Key Concepts & Allied Fields
Sociolinguistics is the study of relationships between social differentiation (gender, racial/ethnic identiy, class, region, generation) and different ways of speaking. Sociolinguists usually pick a feature of language that varies (a “sociolinguistic variable”) among different groups and study its occurrence in speech contexts. Sociolinguistic variables can be differences in pronunciation of certain sounds (eg. Vowel sounds); differences in vocabulary (eg. Using or not using “like”); or differences in other vocal and intonational features (eg. Using or not using “creaky voice”).
Sociolinguistics
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Anthropological Linguistics
Anthropological linguistics is the study of language structure in relation to culture, beliefs, and worldviews. Anthropological linguists are interested in the ways that the grammar and vocabulary of different languages encode and influence culturally specific ways of seeing the world. The field of anthropological linguistics was inspired by the early ideas of anthropologist Franz Boas and anthropologist-linguists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf, who studied the grammar and morphology of Native American languages and compared with that of English.
Ethnographic Approaches
Ethnography tries to capture the flow of events, interactions, and everyday life through careful observation, sometimes participation, and interview methods. Linguistic anthropologists use ethnographic methods to study the role that language plays in social dynamics, from small-scale momentary interpersonal interactions to larger-scale social, cultural, and political phenomena. Ethnographic transcription is a key part of this approach to capturing language in context.