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Article published In: Asia-Pacific Language Variation
Vol. 12:1 (2026) ► pp.13–38

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Are we surprised yet?

Expecting the unexpected in Asia-Pacific language variation

 | Dartmouth College
Published online: 16 February 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/aplv.00025.sta
Abstract
The past year (2025) has marked the 10th anniversary of Asia-Pacific Language Variation (APLV), which started in 2015. This is a fitting time to examine how far we have come in the first ten years of APLV (2015–2024). In 2011, at the first NWAV Asia-Pacific conference, William Labov gave a plenary talk titled “Discovering the unexpected,” which was published in 2015 in the first issue of APLV. Labov discussed the ongoing expansion of variationist sociolinguistics into the Asia-Pacific region, stating that “the investigation should be prepared for unexpected findings that respond to the wider range of social relations” (2015, p. 21). We anticipated gaining many important new perspectives through variationist sociolinguistic approaches in lesser studied language communities (Satyanath, Shobha, Meyerhoff, Miriam, & Abtahian, Maya Ravindranath (2024). Remembering William Labov. Asia-Pacific Language Variation, 10(2), 107–112. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). What have we found? Are we discovering the unexpected? Are we surprised yet? This paper examines the 77 articles published in the first ten years of APLV.
Abstract (Chinese)
《亞太語言變異》期刊(APLV)創於2015年，已在去年(2025)邁入十周年。此刻正是我們檢驗APLV最初十年進展(2015–2024)的恰好時機。在2011年首次NWAV-亞太研討會上，William Labov擔任專題演講"探索預料之外"，之後出版於2015年APLV首刊。他談論到持續擴張至亞太地區的變異社會語言學，提到"調查研究應預備意外之發現，其調查結果應回應更廣泛的社會關係" ( (2015). The discovery of the unexpected. Asia-Pacific Language Variation, 1(1), 7–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar: 21)。透過變異社會語言學探討較少研究的語言社群，我們預期獲得許多重要新觀點(Satyanath, Shobha, Meyerhoff, Miriam, & Abtahian, Maya Ravindranath (2024). Remembering William Labov. Asia-Pacific Language Variation, 10(2), 107–112. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar)。我們發現了什麼？我們查出意料之外嗎？我們感到驚訝嗎？本文檢驗77篇文章出版於最初十年的APLV。 [Mandarin Chinese translation by Shirley Yeh]
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Bird’s eye view: Ten years of Asia-Pacific Language Variation (APLV)
  • 3.Variationist foundations
    • Socioeconomic status, gender, and age
    • Attention to speech, formality, and standard language ideology
    • 3.1Brief comparison to a study with “expected” results: New England English
    • 3.2Results from APLV: “Discovery of the unexpected”
      • Age
      • Gender and exogamy
      • Typologically unusual variables
  • 4.Discussion: Are we surprised yet?
    • Future steps: Kaleidoscope or clusters?
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
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