Sociolinguistic Studies 

About: Sociolinguistic Studies is an academic journal published by Equinox Publishing. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Multilingualism & Sociolinguistics. It has an ISSN identifier of 1750-8657. Over the lifetime, 444 publications have been published receiving 4090 citations.

Epistemología, metodología y técnicas del análisis de contenido

Abstract: It is ex p o s e d, first, an epistemological rev i ew of the analysis of content, as scientific practice in social sciences that studies an object (v.g. a singular communication) for whose representation (scientific and refutable therefore) it is used the selection procedure and analysis of comm u n i c a t ive products that belong objective ly to that communication that are significant to k n ow it from a theoretical perspective, and that they are valid or pertinent to put on approva l the conditions, so much general as matters, for those that these communicative products have been elaborated, or that they can be it, in any communication type similar to the one that has produced them. In second place the method is examined (the procedure rules) that aspires to tie in a valid way the succession of performances that concern to the selection of the corpus, to its segmentation in analysis units and to its exam to elaborate, to register and to treat data of d iverse logical orders, thanks to which it is elaborated a speeches able to represent scientifi c a lly (or in a refutable way) to the study object that is not the own corpus, but the human practice that has engendered the material object of the analysis: the analyzed communicative product. In third place, the last section exposes the technical alternatives that underlie to any analysis procedure, so much if it is carried out in all its steps by the investigators and analysts, as if it is carried out automatically by the available resources of software, and shortly described following the work of Harald Klein.

Counting the losses: numbers as the language of language endangerment

Abstract: This paper provides a set of critical reflections on the use(s) of numbers to communicate facts about the changing dynamics of speech communities undergoing language shift. Such numerical representations are widespread, and they are of important in segments of language expertise. After a literature survey of counting practices, the paper focuses on three language-ideological decisions underpinning language counting: First, decisions need to be made as to who counts as a speaker. In discussions of language endangerment, speaker counts are the most important single index of the endangered character of the language. Secondly, in order to count the number of distinct languages in a region, country, or world area, decisions must be made which privilege a notion of languages as bounded, closed, and geographically fixed entities. Finally, decisions need to be made with respect to the domains in which “small,” endangered, or minority languages continue to be used. From the discussion of domains we develop an alternative vision that centers not on distinct, named, countable languages, but on speakers and repertoires, and on the actual resources that speakers deploy in actual contexts. The contemporary situation of speakers of indigenous Sami, African and Native American languages will be drawn upon for examples.

Private language planning: The best of both worlds?

Abstract: Un aspecto do bilinguismo infantil, que con frecuencia se pasa por alto, e o feito de que, en moitos casos, e o resultado dunha planificacion linguistica privada. Mais en concreto, os chamados "bilingues de elite" (parellas de clase media e con diferentes nacionalidades, emigrantes, intelectuais e membros do mundo universitario que educan os seus fillos nunha lingua foranea, etc.) meditan moito as suas decisions cando se refire a como educar os seus fillos de xeito bilingue, e como levalo a cabo. Este artigo revisa as investigacions en bilinguismo infantil que tratan a planificacion linguistica familiar. O nucleo do artigo trata de investigar as decisions que os pais toman nestes contextos, as ideoloxias que estan detras das decisions e as practicas das que participan, tal como asi o revelan os pais mesmos. Por ultimo, o texto centrase nos resultados conseguidos e na avaliacion destes resultados. Tales resultados suxiren que so unha moi pequena parte dos temas tratados nos discursos publicos (nas investigacions sobre o tema) penetran nos discursos privados (informes dos pais sobre a sua propia planificacion linguistica). En consecuencia, os pais actuan nun contexto social no que cada vez se valora mais o bilinguismo, pero a falta de entendemento da sociolinguistica do bilinguismo con moita frecuencia desilusionaos e encheos de dubidas