Goffman is the daughter of sociologist Erving Goffman and sociolinguist Gillian Sankoff. Mikel Zalbide Elustondo (born 9 May 1951) is a Basque linguist and sociolinguist. His spouse, Virginia Hymes, was also a sociolinguist and folklorist. Keith Malcolm Petyt (born February 1941) is a sociolinguist and historian. Patricia Poussa analyses the speech of these characters in her article "Dickens as Sociolinguist". In 1981 Goffman married sociolinguist Gillian Sankoff. Janet Holmes (born 17 May 1947) is a New Zealand sociolinguist. Form and Function in Emerging Grammars, was supervised by sociolinguist William Labov. Jenny L. Cheshire is a British sociolinguist and professor at Queen Mary University of London.