science

Geolinguistics

Geolinguistics is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Geolinguistics rather than just read about it. In short: Geolinguistics is a branch of linguistics and of language geography, a branch of human geography. As a branch of linguistics, it includes dialectology and linguistic areal features.

Key takeaways

Geolinguistics belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Geolinguistics to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Geolinguistics from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Geolinguistics is a branch of linguistics and of language geography, a branch of human geography. As a branch of linguistics, it includes dialectology and linguistic areal features. One academic tradition sees dialect geography, language geography, and linguistic geography as geolinguistics. This identification of geolinguistics with linguistic map-making appears across a range of languages, including Chinese, French, Japanese, Russian and Spanish. In German, in addition to an identification of geolinguistics with the terms Sprachgeographie (language geography) and Dialektgeographie (dialect geography), the term Areallinguistik (areal linguistics) appears as also being synonymous. A second linguistic tradition is that of The American Society of Geolinguistics which interprets geolinguistics to be "An academic discipline involving the analysis and implications of the geographical location, distribution and structure of language varieties within a temporal framework, either in isolation or in contact and/or conflict with one another, being originally conceived of by Mario Pei as being a branch of linguistics which would be used to do objective-oriented research on real life language issues and where interdisciplinary approaches would be acceptable." The Society's mission statement mentions the gathering and disseminating of "up-to-date knowledge concerning the world`s present-day languages, dialects, and other language varieties in the context of their distribution and use, their relative practical importance, their perceived usefulness and actual availability from economic, political and cultural standpoints, their genetic, historical and geographical affiliations and relationships, and their identification and use in spoken and written form". It also states the Society's interest in "linguistic geography, languages in contact and conflict, language planning and policy, language education and the broader aspects of sociolinguistics". Two important geolinguistic organizations exist whose naming and/or translation practices imply a certain recognition of the traditional importance that dialectologists have attached to the role of language map-making as a tool for linguistic analysis. They are the Asian Geolinguistic Society of Japan and, in Europe, The International Society for Dialectology and Geolinguistics.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Geolinguistics

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Geolinguistics claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Geolinguistics before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Geolinguistics ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Geolinguistics

In research: Geolinguistics appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Geolinguistics in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Geolinguistics is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Branches of linguistics, Language geography, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Geolinguistics outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Geolinguistics in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Geolinguistics means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Geolinguistics out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Geolinguistics in simple terms?

Geolinguistics is a branch of linguistics and of language geography, a branch of human geography. As a branch of linguistics, it includes dialectology and linguistic areal features.

Why does Geolinguistics matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Geolinguistics?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Geolinguistics.