Norms in sociolinguistics – revisiting familiar ground and exploring new frontiers

The social sciences, including sociolinguistics, tend to take an interest in norms as a central component of human sociality. In the sociolinguistic canon, the importance of norms is easily discernible, for instance in... [ view full abstract ]

The social sciences, including sociolinguistics, tend to take an interest in norms as a central component of human sociality. In the sociolinguistic canon, the importance of norms is easily discernible, for instance in Labov’s influential definition of the speech community as ‘participation in a set of shared norms’ (1972: 120-121) and Hymes’ equally influential definition of ‘norms of interaction’ and ‘norms of interpretation’ (1972: 63-64). But while the notion of norms can easily be shown to play a central role in sociolinguistic theory, there is surprisingly little explicit sociolinguistic theorising about the notion of norms itself. Though there are certainly exceptions in the literature (Hymes 1972 being a case in point), norms tend to be treated as conceptual primes – convenient building blocks, ready-made for sociolinguistic theorising – rather than theoretical constructs themselves in need of reflexive attention as part of the sociolinguistic endeavour. By offering a critical re-appraisal of the notion of norms in the context of sociolinguistics and related disciplines, including ethnomethodology and linguistic anthropology, this colloquium aims to explore how we can move beyond commonsensical conceptions of norms in sociolinguistics and what might be gained from doing so. All papers in the colloquium draw on insights from empirical studies conducted in multilingual settings by the colloquium participants, and use this as a backdrop to address a range of questions relating to the colloquium theme. Central questions include:

• How have norms been conceptualised in sociolinguistic theory, and how does this compare to the way norms have been used in other areas of the social sciences?
• Do ‘new turns’ in the field of sociolinguistics, e.g. the (renewed) interest in multilingualism, and concepts such as superdiversity and translanguaging, require us to rethink established notions of norms?
• How can norms be approached theoretically and methodologically as complex, ongoing semiotic processes as opposed to fixed cultural entities?
• What kind of data and what kind of methods are necessary to investigate norms at different levels, and as part of different practices?