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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
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