euphemismThe concept of an ethnography of communication was advocated by the
American social anthropologist and linguist Hymes and this approach is
important in sociolinguisticsand applied linguistics.
see also communicative competence, ethnomethodology, role
relationship, speech eventethnolinguistic adj
a set of cultural, ethnic and linguistic features shared by members of a
cultural, ethnic, or linguistic sub-group.
ethnolinguistic identity n
an identityassociated with belonging to a particular language community,
including both ethnic and linguistic features.
ethnology n
see ethnography
ethnomethodology nethnomethodologist n
a branch of sociology that studies how people organize and understand the
activities of ordinary life. It studies people’s relations with each other and
how social interaction takes place between people. Ethnomethodologists
have studied such things as relationships between children and adults, inter-
views, telephone conversation, and turn takingin conversation. Language
is not the main interest of ethnomethodologists, but their observations on
how language is used in everyday activities such as conversation are of
interest to linguists and sociolinguists.
see also conversation analysis
etic approach n
see emic approach
etymology netymological adj
the study of the origin of words, and of their history and changes in their
meaning.
For example, the etymology of the modern English noun fish can be traced
back to Old English fisc.
In some cases there is a change in meaning. For example the word meat,
which now normally means “animal flesh used as food”, is from the Old
English word mete which meant “food in general”.
euphemism n
the use of a word which is thought to be less offensive or unpleasant than
another word. For example, indisposed instead of sick, or to pass away,
instead of to die.