= Sociolinguistics
<Sociolinguistics> studies relationships between <language> use and social context, including systematic variation across speakers, communities and situations. A scientific study must specify the linguistic variable, the opportunities for it to occur, and how speakers and settings were sampled. <Derek Denis>'s research on <Canadian English> connects historical variation with speech in multilingual Toronto communities.<Research by Derek Denis>[research statement, earlier Ontario English and contemporary community variation]{ref}
For a hypothetical study, suppose one pronunciation appears in 60 of 100 eligible tokens in one sample and 30 of 100 in another. The observed proportions are 0.60 and 0.30. Before attributing that difference to a social grouping, compare phonetic environments, word choices and recording conditions, and account for repeated observations from the same speaker. A group difference at one time is also different evidence from a measured change across time. These distinctions turn an impression about how people speak into an assessable statistical question.
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