PAPER OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS

REGIONAL AND SOCIAL DIALECTS

Lecturer :
Hanura Febriani,M.Pd

Arranged by:
Chista Riyanda Putri :1811230039
Diana Angraini :1811230046

ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TADRIS
STATE ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS INSTITUTE (IAIN)
BENGKULU
2021

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 PREFACE

Praise and gratitude to God Almighty who still provides us, the authors health and
convenience to finish this paper entitiled “Regional and Social Dialects” without
any problem .
Not to forget we also thank those who also helped in the making of this paper,
especially to our Sociolinguistics lecturers, mam Hanura Febriani, M.Pd
The authors realize the shortcomings in the preparation of this report, so
constructive criticism and suggestions are expected for the perfection of this
report in the future. Hopefully this report can be useful.

Author

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 Table of Contents
PREFACE..........................................................................................................................2
CHAPTER I.......................................................................................................................4
INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................4
A. BACKGROUND OF THE PAPER........................................................................4
B. PROBLEM FORMULATION...............................................................................5
C. PURPOSE FORMULATION................................................................................5
CHAPTER II......................................................................................................................6
THEORY AND DISCUSSION..........................................................................................6
A. Regional Variation.................................................................................................6
B. Varieties.................................................................................................................9
C. Social Dialect.......................................................................................................10
CHAPTER III..................................................................................................................14
Bibliography....................................................................................................................15

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 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. BACKGROUND OF THE PAPER

Language is a fundamental communication tool for humans.
In language communication, people have differences in using a
language, such as the way they say words, the intonation they use,
and the way they choose to construct sentences. This difference
creates language variations, namely variations that refer to different
ways of saying the same thing (Lucas and Bayley: 2007). In language
variation, the most specific factor affecting variation is the region of
the region where the language is spoken or the social group that uses
the language. As a result, there are dialects; where language
describes the peculiarities of speech in certain regional or social
groups (Sevinj, 2015). In addition to the influence of regions and
social groups, dialects are distinguished by vocabulary, grammar,
and pronunciation (or phonology, including prosody).
Dialects exist in every language, including English as one of
the most widely spoken languages in North America, Canada,
Europe and Australia. However, every country and with its social
groups has a dialect that influences the language itself. The language
variation itself also defines social heritage in the form of speech and
becomes a symbol of unity in society (Wardhaugh: 2006). Based on
the previous explanation, this article will describe the translation of
regional dialects and social dialects. It will also outline the
implementation of variation theory in languages around the world.

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B. PROBLEM FORMULATION
1. What is Regional Variation ?
2. What is Varieties ?
3. What is Social Dialects ?
C. PURPOSE FORMULATION
1. To explain Regional Variation
2. To explain Varieties
3. To explain Social Dialects

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 CHAPTER II

THEORY AND DISCUSSION

A. Regional Variation
Regional dialect refers to linguistic differences that accumulate in a
particular geographic region (Fromkin, Rodman & Hyams, 2003)1. Dialect
variation in regional dialect is influenced by three factors completing each
others which are time, place, and socio-culture. These statements mean
that each region has different dialect. However, because of the chain of
mutual intelligible between dialect, people from, different region which
are still connected can still understand each other when they speak. The
differences which distinguish one village from another can be larger or
smaller, but the further the distance we go from the point we start, the
more distinctive the dialect will be (Chambers and Trudgill, 2004)2.
Regional dialects divided into three types: International variation,
intra-national or intra-continental variation, and cross continental variation
1. International variation
There are many stories about differences accent such as to
British ears, a new Zealander’s dad sounds like an English
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person’s dead, bad like bed and six like sucks. Besides the
difference in accent, there are also vocabulary differences in
the country, namely as an example Australians talk of sole
parents ,while people in England call them single parents , and
New Zealanders call them solo parents.
International variation also affects the differences in
grammar for instance Speakers of US English tend to prefer do
you have , though this can now also be heard in Britain

