With this methodology Labov argues that the sociolinguistic may be able to confirm results of data from less ‘spontaneously’ occurring speech styles by showing a consistent trend in the way that sociolinguistic features appear in different speech styles. Although the principled privileging of spontaneous and naturally occurring data has been a very important feature of the examination of language use within traditionally defined speech communities, it has also facilitated a sustained neglect of linguistic data from popular culture, a neglect that has only recently begun to be reversed.