Style is a pivotal construct in theories of sociolinguistic variation, for it is the locus of the individual' s internalization of broader social distributions of variation. A robust theory of speech style is essential for theories of variation, and for all work dealing with natural speech data, which requires accountability in the elicitation and analysis of speech samples. Practice in the field of variation has been based on a relatively unanalyzed model of style, adequate for the elicitation and analysis of intraspeaker variation in the context of sound change in progress. However, as social theories of variation become more intricate, they require a more sophisticated treatment of style. In recent years several models of stylistic variation have developed that hold great promise for the advancement of the field. However, each of these theories is partial, and synthesis requires intensive collaboration. A two-day workshop will bring together researchers from several fields and several continents, who have separately done work on speech style but have been unable to spend concentrated collaborative time. The aim of the workshop is to bring their findings and theories together and develop common goals and hypotheses for a new phase of research.
