LINGUIST

William Labov

1927 - 2024

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William David Labov ( lə-BOHV; (December 4, 1927 – December 17, 2024) was an American linguist widely regarded as the founder of the discipline of variationist sociolinguistics. He has been described as "an enormously original and influential figure who has created much of the methodology" of sociolinguistics, and "one of the most influential linguists of the 20th and 21st centuries". Labov was a professor in the linguistics department of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and pursued research in sociolinguistics, language change, and dialectology. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of William Labov has received more than 531,859 page views. His biography is available in 25 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 24 in 2019). William Labov is the 74th most popular linguist (down from 59th in 2019), the 3,165th most popular biography from United States (down from 2,749th in 2019) and the 9th most popular American Linguist.

Memorability Metrics

  • 530k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 60.74

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 25

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 5.68

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.77

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among LINGUISTS

Among linguists, William Labov ranks 74 out of 214. Before him are Ghil'ad Zuckermann, Boris Kolker, Wilhelm Meyer-Lübke, Robert Morrison, Ahatanhel Krymsky, and Émile Littré. After him are Max Nettlau, Konrad Duden, Carl Brockelmann, Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Agop Dilâçar, and August Immanuel Bekker.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1927, William Labov ranks 144. Before him are L. K. Advani, Chandra Shekhar, Althea Gibson, Coretta Scott King, Allan Kaprow, and Gae Aulenti. After him are Roger Walkowiak, Stanisław Kania, Christian Marquand, Colin Davis, Gerry Mulligan, and Tom Bosley. Among people deceased in 2024, William Labov ranks 160. Before him are Péter Eötvös, Jim Abrahams, Fritz Wepper, Josip Manolić, Christopher Priest, and Francisco Jara. After him are Marlena Shaw, Richard S. Hamilton, Anatoli Polivoda, Jandira Martini, M. Emmet Walsh, and Michel Jazy.

Others Born in 1927

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Others Deceased in 2024

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In United States

Among people born in United States, William Labov ranks 3,165 out of 20,380. Before him are Robert Metcalfe (1946), Erin Brockovich (1960), James F. Byrnes (1882), Dana Ivey (1941), Zac Efron (1987), and Angry Grandpa (1950). After him are Wesley Clark (1944), Michael Bishop (1945), George William Hill (1838), John Milius (1944), Anthony Edwards (1962), and Alice B. Toklas (1877).

Others born in United States

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Among LINGUISTS In United States

Among linguists born in United States, William Labov ranks 9. Before him are Noah Webster (1758), Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897), Leonard Bloomfield (1887), Joseph Greenberg (1915), George Lakoff (1941), and Joshua Fishman (1926). After him are Morris Swadesh (1909), Stephen Krashen (1941), George Kingsley Zipf (1902), William Stokoe (1919), William Dwight Whitney (1827), and Charles F. Hockett (1916).

American born Linguists

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