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The Language of Demography and Sociolinguistics

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Demographic and Socioeconomic Basis of Ethnolinguistics
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Abstract

As in all scientific writings, so in writings on the interrelationship of demography and linguistics, questions arise as to the language in which the work is written and published. Scientific writing appears to many to use an arcane specialized language, often labeled a jargon. Words may be used in these technical fields with fuzzy meanings, subjective meanings, and multiple meanings. The same concept may be denoted differently in the two fields, limiting communication between them. Moreover, each scientific discipline has developed its own jargon, needed to convey the specialized concepts of its field, and so has difficulty communicating with other disciplines. These problems lead to the need for exploring use of a common language, some modification of the terminology to reconcile differences and clarify meanings, standardization of practice in the two fields, and the development of appropriate glossaries.

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Siegel, J.S. (2018). The Language of Demography and Sociolinguistics. In: Demographic and Socioeconomic Basis of Ethnolinguistics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61778-7_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61778-7_2

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