James Stratton is a specialist in variationist sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, and second language acquisition. His research focuses predominantly on the factors that influence variation and change in Germanic languages, both past and present, with an emphasis on lexis. He has published in venues such as Language Variation and Change, Journal of Germanic Linguistics, Journal of Historical Linguistics, Journal of Second Language Pronunciation, and The Modern Language Journal. 

A large body of his work to date has focused on intensification in Germanic (e.g., English, German, Norwegian). He has a forthcoming book, Expanding variationist sociolinguistic research in varieties of German (Routledge) and is currently working on two monographs on intensifiers, one on intensifiers Early Germanic (Cambridge University Press) and one on intensifiers in the history of English (Cambridge University Press). Prior to coming to Penn State, he worked as an Assistant Professor of English Linguistics at the University of British Columbia as a specialist in the history of English.