Both sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics are relatively recent areas of study and they tend to overlap. One way in which they overlap is in the selection of topics, among them bilingualism and linguistic relativity. Studies of linguistic relativity demonstrate that, although there are clear surface distinctions between the way languages map…

This text on the sociology of language, hear defines as "...a focus upon the entire gamut of topics related to the social organization of language behavior," lays the groundwork for the theoretical development of this emerging branch of linguistics. The author proposes that sociolinguists investigate everything concerned with language from the…

Suggests that stylistic variation should be used by linguistis in their search for linguistic structure. (AM)

Discusses the history, nature and current context of diglossia in Greece. (RM)

Reviewed are the relevance and limitations of work in sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and conversational analysis with respect to a central issue in the sociological study of social interaction: the taken-for-granted and inferences made therefrom. The hope is to show the arbitrariness of the line dividing microsociological studies and…

The articles in this special journal issue on hypercorrection are reviewed and related to accommodation theory. A heuristic model is presented that places hypercorrection in a theoretical framework designed to explore its antecedents and consequences in a variety of settings. Directions for future research are also suggested. (30 references) (LB)

It is argued that any attempt to explicate the notion of lying can proceed only on a prior understanding of the notion of truth. Two Russian words for "truth" and two for "lie" are examined, and various dimensions of meanings of the pairs are discussed. (17 references) (LB)

Three books are discussed: Andresen's "Linguistics in America 1769-1924: A Critical History," Crowley's "Politics of Discourse: The Standard Language Question in British Cultural Debates," and Crowley's "Standard English and the Politics of Language." (36 references) (LB)

Guy's hypothesized linkage between empirical linguistics and formal linguistic theory is supported in a study of the English of 45 Chicanos from Los Angeles, which as a recently formed dialect provides an interesting test case. Age differences are found in the morphological classes associated with /-t,d/ deletion. (13 references) (Author/LB)

In this paper we argue that although the problematic nature of language construction has been acknowledged by a number of skeptical authors, including the recent claim in this journal (Reagan, 2004) that there is no such thing as English or any other language, this critical approach to language still needs to develop a broader understanding of the…

The new framework no longer holds valid the idea that innovations do not occur in phonology except as a by-product of standardization. New analyses are presented for language standardization. That languages are equally systematic but not equal in function is one point made. (SCC)

This paper suggests an explicit way of integrating sociolectal and dialectal facts in the overall description of a language. Phonetic, morphological, syntactic and semantic units of the whole language are defined. (CK)

Theories about language functions, the ways in which language is used, are discussed. (Text is in French.) (PMP)

The validity of the consensus paradigm dominant in sociolinguistics is questioned. Social scientists working in this paradigm take the perspective of society as an aggregate operating through agreement between its constituent elements, working to the benefit of the aggregate. The best-known of the consensus-oriented theories is…

The goal of this article is to give a survey of the literature and theoretical trends relevant to language acquisition. Developments in the fields of psychology, psycholinguistics, sociology, sociolinguistics and in various interdisciplinary studies are discussed. (Text is in French.) (CLK)