Empirical language research has always had, and still has, a keen interest in place and in the linkages between language and geography. To a large degree, language research has evolved along the same lines as the field of geography: From a focus on the particular and a view of place as a bound entity in early dialectology to an understanding of place as dynamic and processual in current sociolinguistics. While some contemporary strands within language research examine the role of language in globalization processes and in the production of locality, others study relations between sense of place and linguistic variation and change. Despite differences in research focus, questions relating to geography remain as important as ever within empirical language research.