1
Robert Rodman,Nina Hyams,Victoria Fromkin,An Introduction to
Language seventh ediction, (USA:Thomson Wadsworth,2003),p.446
2
J.K. Chambers, Peter Trudgill, Dialectology, (UK:Cambridge
university press,2004),p.5-7
3
Janet Holmes, An Introduction Sociolinguisticts fourth ediction,(New
York:Routledge,2013),p.132

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 alongside the traditional British English have you got .
Americans say gotten where people in England use got . Many
Americans use dove while most British English speakers prefer
dived4
2. Intra-national or intra-continental variation
Example:
Rob : This wheel’s completely disjaskit.
Alan : I might could get it changed
Rob : You couldn’t do nothing of the sort. It needs dumped.

This conversation between two Geordies (people from

Tyneside in England) is likely to perplex many English
speakers. The double modal might could is typical Geordis,
though it is also heard in some parts of the Southern USA. The
expression needs dumped is also typical Tyneside, though also
used in Scotland, as is the vocabulary item disjasket, meaning
“worn out” or “compeletely ruined”.
Regional variation takes time to develop. British and
American English , for instance, provide much more evidence
of regional variation than New Zealand or Australian English.
In the USA, dialetologist can identify distinguishing features of
the speech of people from different regions. Nothern, Midland
and Southern are the main divisions, and within those three
areas a number of further divisions can be made. Different
town and even parts of towns can be distinguished: and within
those the Boston dialect is different from that New York City.
Words dragonfly in the Eastern States include darning, needle

4
Janet Holmes, An Introduction Sociolinguisticts fourth ediction,(New
York:Routledge,2013),p.133

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 Mosquito hawk, spindle, snake feeder, snake dactor, and snake
waiter, but of these only darning needle is used in New York.5
3. Cross-continental variation: dialect chains
Dialect chains are very common throughout Europe. One
chain connects all German, Dutch, and Flemish dialects from
Switzerland through Austria and Germany, to the Netherlands
and Belgium, and one connects the Portuguese, Spanish,
Catalan, French, and Italian dialects. The Scandinavian dialect
chain connects the Norwegian, Swedish and Danish dialects, so
Swedish and Norwegian people in nearby areas can
communicate more easily than their fellow Swedes from
southern and northern Sweden.
The same type of dialect chain is found throughout India
and China. They illustrate very clearly the arbitrariness of the
distinction between 'language' and 'dialect'. It is easy to see
that if we try to determine what counts as Germany vs
Netherlands or Sweden vs Norway or Italy vs France using
only linguistic features, the task will be fraught with problems.
Where should we draw the boundary between one dialect and
the next, or one language and the next? Its linguistic features
overlap, and usage in one area merges with the next.
Intelligence doesn't help either. Most Norwegians claim that
they can understand Swedish, for example, even though there
are two different languages involved, while Chinese speaking
only Cantonese cannot understand those who speak Mandarin,
despite the fact that both are described as dialects of Chinese.6

B. Varieties
5
Janet Holmes, An Introduction Sociolinguisticts fourth ediction,(New
York:Routledge,2013),p.134-136
6
Janet Holmes, An Introduction Sociolinguisticts fourth ediction,(New
York:Routledge,2013),p.137-138

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 Basically a dialect develops because there is limited communication
between users of a language. In such a situation, changes that occur in a
territory only applies there and does not extend to other speech
communities of speakers of the same language. If some kind of contact
limitation this continues over a long time, changes or changes in aspects of
the language accumulate more and more and consequently intelligence
mutual getting harder to achieve. Even more so if a situation like this is
burdened by the existence of a socio-political element that prohibits the
speech community certain to interact verbally with ones other. This will
lead to its formation a new, different language, whose embryo are the
various languages earlier. Examples are Comrie's given is the emergence
of languages of French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, which were once
dialects of Latin which were had triumphed during the Roman Empire.
Regarding the variety or variety of languages, Blommaert argues that
each language has four varieties dimensions, which include:

