Whaddayaknow?: The modes of folk linguistic awareness1

A common approach to language awareness is through the contrast between folk and scientific knowledge, the former usually getting brief attention and being assigned little value. This paper argues that the folk awareness of language may be characterised in several different ways, having to do with a wide variety of linguistic characterisations (e.g. overt ‘availability’, ‘degree of accuracy’, ability to ‘control’ language varieties, and the level of specificity of folk knowledge). Only the second of these has to do directly with the folk versus linguist dichotomy, although cognitive constraints on what non‐linguists ‘usually’ know are important factors. More important, however, at least for speakers of American English, are the constraints imposed by notions of language ‘correctness’. In addition, folk linguistics is shown here to be a dynamic area of study, perhaps best uncovered by the analysis of ongoing discourses about language in speech communities. Finally, the value of folk linguistic awareness for both its scientific merit and its importance to applied concerns is briefly discussed.