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Topic · Linguistics and Language

Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies

Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies is a research topic within Linguistics and Language. Science Explorer counts 9.4k research works in it since 1950. 10.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the intersection of language, society, and culture, with a focus on sociolinguistics, language diversity, youth language, and language attitudes. It delves into topics such as multilingualism, language policy, urban linguistics, minority languages, and the role of language in political discourse.

  • Sociolinguistics
  • Language Diversity
  • Youth Language
  • Language Attitudes
  • Multilingualism
  • Language Policy
  • Urban Linguistics
  • Language Contact
  • Minority Languages
  • Political Discourse
Research works
9.4k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+4%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
France
56% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies

Which countries lead Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies research?

By volume, France and Canada publish the most (889 and 126 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 France 889 works
  2. 2 Canada 126 works
  3. 3 Brazil 101 works
  4. 4 United States 99 works
  5. 5 Algeria 90 works
  6. 6 Spain 78 works
  7. 7 Morocco 53 works
  8. 8 ?? 50 works
  9. 9 Switzerland 49 works
  10. 10 Belgium 45 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

France: 56.3%Canada: 8.0%Brazil: 6.4%United States: 6.2%6 others listed: 23.1%56%largest
France889 · 56.3%Canada126 · 8.0%Brazil101 · 6.4%United States99 · 6.2%6 others listed365 · 23.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies research, followed by Université Sorbonne Nouvelle and Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 259 works
  2. 2 Université Sorbonne NouvelleFrance 47 works
  3. 3 Université Paul-Valéry MontpellierFrance 36 works
  4. 4 Université de LorraineFrance 27 works
  5. 5 Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 25 works
  6. 6 Aix-Marseille UniversitéFrance 24 works
  7. 7 University of LausanneSwitzerland 22 works
  8. 8 Université de LyonFrance 22 works
  9. 9 Université Paris CitéFrance 21 works
  10. 10 Nantes UniversitéFrance 17 works

Who are the leading researchers in Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies include Pierre Bourdıeu, Bruno Latour and Christian Schmitt.

  1. 1 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  2. 2 Bruno Latour France 129k citations
  3. 3 Christian Schmitt France 126k citations
  4. 4 Andreas Heinz Germany 76k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies?

The most cited paper in Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies is "Une base de données lexicales du français contemporain sur internet : LEXIQUE™//A lexical database for contemporary french : LEXIQUE™" (Boris New, C. Pallier, Ludovic Ferrand et al., 2001), with 806 citations. Next come "language variation and cultural hegemony: toward an integration of sociolinguistic and social theory" (462) and "New speakers of minority languages: the challenging opportunity – Foreword" (399).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Une base de données lexicales du français contemporain sur internet : LEXIQUE™//A lexical database for contemporary french : LEXIQUE™ Boris New, C. Pallier, Ludovic Ferrand et al. · L’Année psychologique 2001 806
2 language variation and cultural hegemony: toward an integration of sociolinguistic and social theory Kathryn A. Woolard · American Ethnologist Nov 1985 462
3 New speakers of minority languages: the challenging opportunity – Foreword Bernadette O’Rourke, Joan Pujolar, Fernando F. Ramallo · International Journal of the Sociology of Language Open access 2015 399
4 Language, Ideology, and Political Economy Paul Friedrich · American Anthropologist Jun 1989 320
5 The Effect of Functional-Analytic Teaching on Aspects of French Immersion Students' Sociolinguistic Competence Roy Lyster · Applied Linguistics Open access Sep 1994 291
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies research done?

The largest centres of Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies research in 2022-now are Paris (France), Montpellier (France), Montreal (Canada) and Lyon (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Saint-Denis.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 239 works
  2. 2 MontpellierFrance 53 works
  3. 3 MontrealCanada 37 works
  4. 4 LyonFrance 37 works
  5. 5 GrenobleFrance 36 works
  6. 6 ToulouseFrance 36 works
  7. 7 RennesFrance 29 works
  8. 8 MarseilleFrance 29 works
  9. 9 NantesFrance 28 works
  10. 10 NancyFrance 25 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Saint-DenisFR · 21.3 works188×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies than the world average.

See Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Sorbonne Université and Université de Montréal score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 14.7%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Université de MontréalSorbonne UniversitéUniversité Sorbonne …Université Paris Cité
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Université Sorbonne NouvelleFrance 64.19.2%213.3×47 +27.9%
2Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 58.09.9%19.8×25 +27.4%
3Université de MontréalCanada 56.032.1%9.8×10 -31.6%
4Université Paris CitéFrance 55.67.7%15.1×21 +54.2%
5Université LavalCanada 54.729.4%12.8×10 +0.7%
6University of LausanneSwitzerland 53.26.4%26.6×22 +103.1%
7Université Paul-Valéry MontpellierFrance 53.05.4%272.3×36 +54.8%
8Aix-Marseille UniversitéFrance 52.84.9%39.8×24 +36.3%
9Université de LorraineFrance 52.65.6%38.2×27 +24.5%
10University of OttawaCanada 50.736.4%8.2×10 -19.4%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies, country by country

Is Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 4% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0095% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies0.0086% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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