Cover not available
Part of
Pragmatics and its Interfaces
Edited by Cornelia Ilie and Neal R. Norrick
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 294] 2018
► pp. 11–32

Sociolinguistics vs pragmatics

Where does the boundary lie?

| Victoria University of Wellington

Sociolinguists describe the linguistic resources available in speech communities, and provide a systematic account of how social variables influence linguistic choices from among those resources. Pragmatics explains how individuals use linguistic resources to produce and interpret meaning in interaction, and sometimes to change relationships. Certain aspects of each discipline are generally recognized as distinct, but there are also areas of overlap. Using workplace discourse to explore the constraints of egalitarianism and gender in New Zealand society, I illustrate the advantage of drawing on both disciplines, and demonstrate how macro-level (societal) and meso-level (eg. workplace teams, communities of practice) sociolinguistic norms may act as sociopragmatic constraints or as a focus for contestation in interaction at the micro-level in face-to-face workplace interaction.

Keywords: sociolinguistics, sociopragmatics, egalitarianism, the gender order, critical realism, social realism, interactional sociolinguistics, context, politeness
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Sociolinguistics and Pragmatics as separate areas of research
    • 1.2Sociolinguistics
    • 1.3Pragmatics
    • 1.4Sociopragmatics
  • 2.Critical or social realism
  • 3.Egalitarianism
  • 4.Self-promotion
  • 5.The “gender order”
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Transcription key
  • References
Published online: 7 September 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.294.02hol
References
Allan, Keith, and Kasia M. Jaszczolt
(eds) 2015 The Cambridge Handbook of Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Angouri, Jo
2011 “ ‘We are in a masculine profession…’: Constructing Gender Identities in a Consortium of Two Multinational Engineering Companies.” Gender and Language, 5(2): 373–404. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barron, Anne, and Klaus P. Schneider
eds 2009 Variational Pragmatics. Special Issue. Intercultural Pragmatics 6(4): 425–615. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baxter, Judith
2011 “Survival or Success? A Critical Exploration of the Use of ‘Double-Voiced Discourse’ by Women Business Leaders in the UK.” Discourse and Communication 5(3): 231–245.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bhaskar, Roy A.
2008 Fathoming the Depths of Reality. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Birner, Betty J.
2013 Introduction to Pragmatics. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Bönisch-Brednich, Brigitte
2008 “Watching the Kiwis: New Zealanders’ Rules of Social Interaction – an Introduction.” Journal of New Zealand Studies 6/7: 3–15. [URL]Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre
1979 Outline of a Theory of Practice (R. Nice translation). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, Penelope, and Stephen C. Levinson
1987 Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cameron, Deborah
2009 “Theoretical Issues for the Study of Gender and Spoken Interaction.” In Gender and Spoken Interaction ed. by Pia Pichler, and Eva M. Eppler, 1–17. London: Palgrave Macmillan.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carston, Robyn
1998 Relevance Theory: Applications and Implications. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2002 Thoughts and Utterances: The Pragmatics of Explicit Communication. Oxford: Blackwell.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Collier, Andrew
1994 Critical Realism: An Introduction to Roy Bhaskar’s Philosophy. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Connell, Robert W.
1987 Gender and Power: Society, the Person and Sexual Politics. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Coulmas, Florian
(ed) 1997 The Handbook of Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Coupland, Nikolas
2001 “Introduction: Sociolinguistic Theory and Social Theory.” In Sociolinguistics and Social Theory, ed. by Nikolas Coupland, Srikant Sarangi, and Christopher N. Candlin, 1–26. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Coupland, Nikolas, and Adam Jaworski
2009 “Social Worlds through Language.” In The New Sociolinguistics Reader, ed. by Nikolas Coupland and Adam Jaworski, 1–21. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bagihole, Barbara, and Simon Cross
2006 “ ‘It never struck me as female’: Investigating Men’s Entry into Female Dominated Occupations.” Journal of Gender Studies 15(1): 35–48. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Daly, Nicola, Janet Holmes, Jonathan Newton, and Maria Stubbe
2004 “Expletives as Solidarity Signals in FTAs on the Factory Floor.” Journal of Pragmatics 36: 945–964. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eckert, Penelope, and Sally McConnell-Ginet
2003[2014] 2nd ed. Language and Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eckert, Penelope
2008.“Variation and the indexical field.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 12 (4): 453–476.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ehrlich, Susan
2008 “Sexual Assault Trials, Discursive Identities and Institutional Change.” In Analysing Identities in Discourse, ed. by Rosana Dolón, and Júlia Todolí, 159–177. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fung, Loretta, and Ron Carter
2007 “Discourse Markers and Spoken English: Native and Learner Use in Pedagogic Settings.” Applied Linguistics 28 (3): 410–439. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grice, Paul H.
1975 “Logic and Conversation.” In Syntax and Semantics, Vol . 3, Speech Acts ed. by Peter Cole, and Jerry L. Morgan, 41–58. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Gumperz, John J., and Jenny Cook-Gumperz
2007 “A Postscript: Style and Identity in Interactional Sociolinguistics.” In Style and Social Identities: Alternative Approaches to Linguistic Heterogeneity, ed. by Peter Auer, 477–501. Berlin: Mouton.Google Scholar
Halliday, Michael A. K.
2007 Language and Society, ed. by J. J. Webster. Vol. 10. London & New York: Continuum International.Google Scholar
Haugh, Michael
2015 Im/politeness Implicatures. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hecht, Michael L., Jennifer R., Warren, Eura Jung, and Janice L. Krieger
2005 “A Communication Theory of Identity: Development, Theoretical Perspective, and Future Directions.” In Theorizing about Intercultural Communication, ed. by William B. Gudykunst, 257–278. Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar
Heritage, John
1998 “ Oh-prefaced Responses to Inquiry.” Language in Society 27(3): 291–334. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Janet
2006 Gendered Talk at Work: Constructing Gender Identity through Workplace Discourse. New York, Oxford: Blackwell.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 (4th ed.). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. London: Pearson.Google Scholar
2014 “Language and Gender in the Workplace.” In The Handbook of Language, Gender and Sexuality ed.by Susan Ehrlich, Miriam Meyerhoff, and Janet Holmes, 433–451. New York, Oxford: Malden, Oxford Wiley-Blackwell.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2015 “Making Transitions: The Role of Interaction in Joining a Workplace Community of Practice. ICIP Special Issue: Interactional Competences in Institutional Practices.” Novitas Royal: Research on Youth and Language 9(2): 77–92.Google Scholar
Holmes, Janet, and Meredith Marra
2011 “Leadership Discourse in a Maori Workplace: Negotiating Gender, Ethnicity and Leadership at Work.” Gender and Language 5(2): 317–342. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Janet, Meredith Marra, and Bernadette Vine
