Definition of "sociolinguistics" []

• The study of language and linguistic behavior as influenced by social and cultural factors. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Feminist scholars in sociolinguistics have also developed constructs of dominance and difference in their writings on women's language. 71 In discussing the trivialization of women's talk, Dale Spender observes that men engage in similar forms of talk with comparable functions, but magnify its importance to preserve their advantaged gender position."
• "I mean that it is recognizable in the same way 'sociolinguistics' is recognizable as a Latinate word or y = mx + b is recognizable as the slope-intercept form for linear equations: certainly there are people who would not recognize it as such, but a passing familiarity with the subject matter should render it clear."
• "Fouser is teaching language-related courses such as sociolinguistics for undergraduate Korean majors and teaching Korean as a foreign language for graduate school students."