Dear Alaric,
Thank you for the reply. Apparently this website never notified me as it should. I happen to teach sociolinguistics (SL) and am quite interested in its historical founding. Of course, if general or theoretical linguistics had had enough focus on function and as well used actual language data, there might never have been need for a new separate field. At the same time I recognize the enormous contributions linguistics has made and continues to make. I am simply fascinated with the evolution of SL and always have enjoyed analysis of actual language use.
I was quite taken with the thrust of your hypothesis with the power of oppositional forces. It struck a chord in me and pleased me about its linguistic basis. I am sorry if your submission was not presented here in its original form. Something must have happened somehow in the inner channels of GLC :D. I hope GLC will rectify such in the future. Your attention to sociolinguistic aspects of language and application to listening interests me. I noted your concern with hate speech and share your concern. I wonder though if you might reconsider your comment on dialects, as I agree that an in-group attitude can lead to a feeling of superiority over other groups, but would see dialects more positively. It would be interesting to know about a causal relation between dialectal use and social prejudice. If you can refer me to any studies on it, I would appreciate it.
Again I regret that I just became aware of your latest post, for which I hope the Webmaster notices, and that this and the mishandling of your original submission gets corrected. Best wishes, Alaric, to your continued success and I hope I will have the pleasure of meeting you at the next GLC conference if not before.
Best,
Ray