What is solidarity?

Definition
	Solidarity is a scale of perceived like-mindedness or similarity of behavioral disposition between a speaker and addressee deriving from their similar
	backgrounds acquaintance, or personal characteristics, such as sex.
	In some languages, solidarity affects the choice of expressions of social deixis.

Example
	The choice between using familiar or polite second person pronouns in many Indo-European languages, such as tu and vous, indicates the level of solidarity between a speaker and addressee.

Kinds
	Here are some kinds of solidarity:
	What is familiarity? What is intimate social deixis? What is politeness?

Source
	Brown, R. and Gilman 1960 258

Context for this page:

Concept module: solidarity
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): S
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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