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No / The Swedish-language media landscape in Finland is exceptionally rich. It forms one of the institutions that underpin the cultural position of the Swedish-speaking Finns and the use of Swedish in Finland. This example has yet, however, been given only little attention in sociolinguistic research. Based on secondary data of mass-media audience research, this article analyzes the situation of Swedish media in Finland with regard to production and reception in relation to ethnolinguistic vitality and offers conceptual tools for linking the analysis of media consumption to sociolinguistic concepts. The nine daily newspapers, two radio stations, and Swedish-language television channel put at the service of this relatively small population provides an ideal test case for how extensive media supply interacts with linguistic vitality. The role of minority media has been rapidly and significantly changing over the past decades due to the fragmentation of media spaces and diversification of media reception. With the complexity of hybrid identities, factors such as age, gender, class, and regional and language identities are taking on increasing importance. In this new media environment, the viability and relevance of Swedish-language media will be determined by the degree to which the presence of Swedish language is a criterial attribute of the identity of the Swedish-speaking Finns.

This study has two major purposes: (1) to investigate if and how punctuation conventions have been rewritten in text messages to compensate for lack of paralinguistic cues and (2) the sociolinguistic implications of these findings. Data for this study was collected through an online, anonymous questionnaire in which participants gave their judgments about the meanings and function of punctuation used in sample text messages. The results show that punctuation is used to convey differences in meaning in direct and indirect ways and most are dependent on the context. Furthermore, age showed to be a factor in punctuation style and interpretation. The results here challenge the notion that texting is detrimental to one’s literacy skills and is in fact a site of linguistic innovation.

The purpose of this paper is to find out how sociolinguistics part depicted in textbooks of Swedish over time and study how much space portion is provided in three teaching aids dated 1976, 1995 and 2014. The study also intends to examine the degree of changes and what they might be due to. This study rests on two research traditions, sociolinguistics and materials analysis. Research in language sociology is extensive. Similarly, there is a tradition of research of teaching materials analysis particularly in the subject of history. Counterparts to my research is thus to be found in particular in the subject of history. For the Swedish part of the substance seems this type of research to be scant, consequently, there is a research gap that is interesting to examine more closely. This study can be seen as a contribution to the earlier tradition of research in general, but also as a contribution to the subject Swedish study materials research in particular. In order to answer these questions, a qualitative and a quantitative content analysis are made. The results show that the deployment can be greatly linked to the prevailing social context that political governance, curriculum, textbook author, etc. The results also show that the mayor differentiation lies between percentage with in the socio-linguistics text section internal than external to the teaching material. Changes that can be distinguished in the teaching material are seen mainly in the method of preparation. Learning materials go from the more stereotypical and more locked form of knowledge to become more educational and based more and more on the individual and his or her knowledge.

Using the combined approach of Variationist Sociolinguistics and Cognitive Linguistics, this thesis undertakes the classification and analysis of certain prepositions in spoken Quebec French. The study examines 21 interviews that make up part of the Corpus de français parlé au Québec (CFPQ). The aim of this thesis is to examine the use of the variables expressing the concept of ‘possession’, and those equivalent to English before/in front of and after/behind. These three variables are represented as (POSS), (ANTE) and (POST). An initial quantification of the variants is carried out, which establishes the contexts of production, and helps determine the areas of linguistic analysis to be explored. For the (POSS) variable, the data is examined in terms of linguistic factors such as the reference of the possessor, the avoidance of hiatus, and inalienable/alienable possession. Interpersonal variation is also considered, including age and gender in addition to level of education. From the Cognitive Linguistic perspective, we investigate ‘reference point theory’ and how it can shed light on the alternation between the variants. The (ANTE) and (POST) variables are studied in terms of the type of reference (i.e. locative or temporal), the locating noun category, and the age, sex, and level of education of the speakers. The Cognitive Linguistic theory of ‘subjectification’ is also considered for these two variables. For the (POSS) variable, the reference of the possessor and the level of education are seen to be important factors for the use of possessive à. In addition, the ‘reference point theory’ contributes to our understanding of the use of this variant. With the (ANTE) and (POST) variables certain variants are seen to be employed both with and without an overt complement. The variant devant is predominantly found in contexts involving narrative discourse, and the variants en avant and en avant de are preferred for locative reference. Once again, the Cognitive Sociolinguistic approach highlights the possibility that the difference in variant choice is linked to the speakers’ cognitive construal of the situation.

