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This paper introduces the notion of “scale” as a theoretical sociolinguistic concept. Scale is a key notion in social theory, notably in social geography and World Systems Analysis. Whereas the traditional sociolinguistic register is dominated by horizontal spatial metaphors of distribution, spread, flow and trajectory, scale is a vertical metaphor. It suggests that processes of distribution and flow are accompanied by processes of hierarchical ordering, in which different phenomena are not juxtaposed, but layered and distinguished as to the scale on which they operate and have value and validity. Such scale shifts, triggering shifts in value and validity, are first theoretically discussed, then illustrated in a number of analytical vignettes that demonstrate the reformulating effect of the use of scale as an analytic concept. The paper fits in a wider program of developing a model of sociolinguistics that is theoretically adequate for addressing phenomena of globalization.
Jan Blommaert (2007) studied this question.