a. First, language can have variations according to the characteristics and

idiosyncrasy of each individual speaker. This kind of variation is
common known as idiot. So the number of idiots are being in a
community said the same as the number of people there.
b. Second, variations in a language can occur according to the
geographic location of the speaker. An example that can be taken as
an illustration is there is a difference in speech between people who
live in New York with those who lives in Texas. This kind of variation
is called a regional dialect or geographic dialect which is the basis for
stereotypes such as New Yorkers, Texas, people from the south,
people from the north, and etc.
c. Third, language variations can also be determined by community
social identity. Sort of a variation type this is called the social dialect
or sociolek. Dialect social is the embryo of group stereotypes that

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 have certain distinctive characteristics such as ethnicity or social
class.7
This variation or variety of language has two views. First, the variety or
variety of language is seen as a result of the social diversity of the speakers
of that language and the diversity of language functions. Second, the
variation or variety of language already exists to fulfill its function as a
means of interaction in various community activities8

C. Social Dialect

Dialect is a variety of a particular language which is used by a

particular group of speakers that is signaled by systematic markers such as
syntactical, phonological, grammatical markers. Dialects which are
normally found in the speech community may be in the forms of regional
dialect and social dialect. Register is the variation of language according to
the use. It means that where the language is used as a means of
communication for certain purposes. It depends entirely on the domain of
language used. It is also a function of all the other components of speech
situation. A formal setting may condition a formal register, characterized by
particular lexical items. The informal setting may be reflected in casual
register that indicates less formal vocabulary, more non-standard features,
greater instances of stigmatized variables, and so on.
Sociolectal variation In Anglo-Saxon sociolinguistic thought (Holmes
2001; Hudson 1996; Romaine 2000; Trudgill 2003) the term sociolect1 is
often used interchangeably with social dialect (the latter form seems to be
more commonly used and preferred2). P. Trudgill defines it concisely as ‘a
variety or lect which is thought of as being related to its speakers’ social
background rather geographical background’ (Trudgill 2003: 122). In

7
Nyoman Adi Jaya Putra, “Bahasa, Varietas Bahasa, Dan Variabel-Variabel
Penentu Penggunaannya.”. Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni
UNDIKSHA Singaraja.Vol.6.No12.2010
8
Binti Riska Nur Astuti, “Variasi Bahasa Dalam Tuturan Spontanitas Mahasiswa
Tingkat Iv Pendidikan Bahasa Dan Sastra Indonesia.”.Artikel Skripsi.FKIP – Pendidikan
Bahasa Indonesia.Kediri.2018

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other words, it is the language spoken by a particular social group, class or
subculture, whose determinants include such parameters as: gender, age,
occupation, and possibly a few others. Sociolect can be used then as a
general term for some of the variety types referred to in the introductory
section, and as such should be perceived as a handy label. The notion of
sociolect figures quite prominently in Polish sociolinguistic studies. 9
By the late 1980s (socio)linguistic research in Poland had centered
on regional rather than on social varieties of the national language.
However, with the rise of numerous social dialects (a consequence of the
1989 political and social upheaval), linguists focused more extensively on
sociolects. At around the same time, the need for more extensive research
into social dialects was also recognized by Hudson, who argued that
people had been increasingly identifying with social rather than with
regional groups and that especially in Britain ‘social class takes
precedence over geography as a determinant of speech (Hudson 1996: 42).

According to Wilkoń (1989), who was the first to use the concept
of sociolect in Polish sociolinguistic literature, sociolects are ‘language
varieties related to such social groups as: class, community and
professional groups’3 (Wilkoń 1989: 88). The term is meant to apply to
colloquial varieties of Polish which are socially and functionally restricted.
What distinguishes a sociolect from the standard variety is above all its
lexical repertoire, which is activated in group-specific contexts. Wilkoń
also argues that the main prerequisite for a sociolect is the existence of a
social group whose members maintain strong bonds (professional, social
or cultural) established through frequent contacts with each other. If a
sociolect is to evolve, the group of its users must be stable, have an
established tradition, and display a sense of differentness from other
groups.

