This study was taken place on an island 3 miles off New England on the US East Coast called Martha Vineyard. This study was focused on the social influences on different dialects, Labov collected data by interviewing multiple informants talking about topics that would involve words with desired vowels. Labov found that the islanders chose to differentiate from the mainlands as they rejected the values and resented the intrusion of tourists. The islanders did this as they wanted to establish themselves as an independent social group with superior status to tourists.
This study was relevant because until then dialect change only focused on rural factors not social factors but based on Labov's study the conclusion was that social factors were most important factors to dialect change. Labov established that a number of factors were involved in dialect change not just locale, he also established that prestige matters (over and covert)
Bibliographies:
http://www.putlearningfirst.com/language/research/vinyard.html
http://www.mvtimes.com/2011/08/16/50-years-language-study-began-marthas-vineyard-6918/
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