Abstract: Language social situation can be defined in a broad or a narrow sense and categorized as positive or negative situations，differing in intralingual and extralingual situations. In the broad sense，language social situation is similar to language situation；in the narrow sense，language social situation refers to those aspects related to the environmental security of linguistic ecology，concerning national politics，law，and ideology；it covers aspects beneficial to language security，cultural security，and social stability，as well as aspects that may lead to the outbreak of language conflict or jeopardize national security. Language social situation in the narrow sense reflects language user’s language emotion，cultural inclination，language awareness，linguistic interest and demand，and indications of language harmony and contention. Language social situation arises from different linguistic views and linguistic ideologies. It is elusive，long-lasting，and persistent. Prior to the outbreak of language conflicts，there often exist certain language social situations fermenting. There is a close causality between language social situation and the outbreak of language conflict. Different from language situation，language social situation is an important aspect of it. The study of language social situation can done from a variety of dimensions including language contact，code selection，use of language，internal change of language，language learning motivation，and family language policy. Linguistic social situation is a new problem and field in sociolinguistics.

Key words: Sociolinguistics, language social situation, language security, language conflict, language planning, language governance