Sociolinguistics. What's that, you ask? Boy, do I have a lot to tell you about it.

I just got back from a three-week camp where I took a course on sociolinguistics. Before those three weeks, I had little to no idea what that word entailed. Now, thanks to my professor, TA's, and classmates, a newfound interest for this subject has delved deep into my heart.

Sociolinguistics, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is "the study of language in relation to social factors, including differences of regional, class, and occupational dialect, gender differences, and bilingualism." It's fascinating. Much of linguistic insecurity and linguistic discrimination previously went right over my head, but now that I've opened my eyes to the power of language, I notice little nuances that I have never seen before.

I'll be writing a series of articles pertaining to this vast subject field. Here's the first little bit:

According to the Imposed Norm Hypothesis used by sociolinguists, we form mental judgments on language based on the stereotypes adopted by society and community-wide values. For example, regional dialects are sometimes stigmatized, and other times, respected. In your mind, imagine a typical Southern accent. You probably said "y'all," talked slowly, and dragged out your vowels. Now contrast it with a Northern accent. It sounds pretty "standard," doesn't it? Now, you see the difference between regional languages, but why does that matter? Alright, now think to yourself: which accent sounded more educated? More authoritative? What about more friendly? A sociolinguistic study showed that people with Northern accents were seen as "smarter," while Southerners were "nicer." This same stereotype could transfer into the workplace, where Southerners might be discriminated against because of their way of talking. Language holds unimaginable powers that influence social factors such as intelligibility perception, education or justice systems, and even political policy.

Now, think of someone who is bilingual. First, what qualifies someone as bilingual? Does one have to be only verbally fluent in another language, or do they have to be able to read and write that language as well? Do they have to be bi-cultural, in which they understand and are immersed in two different cultures? Okay, this bilingual person: Do they speak some sort of semi-English, semi-Chinese/Spanish/Korean language, perhaps called Chinglish, Spanglish, or Konglish? You might think this is because they aren't proficient in both languages, but the opposite is actually true. These code-switching languages are actually spoken by people who are so proficient in both languages that they are able to alternate between the two within one conversation (or even sentence). However, some English-only speaking people have seen these mixed languages as a "threat" to "pure English." Being aware of these stigmas can help one to keep an open mind.

All languages are beautiful. All languages are valid. All dialects and varieties are languages in themselves. We shouldn't strip a language of its right to be independent just because we don't see it as a "whole language."

(Stay tuned for the next part of this sociolinguistics series!)