Hong Kong popular culture played an important role in the construction and consolidation of Hong Kong identity long before the handover to China. In the past few years leading up to the 10th anniversary of the handover, both Hong Kong and China have undergone numerous changes which seem to be changing their relations. Whilst Hong Kong people had…

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…

This paper discusses a previously unidentified turn-allocation technique - third person reference. When such a reference is used, participants are orienting to the solution of a practical organizational problem: how to keep at least one of their number from talking, while preserving the right of all others to talk. (Author/CFM)

Sociopragmatic ambiguity (SPA) is claimed here to differ from other, better-known types of ambiguity, in terms of its locus, cause, and effect. SPA is characteristic of whole-discourse features rather than of lexical items or phrases. The ambiguity is one of social rather than ideational or semantic meaning. It is claimed that SPA arises through…

Television is composed of multiple cultural and linguistic codes. The understandings that non-native speakers (NNSs) of English in the United States derive from these codes carries important implications for their attitudes toward the host culture and its language, and also for evolution of their second-language identities. A study investigated…

This paper is intended as an outline synthesis of what is presently known about the processes of pidginization and creolization. Section 1 deals with the linguistic processes of pidginization under the following headings: (1) the learned expectancies of how to behave in a contact situation, (2) necessity and heightened attention, (3) redundancy,…

Sociolinguistic patterns of India are discussed. (LG)

A sociological critique of language which substitutes the notion of acceptability for grammaticallity; the analogy of symbolic force for communication; the question of the value and power of discourse for meaning; and "symbolic capital," inseparable from the social position of the interlocuter, for purely linguistic competence. (Text is in…

Direct links between Australian English and the Australian culture are drawn. The author proposes ways in which a linguistically precise and culturally revealing study of linguistic phenomena such as expressive derivation, illocutionary devices, and speech act verbs are related to Australian society, history, culture, and "national…

Everyone has a name. Names are more than a symbol or label. The culture of a people finds expression in the language they employ. When personal names are studied historically, philosophically, etymologically, and psychologically the reflection of the social and natural environment can be perceived. This paper focuses on the analysis of the…

A study investigating the evolution in French of the unstressed "e" positioned between single consonants (e.g., "besoin") is presented. It is argued that stabilization of this pattern cannot be confirmed in the speech of educated Parisians but appears to be governed by sociolinguistic variables. Lexical conditioning is examined. (Author/MSE)

One perspective for literary analysis assumes certain divisions of language, grammar, and "worlds of discourse." The worlds that language can express are the phenomenal, extensional, intensional, and alternate systems. Within these contexts, certain linguistic features universally affect responses to the world created and the language used. One…

This article stresses the need for examining the total context of language, including the biological characteristics of the speaker, and anthropological, psychological, geographic, and socioeconomic factors. (CLK)

The role of language in cross-cultural research is investigated through analysis of: communication of information; conceptual and functional equivalence; measurement of linguistic variables; and social and language changes. Available from: UNESCO, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris, France. (Author/DB)