Typen des individuellen Sprachwandels nach wesentlichen Lebensereignissen

In this article, we explore for the first time which types of individual-level language change following major life events (MLEs) can be observed among a sample of 701 Austrian participants, and which social variables are associated with these different types of change. A cluster analysis reveals five distinct types of MLE-induced language change. Regression analyses illustrates that social variables such as gender and educational attainment were significant predictors of participants’ probability of belonging to a specific cluster (i.e., a certain type of MLE-induced language change). Our results further our understanding about the linguistic relevance of MLEs and, more importantly, about the different types of intra-speaker trajectories across the lifespan.