ABSTRACT
This chapter elucidates critical points at which language becomes relevant to social research by examining situations in which such critical points are dramatically highlighted. It provides an attempt to identify language-related problems in cross-cultural research, a situation in which the participants generally recognise that more than one language is involved and that something needs to be done about language. The chapter considers some of these same critical points in situations where they are more obscure, that is, where people proceed on the assumption that they are communicating in 'the same language'. Evidence concerning the great varieties of classification and categories employed in different languages suggests the possibility of problems of this order arising in a monolingual society. The phonetic data suggest the existence of excellent indicators of socioeconomic status, social mobility, aspirations and reference group orientations – indicators which have been largely ignored by sociologists. Linguistic research is increasingly providing clues for needed methodological innovations in social-science field research.
