Penelope Eckert is a very smart lady who knows a lot about how people talk and act differently depending on where they come from and who they hang out with. Imagine you and your friends play with different toys and games than your cousin who lives in a different city. This is kind of like how people in different places or groups have different ways of talking and acting.
Ms. Eckert thinks it is interesting to study the way people talk and how it affects their lives. She listens carefully to how people talk and how they use words, and she thinks about why some groups of people use certain words or phrases more than others. You know how sometimes you might copy the way a friend talks or acts because you think it's cool? Ms. Eckert studies why people do that, too.
Ms. Eckert teaches at a big university, and she likes to share what she learns about how people talk with her students. She also writes books and papers to tell other smart people what she has discovered. She hopes that by understanding more about why people talk and act differently, everyone can learn to be more accepting and understanding of each other.