Sociolinguistics (SOC)

Broadly speaking, this strand encompasses studies of the effects of language use on society, and of cultural norms, expectations, and context on the way language is used. Specific topics of interest in this area include theoretical and empirical studies on the effect of gender, ethnic background, age, and other variables on the use of language. Studies on interactional, variationist, macro and micro sociolinguistics, such as research on dialectology, or conversation analysis, among others, are a good fit for this strand.