This paper elaborates on the problem of the traditional terms of experts and lay people. Language is a fundamental component of everyday life and all individuals react to language issues by using language itself. The paper contests the claim that lay people do not exist in the field of linguistics. There must be dealt with innovative concepts, such as professional and amateur, because the “lay people” (as a considerable amount of studies have investigated) are well aware of processes concerning language issues and thus generate their own kind of “linguistic theory”. The task of linguists is to scrutinize such theories, which form the basis for the understanding of linguistic change and the formation of language norms. The line of argument presented here is arranged in chronological order: starting in antiquity, light will be shed on the meaning of the term “lay people” in cultural history. Special emphasis will be put on the Middle Ages, the early modern age and the modern period.
The following article consists of three parts: First, the context in which speakers live is sketched phenomenologically. These life-worlds are described as language-worlds, since language, according to the premise, is apriori and thus directly relevant. Subsequently, the focus is on the speakers as actors within the language-worlds. A cognitive-realistic model is presented to describe their lay-linguistic knowledge, the center of what is called epistemicon. Based on this, the third part of the article outlines an empirical study that surveys the linguistic laypersons’ knowledge on variation. It can be shown that although knowledge of regional variation is most abundant, aspects of functional and social variation also play a role. The final diagnosis is that the conceptualization of variation is fundamental to the linguistic worlds of linguistic laypersons.
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