Labov, William
American linguist, widely regarded as the founder of the discipline of variationist sociolinguistics.[3] He has been described as "an enormously original and influential figure who has created much of the methodology" of sociolinguistics.[4] He is a professor emeritus in the linguistics department of the University of Pennsylvania, and pursues research in sociolinguistics, language change, and dialectology. He retired in 2015, but continues to publish research.