science

Sociohistorical linguistics

Sociohistorical linguistics 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 Sociohistorical linguistics rather than just read about it. In short: Sociohistorical linguistics, or historical sociolinguistics, is the study of the relationship between language and society in its historical dimension. A typical question in this field would, for instance, be: "How were the verb endings -s and -th (he loves vs. he loveth) distributed in Middle English society" or "When did people use French, when did they use English in 14th-century England?" Sociohistorical linguis…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Sociohistorical linguistics, or historical sociolinguistics, is the study of the relationship between language and society in its historical dimension. A typical question in this field would, for instance, be: "How were the verb endings -s and -th (he loves vs. he loveth) distributed in Middle English society" or "When did people use French, when did they use English in 14th-century England?" Sociohistorical linguistics is a relatively new field of linguistic research which represents a merger of two distinct sub-disciplines of linguistics: sociolinguistics and historical (or diachronic) linguistics. Researchers in this field use sociolinguistic methods to explain historical change. This approach is particularly useful when language-internal data alone is unable to account for some seemingly inexplicable developments. Instead of relying solely upon intra-linguistic evidence and data to explain language change, socio-historical linguists search for extra-linguistic causes of change. One of the seminal works in the field is Romaine (1982)'s Socio-Historical Linguistics. Other studies such as John McWhorter's work, The Missing Spanish Creoles, are more specific in this case examining the extra-linguistic reasons why there are no creoles with Spanish as a lexifier language (as opposed to English, French, Dutch, Portuguese, etc.). Not all linguists believe that sociolinguistic methods can be applied to historical situations. They argue that the sociolinguistic means at our disposal today (e.g. face-to-face interviews, recording of data, large and diverse sampling, etc.) are necessarily unavailable to sociolinguists working on historical developments. They therefore argue that it is exceedingly difficult to do socio-historical linguistics, and that the results will always be suspect due to lack of data and access to native speakers in real-world situations. For those who question the validity of socio-historical linguistics, it is a field of conjecture rather than solid conclusions. Those arguing for the validity of socio-historical linguistics reply that it is better to use what remaining textual evidence is available to begin to posit likely scenarios rather than leave some questions completely unanswered. Methods such as social network theory (cf. Lesley Milroy) that look at human interactions and their effects on the larger society are particularly well-suited to socio-historical research.

State of the art The first monograph in sociohistorical linguistics, Socio-historical Linguistics; Its Status and Methodology was published by Suzanne Romaine in 1982. The field became established in linguistics in the 1990s. Since 2000 there has also been an internet journal Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics. In 2005 the Historical Sociolinguistics Network (HiSoN) was founded which now is the main scholarly network in the domain, organizing annual summer schools and conferences.

Methodology Due to the lack of recordings of spoken language, sociohistorical linguistics has to rely exclusively on written corpora.

See also Historical linguistics Sociolinguistics

References McWhorter, John H. 2000. The Missing Spanish Creoles: Recovering the Birth of Plantation Contact Languages. University of California Press. Berkeley. Nevalainen, Terttu. 2003. Socio-Historical Linguistics: Language Change in Tudor and Stuart England. Longman. London. Nevalainen, Terttu / Raumolin-Brunberg, Helena (eds.) (1996), Sociolinguistics and Language History: Studies Based on the Corpus of Early English Correspondence, Amsterdam: Rodopi. Romaine, Suzanne. 1982. Socio-Historical Linguistics: its Status and Methodology. Cambridge University Press. New York. Sánchez Carrión, José María. 1992. Las lenguas vistas desde la historia versus la historia vista desde las lenguas (o el giro copérnicano de un nuevo discurso social). Eusko Ikaskuntza. Donostia-San Sebastián. [Languages seen from the point of view of history versus history seen from the point of view of languages] Thomason, Sarah Grey and Terrence Kaufman. 1988. Language Contact, Creolization and Genetic Linguistics. University of California Press. Berkeley. Jucker, Andreas H. (2000), History of English and English Historical Linguistics, Stuttgart: Klett.

Notes

External links Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics, an internet journal, edited by Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade Las lenguas vistas desde la historia versus la historia vista desde las lenguas (o el giro copérnicano de un nuevo discurso social) Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, Spanish article on historical sociolinguistics by José María Sánchez Carrión

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sociohistorical linguistics

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sociohistorical linguistics 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 Sociohistorical linguistics 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 Sociohistorical linguistics 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 Sociohistorical linguistics

In research: Sociohistorical linguistics 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 Sociohistorical linguistics 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: Sociohistorical linguistics is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Historical linguistics, Sociolinguistics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sociohistorical linguistics 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 Sociohistorical linguistics in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sociohistorical linguistics 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 Sociohistorical linguistics out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sociohistorical linguistics in simple terms?

Why does Sociohistorical linguistics 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 Sociohistorical linguistics?

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 Sociohistorical linguistics.