The chapters in this volume bring together some of the most prominent researchers in the field ofsociolinguistic variation， both established names and newer voices， for thoughtful reflections on thefield. The chapters cover a wide range of core issues， but within this diversity is a common theme：the critique of conventional wisdom in the sociolinguistic study of variation and the extension ofimportant concepts in variationist research to new areas. This volume is the kind of work thatengages the reader in dialogue， challenges assumptions， and unveils new perspectives.The four main parts of the book provide different perspectives from which particular topics insociolinguistic research are reappraised and explored. Taken together， the chapters inSociolinguistic Variation are a kind of road map of the field： where we have been and where wehope to go. The conference from which these chapters emerged brought out the authors' voices inan unusually intimate and direct way. They speak to issues in the field critically and contemplatively，looking back at the established practices of the variationist tradition and looking forward into howthe future of this relatively young field may develop.
　　Fought is Professor of Linguistics at Pitzer College.