Disciplines
Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics at Pitt focuses on how social situations affect language and language attitudes, how these can affect the way a language is spoken, and how social meaning is expressed through language. We attempt to answer questions such as:
- How do people's identity affect the way they speak, and how does the way they speak "create" their identity?
- What happens to languages and their speakers when people of different language backgrounds find themselves living and working in the same community?
- How can governments and institutions maintain or revitalize languages, while at the same time maintaining effective communication in a community?
- How do attitudes and ideologies about language affect the way a language is spoken?