LANE 422

SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Summarized from
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
An Introduction to Language and Society
Peter Trudgill
th
4 edition. 2000,
and other sources
Prepared by
Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Shehri

Chapter 1

Language & Society

What is Sociolinguistics?
Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects

of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context,

on the way language is used.

Sociolinguistics differs from sociology of language in that the

focus of sociolinguistics is the effect of the society on the

language, while the latter's focus is on the language's effect on
the society.

Sociolinguistics is historically closely related to Linguistic

Anthropology and the distinction between the two fields has

even been questioned recently.

What is Sociolinguistics?
Continued..

Sociolinguistics, then, as the name implies, is the study of language in its

social context.

Sociolinguistics is partly theoretical and partly empirical.

Sociolinguistics is the part of linguistics which is concerned with language

as a social and cultural phenomenon.

Sociolinguistics first appeared in the West in the 1960s and was pioneered

by William Labov in the US and Basil Bernstein in the UK.

William Labov is often regarded as the founder of the study of

sociolinguistics. He is especially noted for introducing the quantitative study

of language variation and change, making the sociology of language into a
scientific discipline.

What does sociolinguistics study?

Sociolinguistics studies the relationship between language and

society.

It also studies how language varieties differ between groups

separated by certain social variables, e.g., ethnicity, religion,

status, gender, level of education, age, etc.,

As the usage of a language varies from place to place (dialect),

language usage varies among social classes, and it is these

sociolects that sociolinguistics studies.

Why study language in its social

context?
There is a lot more to understanding language than what the core

theoretical areas of linguistics focus upon.

If we can gain insight into how language works by studying its

formal grammatical properties, we must also realize that language

as a "thing" to be studied is necessarily a kind of over simplification,
because language isn't a "thing" external to human beings, but
rather, something that makes up a part of who we are as human.

By studying language in its social context, we learn about language

as a social phenomenon.

Studying language in its social context, then, helps us learn about

ourselves as users of language, and how and why we use language

beyond communication purposes (social functions of language).

The different social functions of

language
Primarily, language serves as means for communicating information.

People exchange information through the use of language

(communicative function). But, thats not all..

As users of language, we are aware of the other very important

social function that is fulfilled by language. That is, language is also

used to establish and maintain relationships with other people.

Another social function of language is the clue-bearing role that

language fulfils. Our use of language can help other people

formulate an opinion about us, not so much from what we say, but
actually from how we say things. Language thus conveys
information about the speakers.

Language variation

Lets return for a moment to one of the important social functions of language,
that is, its clue-bearing role.

To know more about each other, people make use of the way language is used
by others who come from different regional and social backgrounds.

This variation in the regional and social background of a person is often marked
by a different variety of language.

Varieties of language are often referred to as dialects.

Language variation, then, is due to two factors: the geographical factor and the
social factor.

There are thus two types of dialects: geographical (dialects), and social dialects
(sociolects).

Definitions of:
Language, Dialect, Accent, and Idiolect
The terms language and dialect are not particularly easy terms to

define.

Language has been defined as any set or system of symbols used in

a more or less uniform fashion by a number of people, who are thus

able to communicate intelligibly with one another.

Dialect refers to a kind of language, which is distinguishable, to a

degree, from other kinds of the same language, in vocabulary, grammar

and pronunciation.

It is often very important to distinguish between the two terms accent

and dialect. The term accent refers to differences in pronunciation only.

Idiolect is the individuals unique way of speaking. It contains

idiosyncratic characteristics of an individuals speech.

The language/Dialect Continuums

In certain cases, neither dialect nor language represents a clear-

cut concept.

Some times, there is no clear linguistic breakdown between one

dialect or language and another.

It is not always possible to state in linguistic terms where people

stop speaking one dialect or language and start speaking another.

In such cases, we say that there is a geographical dialect or

language continuum.

A continuum is anything that goes through a gradual transition

from one condition, to a different condition, without any abrupt

changes. No part of a continuum can be distinguished from
neighboring parts except by arbitrary division..

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The German-Dutch Continuum

Dutch and German are known to be different or distinct languages spoken in

Germany and The Netherlands respectively.

However, at some places along the German-Dutch frontier the dialects

spoken on either side of the border are extremely similar.

If we choose to say that people on one side of the border speak German

and those on the other Dutch, our choice is again based on social and
political rather than linguistic factors.

A close examination of the linguistic situation along the German-Dutch

borders will reveal that there is a dialect continuum involving a merger of

two languages.

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The Scandinavian Continuum

A more extreme case which illustrates the problematic nature of the

two terms (language and dialect) can be taken from Scandinavia.