This descriptive study focuses on expressions of politeness in the Japanese language and their relevance to social structure and intercultural communication. The study is designed to help students of the Japanese language learn rules of politeness which fall outside the domain of grammatical rules.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 240-254). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Within the social sciences and humanities, adequate definitions and understandings of the concept ‘space’ have been debated for some time. However, until recently, this debate been neglected within linguistics, although it is generally acknowledged that understandings of space within sociolinguistic research specifically have not remained uniform over time. The research presented in this study focuses on the varying conceptions of ‘space’ in the development of variationist sociolinguistics. It specifically seeks to address the lack of a coherent account of the influence that the various dominant conceptualizations of ‘space’ have had on research design throughout the history of the field. Previous work on this topic, which until recently has been relatively scarce, has pointed out some fluctuations in the understanding of space that has been employed within sociolinguistics. Still, these changes over time have not yet been investigated in a systematic and chronological manner. Additionally, previous investigations of the concept ‘space’ in sociolinguistics did not situate themselves within the broader spatial rethinking that has occurred in the social sciences, and thus tend to employ the relevant spatial terminology in isolated and unstandardized ways. The present study examines the conceptualization of ‘space’ in variationist sociolinguistics in a systematic and chronological manner, and situates changes in the understanding of this concept within the so-called “spatial turn” that occurred in the social sciences in the late 1970s/early 1980s. By examining the influential literature within four different variationist sociolinguistic paradigms and identifying the changes in dominant spatial understandings that have occurred over time, the impact of each dominant spatial conception on research design in variationist sociolinguistics is explicated. Ultimately, the study aims to clarify a topic that has previously been treated in largely incomplete and unsystematic ways. By presenting a partial chronicle of the history of ‘space’ in variationist sociolinguistics, the study will moreover serve as a basis for those working in the field to reflect on the directions this relatively young discipline has taken. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Binne die sosiale en geesteswetenskappe is toereikende definisies en begrip van die konsep ‘ruimte’ al vir ’n geruime tyd gedebatteer. Hierdie debat is tot onlangs binne die taalwetenskap afgeskeep, alhoewel dit algemeen erken word dat die begrip van ruimte binne spesifiek sosiolinguistiese navorsing met verloop van tyd verander het. Die navorsing wat in hierdie studie aangebied word, fokus op veranderinge in die konseptualisering van ruimte in die ontwikkeling van variasionistiese sosiolinguistiek. Daar word spesifiek aandag gegee aan die gebrek aan ʼn samehangende beskrywing van die invloed wat verskillende dominante begrippe van ‘ruimte’ gehad het op navorsingsontwerp in die veld se geskiedenis. Vorige werk wat oor dié onderwerp handel, en wat tot onlangs relatief skaars was, het daarop gewys dat daar wel veranderinge was in die manier waarop die begrip ‘ruimte’ binne die sosiolinguistiek gebruik is, maar hierdie veranderinge is nog nie op ʼn sistematiese en chronologiese manier ondersoek nie. Vorige studies van dié onderwerp is ook nie binne die breër ruimte-debat in die sosiale wetenskappe aangebied nie. Daar is dus die geneigheid om die relevante ruimte-terminologie op geïsoleerde en nie-gestandaardiseerde maniere te gebruik. Die huidige studie ondersoek die konsep ‘ruimte’ binne variasionistiese sosiolinguistiek op ʼn sistematiese en chronologiese manier, en plaas veranderinge in die begrip van ruimte in die sosiolinguistiek binne die konteks van die sogenaamde “spatial turn” wat in die laat-1970’s/vroeë-1980’s binne die sosiale wetenskappe plaasgevind het. Deur ʼn ondersoek van invloedryke literatuur binne vier verskillende variasionisties-sosiolinguistiese raamwerke, en die identifisering van die veranderinge in die konseptualisering van dominante ruimte-begrippe wat met verloop van tyd plaasgevind het, word die impak van elke dominante ruimte-begrip op navorsingsontwerp in variasionistiese sosiolinguistiek duidelik gemaak. Die uiteindelike oogmerk van die studie is om duidelikheid te verskaf oor ʼn onderwerp wat voorheen grootliks onvolledig en onsistematies aangespreek is. Deur ’n gedeeltelike kroniek van die geskiedenis van ‘ruimte’ in variationistiese sosiolinguistiek te bied, dien die studie voorts as ’n basis vanwaar taalwetenskaplikes kan besin oor die rigtings waarin hierdie relatief jong dissipline ontwikkel het.

