Introduction

The subfield of linguistics known as sociolinguistics deals with the relationship between language and society. Sociolinguistic research seeks to achieve a better understanding of the nature of language by investigating the way in which language functions in social contexts.

A concept that is important in sociolinguistic investigation is the notion of variety. A variety is any form of language used by a particular group of speakers that can be identified in social, regional, or situational terms. Language varieties that can be defined according to the social groups to which their speakers belong are known as social dialects or sociolects. Sociolects can be identified in terms of the social class of their speakers, their ethnicity, religion, occupation, education, and so on. Those varieties of language that are associated with a particular geographical area and that can thus be defined in regional terms are dialects (in the narrow sense of the term). The varieties of language known as registers are the special forms that are used when dealing with a specific subject matter or when engaged in a particular activity. Law and medicine, for example, are well-known technical registers. Styles are those varieties of a language that differ according to their level of formality. Styles can range from very formal to very informal.

In this chapter we will look at some issues in German sociolinguistics, a number of which involve different varieties of German.