（社會語言學英文dissertationCollege of Foreign Language,Inner Mongolia Aqricultural Vniuersity, Huhhot, InnerMongoli 010019;
TianJin Vniuersity of Traditional Chinese medicine,TianJin 300193;
TianJin Vniuersity of Technology and Eduestion,Foreign language Institution,TianJin 300022）

Understanding Sociolinguistics
［Abstract］ Sociolinguistics, as a main study field of Linguistics, becomes flourishing since 1960s. Sociolinguistics
not only has interested many linguists and social scientists, but also has sparked off a large output of articles, PhD dissertation,
and volumes. This paper just explores some important aspects of sociolinguistics, such as its main study scope, object
and its relationship with other disciplines.
［Key words］ Sociolinguistics；study scope；object；relationship

Ⅰ. Introduction
Sociolinguistics is a main study field of Linguistics, and it
can be defined as the study of language in relation to the society,
that is, the study of language situated in society.
The term “sociolinguistics”was proposed by American
Linguist Haver C.Currie in 1952, but it was in the middle of
1960s that this discipline became flourishing and then an independent
discipline. However, the study of language in relation
to society is not an invention of the 1960s. Both the study
of dialect and the relation between word-meaning and culture
have a long tradition, and they can be treated as part of sociolinguistics.
There are some reasons that sociolinguistics became flourishing
in the 1960s. Firstly, Linguistics had a strong desire to
find more solid empirical basis for the theory of Linguistics in
the 1960s. Secondly, the development of sociolinguistics is as
an opposition to the dominant theory of Chomskyan linguistics.
The relationship between language and society has long been
recognized and ermined. Evidence for this claim can be conveniently
gathered from the works by those great philosophers
and grammarians either in the Graeco -Roman tradition or in
the Indian history (Harris and Taylor 1997[1998]; Apte 1994).
During the whole 20th century, a great deal of efforts has been
made to treat the enquiry of Linguistics as monistic or autonomous
pursuit of an independent science. Strongly influenced
by the dominant view of Linguistic science, a separation
of the structural study of language from its social context of
usage was claimed, justified and reinforced. The resurrection of
a dualistic view of linguistic inquiry came into being in the
1960s, along with the development of sociolinguistics as an opposition
to the structuralism, which is stood for by Chomsky.
In the beginning, sociolinguistics used to refer to all study
of the social significance of language. Just as Dell Hymes
(2000) put it:
…… my sense of the emergence of sociolinguistics, at#p#分頁標題#e#
least in the United States and the United Kingdom, was a variety
of individuals found themselves with a common interest in
a kind of systematic study that was not strictly“descriptive”or
“structural”linguistics, but that was also focused on languages
in social context, as against the thrust Chomsky’s approach
……As an alternative to the exclusion of social context and
meaning by Chomsky, it was a term for the whole of one side
of opposition, social vs. +social……In the 1960s“sociolinguistics”
had primacy, perhaps, because of the precedent and
verbal pattern of“psycholinguistics”, and to some extent,“ethnolinguistics”.
Ⅱ.The scope and main study object of sociolinguistics
2.1 The scope of sociolinguistics
Language is a social phenomenon, and has an important
social function. To be specific, language is the record of information
and the tool of social intercourse; language is the tool
of thinking; language is a tie by which society operates properly;
language is an important symbol of a notion or a society.
Since language is social phenomenon, and it plays an important
role in social life; society also has a great impact on
language. The difference in classic background, social position,
31
educational background and age, gender, nation gives rise to
the difference of language use. As an important discipline, the
main scope of sociolinguistics is the variation, variant and the
difference of language use, and the social and cultural ele －
ments that give rise to these phenomena. Just as an American
linguist Nessa Wolfson (1983) described the scope of sociolinguistics,
that is:
Who said what to whom, when and how. (Cited in
Hudson R.A.)
This sentence implies the main elements of sociolinguistics.
That is, the addresser and the addressee say something in
a certain time at a certain place.
