LANGUAGE BIOGRAPHY AS A METHOD OF SOCIOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH

Yuri V. Dorofeev

Crimean Republican Institute of in-service teachers training, Russian Federation

Abstract

The article deals with the peculiarities of sociolinguistic research based on the study of linguistic biography of an individual. The theoretical principles underlying such studies are analysed, as well as their connection with the current trends in the development of modern linguistics. The article sets the peculiarities of language biography method usage and its application to study language contacts, language development and functioning in different conditions, language variability, language situations, etc. At the same time language biography is defined from the functional point of view as a historically formed set of personality features, which does not exist in isolation from other speakers of the same or another language in similar conditions, it is of value exactly as part of the whole, which allows identifying common patterns in the characteristic process of native speakers. Therefore, the paper substantiates the idea that the study of linguistic biography is not an end in itself; the key features of this form of empirical material collection are dictated by the tasks of a particular study and are subject to the general principles of sociolinguistic interviews. Therefore, it is important to formulate, within the framework of modern linguistics, the key principles of collecting and systematising linguistic biographies, their structure and further interpretation.

Keywords: linguistic biography, innovation, sociolinguistics, linguistic personality, language functioning

For citation: Dorofeev Yu.V. Language biography as a method of sociolinguistic research [online] // Sociolinguistics. 2021. No. 4 (8). Pp. 25–38. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.37892/2713–2951–4–8–25–38