Norwegian, Swedish and Danish are all autonomous, standard

languages, corresponding to the three autonomous nations of

Norway, Sweden and Denmark respectively.

Educated speakers of all three countries can communicate freely

with each other, each in his native language.

But in spite of this common comprehension (or mutual intelligibility),

it would not make sense to say that Norwegian, Swedish and

Danish are really the same language.

This would constitute a direct contradiction of the political and

socio-cultural facts of these countries.

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The Criterion of Mutual Intelligibility

However, if we try to draw dividing lines between such language areas, we

would then be basing our division on sociopolitical factors and not linguistic
facts.

To solve the problem of dialect and language continuums, linguists usually

resort to a linguistic criterion known as mutual intelligibility criterion.

That is, if two speakers can understand one another, then they are speaking

dialects of the same language. And if they cannot understand each other then
they are speaking different languages.

This, however, would lead to strange results in the case of German and Dutch,

the Scandinavian situation, Mandarin and Cantonese in China, Urdu and Hindi
in the Indian Sub-Continent, and in many other places around the world.

In such situations, the linguistic criterion of mutual intelligibility as a solution is,

however, of no use.

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The Criterion of Mutual Intelligibility:

Not very helpful..
The criterion of mutual intelligibility, and other purely linguistic

criteria, are therefore of less importance in the use of the terms

language and dialect than are political and socio-cultural factors.

The most important of these factors are autonomy (independence)

and heteronomy (dependence). We can say that standard Dutch

and German are autonomous, since they are both independent,
standardized languages of independent countries.

But, the nonstandard dialects of Germany, Austria and German-

speaking Switzerland are all heteronomous with respect to standard

German.

In such cases one would have to go along with the socio-cultural

rather than linguistic criteria to interpret the linguistic phenomena in

such regions.
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The Standard
The Standard variety is that variety of a language which is usually

used in print, and is usually taught in schools and to non-native

speakers. It is also the variety which is spoken by educated people
and used in news broadcasts and in formal situations.

Dialects of any language include standard and non standard

varieties. (Standard Arabic is an exception)

This is contrary to some peoples mistaken believe that the term

dialect is used only to refer to non standardized varieties of a

language.

A Standard variety is imposed from above over the range of

regional and social dialects, and can thus be called a superposed

variety of language, and is the most prestigious of all varieties.

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The Standard
Continued

A standard variety cannot legitimately be considered better than other varieties

of the language.

This is because the scientific study of language has convinced us that all
languages, and all dialects, are equally good as linguistic systems.

All languages and varieties of language are structured, complex, rule-governed

systems which are wholly adequate for the needs of their speakers.

Value judgments concerning the correctness or purity of linguistic varieties are

social rather than linguistic.

There is nothing at all inherent in nonstandard varieties that makes them inferior.

Any apparent inferiority is due only to their association with speakers from
under-privileged, low-status groups, not due to systemic deficiency.

Attitudes towards nonstandard dialects are attitudes which reflect the social
structure of society.

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Why isnt Standard Arabic a dialect?

In order for a variety of language to be called a

dialect it would have to be used as a native
spoken variety of a group of people. Standard
Arabic is not!

Arabic language is diglossic, which means there

are two levels of the language: high (classical /
standard / written / formal) and low (spoken /
vernacular / informal).

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What is Standard English (SE)?

SE is a dialect of English.
SE is the variety of English which is used in print, and which is usually

taught in schools and to non-native speakers.

SE is the variety spoken by educated people and used in the media.

SE developed out of the English dialects/varieties used in and around

London.

These dialects were modified through the centuries by speakers at

the court, by scholars and writers, and later by so-called Public

Schools.

The resulting variety became the dialect used by upper society

members in London.

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SE
Continued..

SE became too different from the varieties used by other social groups.

With the invention of printing, this variety began to be used in books.

Today, we can find SE regional differences: American SE, Scottish SE,

Australian SE, English SE, etc

There is no universally acknowledged standard accent for SE.

There is no necessary connection between SE and any particular accent,

however, RP is usually associated with SE.

SE can be spoken with any regional accent, and it mostly is.

SE is not linguistically better than any other variety of English.

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Standard vs. Nonstandard Varieties

All languages and dialects are equally good as linguistic systems.
All dialects of language are rule-governed systems.
Value judgments concerning correctness and purity of dialects are

social and not linguistic.

There is nothing inherent in non-standard dialects that make them

inferior.

Any apparent inferiority is due only to their association with under-

privileged groups.

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