ABSTRACT
Folk linguistics (FL) studies what people say and believe about language. Although there were many older examples of such work, the field was highly recommended by Henry Hoenigswald some years ago:
… we should be interested not only in (a) what goes on (language), but also in (b) how people react to what goes on (they are persuaded, they are put off, etc.) and in (c) what people say goes on (talk concerning language). It will not do to dismiss these secondary and tertiary modes of conduct merely as sources of error.
Hoenigswald, 1966: 20