Obsolescent languages exhibit large amounts of linguistic variation. Yet, given the demographic conditions often in place, attributing meaning to this variation via the application of established models of analysis, such as Labovian sociolinguistics, is not always straightforward. Indeed, the question often becomes not how language varies according to age or social stratification but, rather, whether (and how) language varies for two speakers sharing a similar sociolinguistic profile. Using original data from Jèrriais (the Norman language spoken in Jersey, Channel Islands), this study considers whether Personal-Pattern Variation, a particular type of variation developed in the context of Gaelic, and found in communities where there is a lack of accessible prestige linguistic norms (Dorian 2010) can cast light on the study of unconditioned variation in obsolescent languages more generally. It will then seek to extend the application of this model by exploring whether it can also contribute to our understanding of conditioned variation. The study concludes by highlighting hitherto unconsidered common ground between Personal-Pattern Variation and the Imaginaire Linguistique framework of sociolinguistic analysis (Houdebine, 2002), which has gained currency over Labovian variationist analysis among French linguists but which remains little known outside the Hexagon.