A social domain refers to communicative contexts which influence and are influenced by the structure of such contexts, whether social, institutional, power-aligned. As defined by Fishman, Cooper and Ma (1971), social domains "are sociolinguistic contexts definable for any given society by three significant dimensions: the location, the participants and the topic". Similarly, Bernard Spolsky defines domains as "[a]ny defined or definable social or political or religious group or community, ranging from family through a sports team or neighborhood or village or workplace or organization or city or nation state or regional alliance". Social domains are relevant to such fields in the social sciences as anthropology, linguistics, and sociology. Some examples of social domains include the domains of school, family, religion, workplace, and government.
Social domains in scholarly research
Education and schools Education is an integral social institution which has a major impact on the development and maintenance of language policies around the world. Schools, aside from the family, provide the necessary resources for language socialization of the child which shape the experiences and impact the language competence of the students. The medium of instruction languages are decided based on the goals and needs of the education and governmental systems. So, while children learn different vernacular varieties or dialects at home, schools further influence the development of their linguistic skills and their language ideologies. Specifically, language varieties spoken at home may not have an agreed upon orthography, so schools work to teach the formalized, written form of the language. These actions impact the inclusion, acceptance, and interactions of students. In fact, by using Bucholtz and Hall's theory of intersubjectivity, Shanan Fitts argues that the imperatives of "adequation and distinction", "authentication and denaturalization", and "authorization and illegitimation" interact linguistically in school domains. For adequation and distinction, a student is able to identify and relate to other students through their linguistic similarities or differences, respectively. Meanwhile, authentication and denaturalization allows students to categorize their linguistic, and consequently, cultural identities either as natural or learned. Lastly, authorization and illegitimation are used in school domains through institutional or ideological methods to either support or oppose a specific linguistic practice depending on the goal of the school. Because of the differences in vernacular or dialects between home and schools, some children may experience a linguistic gap, which is greatly affected by language education policies. Spolsky argues that schools should take this gap into consideration when deciding the medium of instruction and linguistic goals for themselves. Specifically, Spolsky highlights the controversy of incorporating a mother-tongue education in schools, which is an effort of teaching children using the linguistic varieties spoken at home. However, in the contexts of extreme multilingualism mother-tongue education is largely unattainable. There are a variety of methods used by schools to facilitate the transition between home languages, dialects, or vernaculars to the desired school language. One method used typically in the British colonial education system which starts the education by teaching in students' home language, transitions by introducing the official language, and ends by shifting towards total instruction in that official language. Contrastingly, systems like the French and Portuguese colonial models along with the English-only movement in the United States immediately begin instruction in the official language under the assumption that the students will learn it through immersion. There are a wide range of methods that fall in between the above-mentioned strategies, such as establishing communication in home languages, dialects, or vernaculars and using materials in the official language or also making an effort to maintain proficiency in a home language while transitioning them to the official language. Schools also impact language acquisition policies. If a country has a bilingual or multilingual policy or goal, schools are usually expected to help in the development of the other language(s). This may be done for two reasons: 1) teaching a major international language or a neighboring country's language can help incorporate students effectively and successfully into the globalized world; or 2) the teachings of minority or indigenous language(s) can help elevate them in a country to work towards diversity and inclusion.
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