Verbal Interpretation Variables and Sociocultural Aspect of Language Variation: A New Perspective

Abstract

The article discusses issues pertaining to investigations of sociocultural aspect of language as it is represented through General verbal interpretation variable and Sociocultural verbal interpretation variable. We argue that the main function of General verbal interpretation variable is to activate collective knowledge as it is represented by language as a system. The function of Sociocultural verbal interpretation variable is to highlight a repertoire of mental models of individual knowledge that speakers activate in discourse. The article builds on our previous research in the field as well as specially devised methodology of cognitive-discursive interpretant (CDI) analysis and sheds new light on how Sociocultural verbal interpretation variable is evoked through the meta-concepts ROLES, STEREOTYPES, VALUES, NORMS, SPACE, TIME, LANGUAGE PERFORMANCE — universal knowledge structures that shape sociocultural diversity of any language. The research findings are important insights into socio-cognitive framework of Linguistics to study the interaction of society, culture, thought, language, and human mind in accord with the general, cognitive, and interpretive commitments of the cognitive approach