Methodological problems of sociolinguistics
As a brunch of philology sociolinguistics deals with the language functioning in social environments with a certain influence of social factors on the language development. The study of language as a public phenomenon makes the essence of sociolinguistic analysis. It is well known that language serves the needs of society. It is an exact reflection of public consciousness and reacts to any changes in all the spheres of public life. People use language in their speech practice but refer to it differently: they prefer one language phenomenon, but reject another. As some social factors make the basis of language, they also become the subject of sociolinguistic analysis.
The interaction of language and sociology is the basis of any modern sociolinguistic school. Sociology defines human behavior. It seeks to discover the causes and effects that arise among persons in their interrelation which means the influence of customs, structures, and institutions on the behavior and character of individuals.
Broad methodological concepts have varied somewhat according to the country and according to the sub-field of sociolinguistics. Early in the 20th century there seemed to have been a cardinal difference between the sociolinguistics of European countries and that of the United States. In the former USSR much emphasis was laid on the concepts and methods of Marxist sociology categories.
Of special interest is the problem about the unity of two basic language functions: 1) communicative function (language is a major means of human communication); 2) expressive function (language is means of thinking). Actually, sociolinguistics deals with a number of these and other problems based on the influence of public laws.
A special place is given to the interaction of language and culture. The relation between them seems to be bilateral. Contacts of different cultures find reflection in the borrowings, habits, customs, traditions, but how?
One of the most important sociolinguistic problem is the concept of di'glossia. In diglossia two languages coexist with each other within the limits of one speaking community (India, for example). Its collective uses languages in various communicative spheres depending on a social situation and other parameters of the communicative act. It means that the two languages (Hindi and English, for example,) are used alternately and in the contexts which exclude each other. English is valued as a language of instruction, administration, mass media, whereas Hindi is regarded as the language of family means of interaction, tales, and proverbs. English is considered the language of philosophy, whereas Hindi is the language of everyday talk.
But the reality is more complex: the coexistence of two languages can lead bilingual speakers to practice code switching and code mixing. Code switching refers to the shift between, say, English and Hindi, while code mixing involves the transfer of linguistic elements, such as lexical units, from one language into another.
Sociolinguistics also studies the use of languages with the communicative purposes in view, as a speech behavior, i.e. the selection of a proper variant for constructing correct statements in the given context or situation. So, when the selection of socially significant variants comes to light, the criteria underlying selection are established. An ultimate analysis reveals societal norms determining speech behavior.
A special place is given to the problem of language policy, established by the state, community, classes, public institutions, that stand for language preservation, purification of old language norms, or introducing new elements, norms or standards.
Consequently, there springs a new interest in the sociological problems of language, namely:
1) a new language policy is demanded by modern societies;
2) a new theory proves that a language is a public phenomenon.
Sociolinguistic trends, developed in different countries, are characterized by various methodological approaches. For example, the USA sociolinguistics is guided by a behaviorist model of speech, a theory of social interaction; Russian sociolinguistics treats all the problems of language and society within the laws of dialectical materialism; German sociolinguists pay much attention to dialects, etc.