The knowledge field of languages sociology

• Main Author: Makusheva M.
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences 2012-12-01
• Series: Вестник Института социологии
• Subjects: language; speech; social group; social status; social structure; social practice; socialization
• Online Access: http:///files/File/Vestnik_2012_5/Makusheva.pdf

The article outlines the prospects for cross-disciplinary research at the intersection of sociology and sociolinguistics and provides a framework for analyzing language problems in sociology. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the methodological significance of using linguistic data in a sociological study. The definition of language in sociology is given, possible research topics are presented. The language in sociology can be understood as part of a culture of society that provides individuals and groups with a conceptual apparatus for conveying and interpreting information, and also symbolically representing the typical and significant experience of social actors. The connection between the social structure of a group, its activities and language naturally follows from the functional understanding of language as an instrument that adapts itself to public needs. A significant subject for analysis is the representation of groups in the language of normative-value systems. Within the framework of the sociological theory, speech can be defined as social practice, that is, on the one hand, as a set of norms regulating and structuring the use of language for different subjects in a social situation; on the other hand, as a process of such use, the implementation of practices that already exist. In general, the study of speech in its social variability is the main subject of sociolinguistics, therefore, it is here that the main body of data has been accumulated and a number of conclusions interesting for sociology have been made. The difference between sociology and sociolinguistics lies in the focus of the researcher’s interest. If it consists in deeper understanding of a social phenomenon by referring to its linguistic representation, then this is a sociological study using the data of the language used. The central thesis of the direction that studies the social differentiation of language can be formulated as follows: linguistic variables are connected with social variables, and this connection is not accidental, but regular and consistent. At the intersection of the indicated topics occupying the entire complex of social and humanitarian sciences, there is the problem of the sociology of language, which can be formulated as knowledge of social structures fixed in the language and speech practices.