Here, “who”and “whom”stand for the social subject,
and they stand for the addresser and the addressee respectively.
“What”stands for the message and topic of the communication,
and it may change according to the circumstances.
“When”stands for the spatial-temporal element“. How”stands
for the manner of the speakers.
2.2 The main study object of sociolinguistics
In our daily life, it’s an obvious fact that people who
claim to be speakers of the same language do not speak the
language in the same manner. For example, all native speakers
of English do not speak the language in the same way. On the
one hand, the language used by the same individual varies as
the circumstances of communication vary. For example, teachers
speak very formal language in class, speak more casually#p#分頁標題#e#
in their dorm. Thus the notion of a language is not monolithic
and there exist types or varieties of the same language. The
varieties of a language are the actual manifestation of the general
notion of the language. In the study of sociolinguistics, varieties
are the main object. And a very important tool for the
research on linguistic variation is the linguistic variable.
A linguistic variable is a linguistic item, which has identifiable
variants (Wardhaugh 1998), while Hudson puts it as a
collection of alternatives, which have something in common
(1996:169). We can recognize the different types of variables
according to the level of language, that is, phonetic variables,
phonological variables, morphological variables, lexical variables
and syntactic variables.
Take phonetic variables as an example. For example, the
English phoneme /t/ has a range of alternative pronunciation.
1) Aspirated /t/. When the sound /t/ occurs at the beginning
of a syllable, it’s aspirated. For example, /t/ in the word
“tin”is aspirated.
2) Unreleased /t/. When the sound /t/ occurs in the word
final and after a vowel, it’s unreleased. For example, /t/ in the
word“kit”is unreleased.
3) Glottal stop replacement of /t/. When the sound /t/ precedes
a syllabic /n/, /t/ is generally replaced by the glottal
stop. For example, /t/ in the word“kitten”.
4) Flapped /t/. When /t/ is between vowels, and the first
vowel is stressed, /t/ is flapped. For example, /t/ in the word
“pitted”is flapped.
All of the varieties are considered as pronunciation of the
same phoneme /t/.
2.3 The main study method in sociolinguistics
There are many study methods in sociolinguistics, and
among them, an important one is quantitative study. Quantitative
study means how often various linguistic forms are used
(Hudson 1996). For example, some people pronounce the word
“house”with the sound /h/; while some others pronounce the
word without the sound /h/, and they start with /i:/ or with/ai/.
Why do people apply different linguistic rules? For such phenomenon,
a quantitative study is needed. The stages are:
1)Selecting speakers, linguistic variables;
2)Carrying out an investigation among the speakers about
a certain linguistic;
Phenomenon;
3)Processing the figures;
4)Interpreting the results.
Ⅲ .The relationship between sociolinguistics and some
other disciplines
3.1 Sociolinguistics and Linguistics
The term “sociolinguistics”means many things to many
people. There are many sociologists who also call themselves
linguists, as well as the large number whose background is in
sociology, anthropology or social psychology. Though both sociolinguistics#p#分頁標題#e#
and linguistics study language, there are some differences
between them.
Linguistics differs from sociolinguistics in taking account
only of the structure of language, to the exclusion of the social
contexts in which it is used. That is, the task of linguistics is
to work out the rules of language. For this, Chomsky substitutes
“competence”, defined as a language user’s underling
knowledge about the system of rules. In fact, competence is restricted
to the knowledge of grammar. Traditionally, linguistics
is structural, and transformational grammar may be seen as the
culmination of the leading theme of structural linguistics. Structural
linguistics treats language as an autonomous form; while
sociolinguistics combines the rules with society. It not only
studies the structure of language, but also the function of language.
That is, in sociolinguistics, we have two important
things to think about: structural things and their uses in a sociocultural
context. The difference between linguistics and sociolinguistics
is reflected in the language classroom. Linguistic
classrooms treat their as grammarians, while sociolinguistic
classrooms treat their students as active and successful language
users in a real language context.
