In William Bright Ed., International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Vol. 4, 18-20.
- 1991 Social Polarization and the Choice of Linguistic Variants. In P. Eckert, Ed., New Ways of Analyzing Sound Change. New York: Academic Press, 213–232.
- 1991Interdisciplinary Research in Support of Science and Mathematics Education. Report to the National Science Foundation. (Penelope Eckert and Jennifer Knudsen).
- 1990Cooperative Competition in Adolescent Girl Talk. Discourse Processes 13, 92–122. Reprinted in Deborah Tannen ed. (1993)Gender and Conversational Interaction, Oxford University Press, 91–122.
- 1990The Interaction between Social and Professional Networks. In Alice Davison and Penelope Eckert eds., The Cornell Lectures. Linguistic Society of America, 142-54.
- 1990Adolescent Social Categories, Information and Science Learning. In Marjorie Gardner, James Greeno, Frederick Reif and A. Schoenfeld Eds, Toward a Scientific Practice ofScience Education. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 203–217. Also published as IRL Report # IRL89–0012 (1989).
- 1989The Whole Woman: Sex and Gender Differences in Variation. Language Variation and
- Change 1, 245–67. Reprinted in Donald Brenneis and Ronald Macaulay eds., The Matrix of Language: Contemporary Linguistic Anthropology. Boulder: Westview Press, 116-37. (1996). Reprinted in Nikolas Coupland and Adam Jaworski eds., Sociolinguistics: A Reader and Coursebook. Palgrave. (1997).
- 1988 Sound Change and Adolescent Social Structure. Language in Society 17,183–207.
- 1987Relative Values of Variables. In Keith M. Denning, Sharon Inkelas, Faye C. McNair– Knox and John R. Rickford Eds, NWAVE 15 at Stanford. Department of Linguistics, Stanford University, 101–110.
- 1986Sociolinguistics. In Ann M. Peters, Lise Menn, Paul G. Chapin and Helen C. Aguera, Eds., Handbook for Grant Proposal Preparation Washington, DC: Linguistic Society of America. Chap. 5.
- 1985Grammatical Constraints in Phonological Change: Unstressed *a in Southern France. Orbis 31, 169–89.
- 1984Age and Linguistic Change. In Jennie Keith and David Kertzer Eds., Age and Anthropological Theory. Cornell University Press, 219–233.
- 1983Beyond the Statistics of Adolescent Smoking. American Journal of Public Health. 73, 439–441.
- 1983The Paradox of Regional Language Movements. Journal of Multilingual and
- Multicultural Development 4, 289–300.
- 1982 Notes on Pronominal Strategies in a Bilingual Community. In David Sankoff and Henrietta Cedergren Eds., Variation Omnibus. Edmonton: Linguistic Research Inc., 499–504.
- 1981Review of W. H. Hudson, Sociolinguistics. Language and Society 10, 259–61.
- 1981Hedging the Standard English Bet. Forum 3, 7–8.
- 1981L’Imposition de la Diglossie. Lengas: Revue de Sociolinguistique 9, 1–8.
- 1980Diglossia: Separate and Unequal. Linguistics 18, 1053–64.
- 1980Clothing and Geography in a Suburban High School. Michigan Discussions in Anthropology 6, 45–48. Reprinted in Conrad P. Kottak Ed., (1982) Researching American Culture. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 139–144.
- 1980The Structure of a Long–Term Phonological Process: The Back Vowel Chain Shift in Soulatan Gascon. In William Labov, Ed., Locating Language in Time and Space. New York: Academic Press, 179–219.
- 1980Central Eskimo Song Duels: A Contextual Analysis of Ritual Ambiguity. Ethnology 19, 191–211. (Penelope Eckert and Russell Newmark)
- 1978Communication across Cultural Groups. In Charles F. Moody Ed., Cross Cultural Communication in the Schools. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Program forEducational Opportunity, 3–14.
Books
Other Publications