<p> This dissertation explores language as a resource for the formation and expression of ethnic identity among the members of an Asian American college sorority. As a community of practice organized around ethnicity, the sorority provides an excellent site to examine the mutually constitutive relationship of language and ethnic identity. Two features of the sorority members' speech are analyzed in detail: their pronunciation of the mid-back rounded GOAT vowel, and their prosodic rhythm. For both variables, the behavior of the sorority members is compared with that of college peers of both Asian and non-Asian descent. The results indicate that both segmental and suprasegmental features are available as markers of Asian American ethnicity, and that the association of linguistic features with ethnicity is mediated by group membership and region, among other factors.</p><p> The community of study is an Asian-interest sorority at a large public university in New Jersey. The data are drawn from two main sources: participant observation of sorority activities and one-on-one sociolinguistic interviews. The ethnographic observations allow the behaviors and beliefs of the sorority members to be situated in the local context of the school, the state, and the region. The interview data, meanwhile, provide high-quality spontaneous speech data for phonetic analysis. It is argued that it is only through an understanding of the particular social context in which speakers exist that their linguistic behavior can be understood; conversely, examining linguistic behavior can illuminate how identity categories such as "Asian American" are construed and enacted within a given social setting.</p><p> The segmental variable analyzed in this study is the realization of the mid-back rounded vowel in the GOAT class of words. A quantitative analysis shows that the sorority members produce a more backed and monophthongal GOAT vowel than their non-Asian peers. In previous work, the fronting of GOAT has been noted as an ongoing change in certain regional dialects in the United States; however, the present analysis shows that sorority members tend to produce backer GOAT vowels than non-Asian speakers regardless of region.</p><p> The suprasegmental variable analyzed is prosodic rhythm, which refers to the relative length of adjacent syllables in speech. English is typically described as a stress-timed language, with stressed syllables being much longer than unstressed syllables. However, the sorority members' speech shows characteristics of syllable timing, with stressed and unstressed syllables being of roughly equal length. This finding coincides with those for other varieties of English, including Hispanic English and Singapore English. It is argued that syllable timing in English is likely a substrate effect from syllable-timed heritage languages, including Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean. Individual differences in prosodic rhythm are also examined with respect to age of acquisition and other inter- and intraspeaker factors.</p><p> This dissertation draws on multiple research traditions in the study of language and identity: it is an ethnographic description of a community of practice as well as a sociophonetic study of regionally and ethnically linked variables. It is also a study of young women's language at a critical stage of identity formation&mdash;the college years. Additionally, this dissertation is part of a growing body of sociolinguistic research on Asian Americans, a group that until recently has been drastically understudied. As a group with tremendous internal diversity, Asian Americans present both challenges and opportunities for the study of language and ethnicity. This dissertation thus advances sociolinguistic research in two ways: one, by shedding light on the language practices of this rapidly growing population, and two, by contributing to our overall understanding of how language interacts with various facets of identity, including ethnic identity.</p>

<p> This thesis used group and individual interviews to collect and study discourse produced by both self-defined heterosexual and self-defined homosexual males, living in a socially progressive region of the United States, in order to evaluate how the male subjects appease male gender expectations, as is still socially expected today, while also abstaining from expressing homophobia, as is also expected today in such environments. While the analysis suggests that self-defined heterosexual subjects in this research indeed produced hegemonic, discriminatory utterances toward the homosexual and female community, a positive aspect of this discrimination is the fact that the same males who produce utterances in line with homophobia often do so in a way that is indirect and even seemingly unintentional due to a proposed lack of understanding. Implications and suggestions derived from this research thus include a need for more education and awareness in the areas of gender, sexual orientation, and particularly the subtleties of discursive forms of discrimination and dominance that maintain hegemony and victimization even in more progressive locations in space and time.</p>