THE WORK PRESENTED IN THIS STUDY IS AN INVESTIGATION OF THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF LANGUAGE. THE COMPLEXITY OF THE ENGLISH DIALECT SPOKEN IN NEW YORK CITY PARALLELS THE COMPLEXITY OF THE CITY'S CHANGING SOCIAL STRUCTURE. DATA GATHERED FROM THE LARGER SPEECH COMMUNITY SHOW THAT THE VARIATION IN INDIVIDUAL SPEECH PATTERNS IS REFLECTED IN A HIGHLY SYSTEMATIC STRUCTURE OF SOCIAL AND STYLISTIC VARIATION. THE STUDY EXTENDS THE LIMITS OF FORMAL LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS TO INCLUDE FACTORS OF CONTINUOUS SOCIAL AND STYLISTIC VARIATION AND UNCONSCIOUS SUBJECTIVE REACTIONS TO THE SPEECH PATTERNS STUDIED. MANY OF THE TECHNIQUES DEVELOPED FOR GATHERING DATA MAY HAVE A MORE GENERAL APPLICATION. THE FINAL CHAPTER INTEGRATES INDIVIDUAL LINGUISTIC AND SOCIO-LINGUISTIC DATA, FOCUSING ON THE NEW YORK CITY VOWEL SYSTEM. IN ORDER TO MAKE THESE FINDINGS ACCESSIBLE TO THE NON-LINGUIST, TECHNICAL TERMS AND SYMBOLS ARE DEFINED IN THE TEXT AND APPENDED IN A GLOSSARY. THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE FOR $5.00 FROM THE PUBLICATIONS OFFICE OF THE CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS, 1717 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C., 20036 (JD)