This dissertation presents new research on the "Bavarian Quantity Law" (the BQL) in the northern Bavarian dialect of Hahnbach. Building upon earlier investigation of the BQL (cf. Bannert 1976a,b for Central Bavarian) this study examines the historical, phonological, and phonetic motivations for this feature as well the variability in its realization in the Hahnbach dialect. The range of variation present in this dialect is discussed by incorporating sociophonetics and social network structures as well as historical linguistics in an examination of recorded data from 29 speakers of the Hahnbach dialect from three different generations. The data stems primarily from a word list of contrastive minimal and near-minimal pairs (cf. Bannert 1976a). By looking at quantity patterns found in the data, I show that, while the phonological quantity distinction suggested by the BQL is preserved rather robustly by three generations of speakers of "Hahnbacherisch", the patterns examined are best contextualized by taking a multi-pronged approach to understanding the variability among speakers and generations of this dialect--as well as the inclusion of acoustic analysis of elicited sentences to expound upon dialectal features presumed to be defining for this dialect area. In this manner, this study discusses in detail the phonology and phonetics of the Hahnbach dialect and brings to light how and in what ways the data presented differ from the literature (cf. Guterer 1971, Schirmunski 1930, Kranzmayer 1956, etc.), and how the variation and change present in Hahnbach are contextualized in the maintenance and realization of the BQL in this dialect. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]