The sociolinguistic enterprise raises fundamental questions about the nature of the relationships between social phenomena (such as social class or gender) and linguistic variation, while within social theory a persistent concern is the nature of the relationship between structure and agency. Sociolinguistics can draw on social theory for analysis of the relationship between speaker and system, the role of language in the creation, maintenance and change of social institutions, and the role of human agency in sociolinguistic phenomena. This article summarises the key tenets of a sociological realism, based on the recent work of Margaret Archer (in particular her exploration of analytical dualism) and of Derek Layder (specifically his theory of ‘social domains’). It relates these ideas to sociolinguistics, arguing that language can be seen to have a different significance, depending on which domain is the focus of the researcher's interest. The article considers the distinctiveness of this approach, contrasting it with structuralist and social constructionist accounts and with structuration. It concludes by identifying some methodological implications, suggesting that sociological realism offers a productive theoretical framework for sociolinguistics in dealing with questions of language, structure and agency.

Human language inevitably depicts the world from a human point of view. This article briefly reviews key positions on the use of anthropomorphic and anthropocentric language taken by scientists and discourse analysts. It then presents the data used in this investigation -a corpus of transcripts of the television series Life. The methods of analysis are explained, as is the focus adopted, which is less on the more obvious, lexical choices made by the presenter, David Attenborough, and more on the grammatical patterns which we suggest play a significant role in the depiction of the wide range of species represented in the programs. Three grammatical features -pronouns, the connective so, and the fo infinitive form -were explored in context, and the results demonstrate how, separately and together, they play a significant role in the representation in these texts of animals' perspectives, connoting in subtle ways both intention and evaluation. We suggest a need for greater dialogue between broadcasters, discourse analysts, and ethologists.

This article engages with linguistic ethnography from the perspective of sociological realism. It begins by reviewing some of the positions expressed in the linguistic ethnography (LE) literature about the extent to which LE is defined by theoretical orientation as well as by method. The article is then framed around a kind of 'generic' sociolinguistic research question -'Which people use which kinds of language in what circumstances and with what outcome(s)?'. Taking each element in turn, it explores the ways in which an ethnographic approach contributes to the processes of: classifying speakers as members of various kinds of social groups; identifying language varieties; accounting for the influence of 'context'; and identifying 'outcomes'. I suggest that each of these aspects of social linguistic research stands to benefit from the methods developed in ethnography, and from the theories and principles underlying the approaches it uses. However, drawing on the work of contemporary realist social theorists, the article concludes that ethnography is a method suited to illuminating certain aspects of such questions better than others.

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This article reviews the 'Initial Teacher Training National Curriculum for Primary English', which specifies what students who are intending to become primary school teachers must be taught about the English language. It also refers to two other key policy texts, the 'National Curriculum for English' for primary school pupils, and the 'National Literacy Strategy'. It argues that these policy documents appear to have little regard for the fact that language use, language description and the status of a standard language are, at least in part, social and political issues about which there is not a consensus. Having considered the views of language and the discourse in which those views are represented in the policy documents in question, the article proposes that a realist analysis of the relationships between language, structure and agency is helpful to understand unfolding developments in explicit teaching and learning about language in the contemporary English primary school system.Lexical patterns betray cultural patterns. (Scott, 1999)