1 Introduction

Emergency language services provide rapid rescue language products, technologies, or actions in natural disasters and public crisis events, including translation, language software development, information dissemination, etc. In recent years, with the importance of language issues in combating the COVID-19, emergency language services have received widespread attention. Practical contributions and theoretical explorations provide theoretical support for improving services. This article will explore the role, theoretical status, and connection with the origin of sociolinguistics of emergency language services in the fight against the epidemic, and discuss their sociolinguistic disciplinary attributes.

2 Emergency Language Service Practice and Its Social Contribution

In the fight against the COVID-19, emergency language services played a key role. The medical team of Shandong University Qilu Hospital's aid to Hubei quickly compiled dialect manuals and audio materials, improving the efficiency of doctor-patient communication. Under the guidance of the Ministry of Education and the National Language Commission, the "Anti Epidemic Language Service Team" has developed the "Hubei Dialect Communication for Fighting the Epidemic" and the multilingual "Foreign Language Communication for Epidemic Prevention and Control" to provide assistance to international personnel and introduce China's experience in epidemic prevention and control. In addition, emergency foreign language translation services provide on-site translation and communication explanations at key locations such as airports and ports, and record multilingual health alert videos to provide translation support for the fight against the epidemic. These practices not only meet the demand for language services and train the talent team, but also provide materials for theoretical research.

Theoretical exploration and new issues of emergency language services

Deeply explored the theoretical exploration and new topics of emergency language services. Zheng Yongyan studied the translation work of Shanghai college students' multilingual translation volunteers during the COVID-19, revealing their challenges in terms of time constraints, limited language skills and lack of professional knowledge, as well as their cross language translation and network cooperation strategies. Wang Mingyu and Kang Zhewen proposed eight macro theoretical issues, including the social demand for language and the target audience of language services. Li Yuming and Rao Gaoqi elaborated on the issue of emergency language capacity building from four dimensions: the field, stage, elements, and language types of emergency language services, and proposed specific content for national emergency language capacity building. Scholars have also reflected on emergency language services during the fight against the epidemic, pointing out that they are still in the stage of responding to "suddenness" and "urgency", and have not formed conscious action and rational development. In addition, the chapter also discusses the disciplinary attributes of emergency language services, which some scholars classify as applied linguistics, while others propose the viewpoint of "emergency linguistics" as an independent discipline. These viewpoints are of great significance for the theoretical improvement and practical deepening of emergency language services.

The origin of sociolinguistics and its implications for the disciplinary attributes of emergency language services

Explored the origin of sociolinguistics and its implications for the disciplinary attributes of emergency language services. There are multiple explanations for the origin of sociolinguistics. Li Baojia, through literature review, believes that its understanding and advocacy can be traced back to the second half of the 19th century, while Heller and McClintock argue that sociolinguistics emerged as a new field in the United States in the 1960s, emphasizing its interdisciplinary nature and function in solving social problems. The research of the founders of sociolinguistics, such as Gambertz, Lapov, and Heims, was closely related to the social situation at that time, and their work laid the foundation for the development of sociolinguistics. In China, the development of sociolinguistics is closely linked to the practice of national language and writing work, such as the formulation of the Chinese Pinyin scheme and the promotion of Mandarin. The birth of sociolinguistics is closely related to the practical and theoretical thinking of linguists in solving social language problems. The emergency language service has played an important role in fighting against the COVID-19. The discussion of its disciplinary attribute should be based on the characteristics of sociolinguistics and theoretical thinking.

5 Sociolinguistic disciplinary attributes of emergency language services

Explored the disciplinary attributes of emergency language services and concluded that they are most suitable for belonging to sociolinguistics. Scholar Wang Lifei proposed "emergency linguistics" as a new branch that covers multiple aspects of emergency language, but requires the development of a unique research paradigm. Another viewpoint is to incorporate emergency language services into applied linguistics, although it has strong practicality, further discussion is needed. Sociolinguistics shares similarities with emergency language services due to its focus on social language issues, and in the 21st century, sociolinguistics tends towards theoretical construction, providing a theoretical foundation for emergency language services. Emergency language services can use methods such as critical discourse analysis to deepen understanding of sociolinguistics and promote disciplinary development.

6 Conclusion

The paper explores the role and theoretical thinking of emergency language services in the context of the epidemic, analyzes their positioning in applied linguistics and emergency linguistics, and emphasizes their close connection with sociolinguistics. The author believes that emergency language services are consistent with the origin and theoretical development of sociolinguistics, and have significant importance in the theoretical development of the 21st century. However, the disciplinary nature of emergency language services still needs further research and discussion.