sociolinguisticsn.
/ˌsəʊʃ(ɪ)əʊlɪŋˈɡwɪstɪks/, /ˌsəʊsɪəʊlɪŋˈɡwɪstɪks/, U.S. /ˈˌsoʊsioʊˌlɪŋˈɡwɪstɪks/, /ˈˌsoʊʃ(i)oʊˌlɪŋˈɡwɪstɪks/ The branch of linguistics that deals with the social aspects of language.
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the mind > language > linguistics > other schools of linguistics > [noun] > sociolinguistics
sociolinguistics1939
1939 T. C. Hodson in Man in India 19 94 (title) Socio-linguistics in India.
1951 E. Haugen in Language 27 213 If semantics should be an undesirable term, there is always ‘ethno-linguistics’ or perhaps ‘socio-linguistics’.
1964 9th Internat. Congress Linguistics 1962 1129 Those of us who work in the interdisciplinary area of ‘socio-linguistics’ may feel that we are here at this Congress on sufferance.
1979 London Rev. Bks. 25 Oct. 4/3 (advt.) Shows how social psychological theories and methods can increase the explanatory power of sociolinguistics.
1980 Eng. World-wide 1 179 Sociolinguistics intends to produce a linguistic description as its end result, although it uses social facts and methods to arrive at this end.
2003 R. Liddle Too Beautiful for You (2004) 19 She's fucked four boys from her compulsory course unit in Comparative Social Structures and she's fucked two more from her optional year one module in Sociolinguistics.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1939