sociolinguistics
n. the study of the relationship between language and society and of the social circumstances of language usage, especially as related to characteristics such as gender, social class, and ethnicity. Using techniques and findings from linguistics and the social sciences, sociolinguistics is concerned with the individual’s language use in the context of his or her social community or culture. One aspect of this field is the study of linguistic codes, that is, the culturally determined rules and conventions that govern language usage. Social factors are also important in analyzing how languages change over time.