Fishman, Joshua A.

Joshua A. Fishman was a renowned linguist and sociolinguist who studied how language use reflects social identities and societal structures. He explored how factors like ethnicity, class, gender, and community influence language variation and change. Fishman emphasized the importance of understanding language in its social context and contributed to theories about language maintenance, shift, and revival. His work helped shape the field of sociolinguistics, highlighting that language practices are deeply connected to cultural and social identities, rather than just grammar or vocabulary.