Linguistics usually studies the phenomenon of language in
the past, that is, it studies what language has been, and it does
not predict the future development of language. While sociolinguistics
naturally and inevitably considers language not as what
it has been, and is, but also as what it is becoming. Sociolinguistics,
if it will, can envisage and work toward a unity that is
yet to come.
3.2 Sociolinguistics and the sociology of language
As we all know, sociolingistics is the study of language in
relation to society. Then, what is the sociology of language?
The sociology of language examines the interaction between as－
LANGUAGE Wang Meiling，Tan Xiumin，Zhang Lina / Understanding Sociolinguistics
32
語文學刊·外語教育教學2009年第1 期
pects of human behavior: the use of language and the social
organization of behavior. Briefly put, the sociology of language
focuses upon the entire gamut of topics related to the social
organization of language behavior, including not only language
usage , but also language attitudes and overt behaviors towards
language and language users. (Fishman J.A. 1972)
The definition of sociolinguistics implies that it is part of
the study of language. Therefore, the value of sociolinguistics is
the light, which it throws on the nature of language. The difference
between sociolinguistics and the sociology of language
lies in whether the investigator is more interested in language
or society, and whether they have more skills in analyzing linguistic#p#分頁標題#e#
or social structures.
In fact, there is a large area of overlap between sociolinguistics
and the sociology of language. And there is no need to
divide the disciplines more clearly than at present.
Ⅳ.Conclusion
In the discussion above, some important aspects of sociolingustics
have been discussed in a social inquiry of linguistic
issues. And the systematic pursuit of this kind did not start until
the 1960s, with the occurrence of sociolinguistics as a new
force in the study of language. Sociolinguistics not only has
interested many linguists and social scientists, but also has
sparked off a large output of articles, PhD dissertation, and volumes.
Sociolinguistics studies the language in relation to society.
And it uses many scientific methods during research. With the
development of such a discipline, sociolinguistics attracts more
and more attention among people.
After almost forty years’development, this innovative discipline
has gained much momentum and vitality by incorporating
the insights from other relevant sciences and has gradually
secured its position as a legitimate pursuit in linguistics. On
the other hand, the study of the relationship between language
and society is a rather intriguing task. One of the difficulties
observed in this attempt is the diversity in subject matters. The
interdisciplinary nature of this pursuit requires a satisfactory
mastery of knowledge in relevant fields such as anthropology,
social psychology, sociology, and ethnology. Therefore, what
presented above is only a small part of the whole edifice.
Much of its beauty and fascination is still there waiting for the
courageous explorers to search and discover.
———————————————
【References 】
[1] Downes, William (1998). Language and Society (2nd ed.).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[2] Fasold, Ralph (1999 [1990]). The Sociolinguistics of Language.
Oxford: Blackwell.
[3] Fishman, J.A. (1972). The Sociology of language: An Interdisciplinary
Social Science Approach to Language in Society. Rowley,
M.A: Newbury House Publishers.
[4] Harris, Roy & Tallbot J, Taylar (1997 [1998]). Landmarks in Linguistic
Thought I: The Western Tradition from Socrates to Saussure.
London: Routledge.
[5] Hudson, R.A. (2000 [1996]). Sociolinguistics (2nd ed.). Beijing:
Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press and Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
[6] Hymes, Dell (1997 [1974]). The Scope of Sociolinguistics. In N.
Coupland and A.Jaworski (eds.), Sociolinguistics: A Reader and
Course book. London: Macmillan.
了解社會語言學
（內蒙古農業大學外國語學院，內蒙古呼和浩特010019；
天津中醫藥大學公教部外語教研室，天津300193；#p#分頁標題#e#
天津工程師范學院外國語學院，天津300022）
［摘要］ 作為語言學一門主要的研究學科，社會語言學自二十世紀六十年代開始繁榮發展起來，引起了
眾多語言學家的興趣；大量有關的dissertation，著作應運而生。本文主要探討了社會語言學的研究領域，對象以及它
與其他相關學科的關系。
［關鍵詞］ 社會語言學；研究領域；研究對象；關系