³ ~socgum1.11 º UP: <[LINK]> ³

³ sociolinguistics defined by º NEXT: open ³

³ Gumperz º <[LINK] - ³

--as language usage that reflects societal norms

Gumperz defines sociolinguistics as "the study of language usage

as it reflects more general behavior norms." Like other

sociolinguists, he is concerned with language as it is used for

communication, writeing that "although not all communication is

language, language is by far the most powerful and versatile

medium of communication." In addition, as a sociolinguist

employing the ideas of ethnomethodology <[LINK]> he

approaches linguistic behavior as a phenomenon embedded within,

but inseparable from, the normative action of the "socially

defined universe." {<[LINK]> Gumperz 1972b Speech Comm 219}