2011 Leadership, Discourse and Ethnicity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Janet, and Nicky Riddiford
2010 “Professional and Personal Identity at Work: Achieving a Synthesis through Intercultural Workplace Talk.” Journal of Intercultural Communication 22. [URL]Google Scholar
Holmes, Janet, and Stephanie Schnurr
2016 “Impoliteness in the Workplace.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness, ed. by Jonathan Culpeper, Michael Haugh, and Dániel Kádár, 635–660. London Palgrave.Google Scholar
Holmes, Janet, and Maria Stubbe
2015 Power and Politeness in the Workplace: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Talk at Work (2nd ed). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Holmes, Janet, Meredith Marra, and Bernadette Vine
2011 Leadership, Discourse and Ethnicity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012 “Politeness and Impoliteness in New Zealand English Workplace Discourse.” Journal of Pragmatics 44: 1063–1076. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holyoake, D.
2001 The Male Nurse: Addressing the Myths of Maleness in Nursing. Salisbury: APS Publishing.Google Scholar
Huang, Yan
2012 The Oxford Dictionary of Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Huppatz, Kate, and Susan Goodwin
2013 “Masculinised Jobs, Feminised Jobs and Men’s ‘Gender Capital’ Experiences: Understanding Occupational Segregation in Australia.” Journal of Sociology 49 (2–3): 291–308.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jackson, Brad, and Ken Parry
2001 The Hero Manager. Auckland: Penguin.Google Scholar
Jautz, Sabine
2014 Thanking Formulae in English: Explorations across varieties of English. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.DOI: DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kecskes, Istvan
2014 Intercultural Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kennedy, Jeffrey C.
2007 “Leadership and Culture in New Zealand.” In Culture and Leadership across the World: The GLOBE Book of In-depth Studies of Societies, ed. by Jagdeep S. Chhokar, Felix C. Brodbeck, Robert J. House, 397–432. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ.Google Scholar
Leech, Geoffrey
1983 Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.Google Scholar
2014 The Pragmatics of Politeness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lipson, Leslie
1948 [2011] The Politics of Equality: New Zealand’s Adventures in Democracy. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Marra, Meredith, and Keely Kidner
2014 “Shades of Masculinity: Workplace Contexts and Constraints.” Paper presented at International Gender and Language Association Conference, Vancouver, Canada.
Marra, Meredith, Bernadette Vine, and Janet Holmes
2008 “Heroes, Fathers and Good Mates: Leadership Styles of Men at Work.” Proceedings of the Australia and New Zealand Communication Association, 2008. [URL]. 1–15.Google Scholar
McDowell, Joanne
2015a “Talk in Feminised Occupations: Exploring Male Nurses’ Linguistic Behaviour.” Gender and Language 9(3): 365–389. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2015b “Masculinity and Non-traditional Occupations: Men’s Talk in Women’s Work.” Gender, Work and Organisation 22(3): 273–291. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McElhinny, Bonnie S.
1995 “Challenging Hegemonic Masculinities: Female and Male Police Officers Handling Domestic Violence.” In Gender Articulated: Language and the Socially Constructed Self, ed. by Kira Hall, and Mary Bucholtz, 217–243. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Marsden, Sharon and Janet Holmes
2014 “Talking to the Elderly in New Zealand Residential Care Settings.” Journal of Pragmatics 64: 17–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Metge, Joan
1995 New Growth from Old: The Whanau in the Modern World. Wellington: Victoria University Press.Google Scholar
Mey, Jacob L.
1993 Pragmatics: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
2010 “Societal Pragmatics.” In Encylopedia of Pragmatics, ed. by Louise Cummings, 444–446. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Miller, Gloria E.
2004 “Frontier Masculinity in the Oil Industry: The Experience of Women Engineers.” Gender, Work and Organization, 11(1): 47–73.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Powell, Abigail, Barbara Bagihole, and Andrew Dainty
2008 “How Women Engineers Do and Undo Gender: Consequences for Gender Equality.” Gender, Work & Organization, 16(4): 412–428. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rhoton, Laura A.
2011 “Distancing as a Gendered Barrier: Understanding Women Scientists’ Gender Practices.” Gender and Society 25(6): 696–716. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Roberts, Celia, Sarah Campbell, and Yvonne Robinson
2008 Talking Like a Manager: Promotion Interviews, Language and Ethnicity. UK Department for Work and Pensions Research Report No 510.Google Scholar
Romaine, Suzanne
1995 “Sociolinguistics.” In Handbook of Pragmatics: Manual, ed. by Jef Verschueren, Jan-Ola Oestman, and Jan Blommaert, 489–495. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schiffrin, Deborah
1987 Discourse Markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schneider, Klaus P., and Anne Barron
2005 “Variational Pragmatics: Contours of a New Discipline.” Paper presented at the 9th International Pragmatics Conference, Riva del Garda.Google Scholar
(eds) 2008 Variational Pragmatics: A Focus on Regional Varieties in Pluricentric Languages. [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 178]. Amsterdam: Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sperber, Dan & Wilson, Deirdre
2005 Pragmatics. InThe Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy, ed by Frank Jackson & Michael SmithOxford: Oxford University Press. 468–490Google Scholar
Stubbe, Maria
2010 ‘Was That my Misunderstanding?’: Managing Miscommunication and Problematic Talk at Work. (Unpublished doctoral thesis). Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Thomas, Jenny
1995 Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics. London and New York: Longman Pearson.Google Scholar
Trevor-Roberts, Edwin, Neal M. Ashkanasy, and Jeffrey C. Kennedy
2003 “The Egalitarian Leader: A Comparison of Leadership in Australia and New Zealand.” Asia Pacific Journal of Management 20(4): 517–540. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Trudgill, Peter
1983 On Dialect. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Vaara, Eero
2003 “Post-acquisition Integration as Sensemaking: Glimpses of Ambiguity, Confusion, Hypocrisy, and Politicization.” Journal of Management Studies 40 (4): 859–894.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verschueren, Jef
1995 “Pragmatics.” In Handbook of Pragmatics: Manual, ed. by Jef Verschueren, Jan-Ola Oestman, and Jan Blommaert, 1–10. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Williams, L. Christine
1995 Still a Man’s World: Men who do ‘Women’s Work’. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Wodak, Ruth
2008 “Controversial Issues in Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis.” In Gender and Language Research Methodologies, ed.by Kate Harrington, Lia Litosseliti, Helen Sauntson, and Jane Sunderland, 193–210. London: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Wodak, Ruth, Barbara Johnstone, and Paul Kerswill
2011 “Introduction.” In The SAGE Handbook of Sociolinguistics, ed. by Ruth Wodak, Barbara Johnstone, and Paul Kerswill, 3, 1–8. Los Angeles & London: Sage.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zaldman, Nurit, and Amos Drory
2001 “Upward Impression Management in the Workplace: Cross-Cultural Analysis.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 25(6): 671–690.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zufferey, Sandrine
2015 Acquiring Pragmatics: Social and Cognitive Perspectives. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 9 other publications

