1. Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and society. It examines how social factors like age, gender, status, and setting influence language use.
2. This document provides an introduction to key concepts in sociolinguistics including domains of language use, diglossia, code-switching, language maintenance vs shift, and linguistic variation related to gender and age.
3. Several examples are given to illustrate these concepts, such as how a bilingual Tongan speaker uses different languages in different social contexts, and how social class can influence pronunciation patterns in British English.