Language Use and Identity Construction: The Intersection between Sociolinguistics and Contemporary Sociology

Abstract

Early research in sociolinguistics examined language and identity in terms of identity-marking—the representation of group identity through language, while recent research focuses on identity-making—the construction of individual identity through language. This coincides with the shift from modern society to post-modern society, as seen in various phenomena such as the acceptance of diverse ways of being and the advance of individuality. Implementing post-modern social theory, this paper, under the theme of language use and identity construction, considers how to incorporate “society” in linguistic studies. In particular, we discuss the connection between language and society in establishment of the indexicality of linguistic features and their use by speakers.