Culpeper, Jonathan
2021. Sociopragmatics. In The Cambridge Handbook of Sociopragmatics, ► pp. 15 ff. DOI logo
Haugh, Michael & Jonathan Culpeper
2018. Integrative pragmatics and (im)politeness theory. In Pragmatics and its Interfaces [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 294], ► pp. 213 ff. DOI logo
Haugh, Michael, Dániel Z. Kádár & Marina Terkourafi
2021. Introduction. In The Cambridge Handbook of Sociopragmatics, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
House, Juliane
2018. Translation studies and pragmatics. In Pragmatics and its Interfaces [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 294], ► pp. 143 ff. DOI logo
Huc-Hepher, Saskia
2021. Navigating the London-French Transnational Space: The Losses and Gains of Language as Embodied and Embedded Symbolic Capital. Languages 6:1 ► pp. 57 ff. DOI logo
Norrick, Neal R.
2018. Narrative studies versus pragmatics (of narrative). In Pragmatics and its Interfaces [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 294], ► pp. 121 ff. DOI logo
Tincheva, Nelly
2022. Political speeches. In Figurativity and Human Ecology [Figurative Thought and Language, 17], ► pp. 85 ff. DOI logo
Yus, Francisco
2018. The interface between pragmatics and internet-mediated communication. In Pragmatics and its Interfaces [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 294], ► pp. 267 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2021. Fundamentals of Sociopragmatics. In The Cambridge Handbook of Sociopragmatics, ► pp. 13 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 8 march 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.