Marcin Lewandowski, “Sociolects and Registers – a Contrastive Analysis of

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Two Kinds of Linguistic Variation.”. Instytut Językoznawstwa, Uniwersytet Im. Adama

Mickiewicza Al. Niepodległości.Poznań.Polandia.2010

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a. Social class dialects
Vocabulary
Social dialect research in many different countries has revealed a
consistent relationship between social class and language patterns.
People from different social classes speak differently. The most obvious
differences – in vocabulary – are in many ways the least illuminating
from a sociolinguistic point of view, though they clearly capture the
public imagination. In the 1950s in England, many pairs of words were
identifi ed which, it was claimed, dis tinguished the speech of upper-
class English people (‘U speakers’) from the rest (‘non-U speakers’). U
speakers used sitting room rather than lounge (non-U), and referred to
the lavatory rather than the (non-U) toilet . The following excerpt from
a Nancy Mitford novel provides an illustration.
b. Pronunciation
example:
Kim : Only uneducated people drop their ‘h’s. Stephen : Let’s hear you
say ‘Have you heard about Hilda’s new house that her husband left her?
It cost her a heck of a lot to fi x up.’ If you don’t drop a single ‘h’ in
that sentence you’ll sound like one of Monty Python’s upper-class
twits!
In describing differences between Canadian and Parisian French, I
mentioned that the differences are often not absolute, but rather matters
of frequencies. Exactly the same is true for the speech of different social
groups. Groups are often distinguished by the frequency with which
they use particular features, rather than by their use of completely
different forms. This important point can be illustrated with a simple
example. Usha Pragji, a New Zealand student, taped a radio broadcast
of two elderly people’s accounts of their childhood in Edwardian
Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. The two speakers
contrasted on a range of social variables.

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c. Grammatical patterns
In reporting patterns relating linguistic features to social status,
many factors interact in determining the proportion of vernacular or
standard forms a person uses. Some of these are social factors such as
the age or gender of the speaker, and they will be examined in the next
couple of chapters. Another factor, however, which was mentioned
briefly above, is the linguistic environment in which a word occurs.10

CHAPTER III
CONCLUSION
10
Janet Holmes, “An Introduction To Sociolinguistics. (Routledge.2013)

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 Regional dialect refers to linguistic differences that accumulate in a
particular geographic region and socially (Fromkin, Rodman & Hyams,
2003). Dialect variation in regional dialect is influenced by three factors
completing each others which are time, place, and socio-culture. Regional
dialects divided into three types: International variation, intra-national or
intra-continental variation, and cross continental variation.
The variety or variety of languages, Blommaert argues that each
language has four varieties dimensions, which include: First, language can
have variations according to the characteristics and idiosyncrasy of each
individual speaker. Second, variations in a language can occur according
to the geographic location of the speaker. Third, language variations can
also be determined by community social identity.
Dialect is a variety of a particular language which is used by a
particular group of speakers that is signaled by systematic markers such as
syntactical, phonological, grammatical markers. There are social dialects
class, namely vocabulary, pronunciation and grammatical patterns

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 Bibliography
Astuti, B. R. (Artikel Skripsi.FKIP – Pendidikan Bahasa Indonesia.). Variasi
Bahasa Dalam Tuturan Spontanitas Mahasiswa Tingkat Iv Pendidikan
Bahasa Dan Sastra Indonesia. Artikel Skripsi.FKIP – Pendidikan Bahasa
Indonesia.
Holmes, J. (2013). An Introduction Sociolinguisticts fourth ediction. New York:
Routledge.
J.K. Chambers, P. T. (2004). Dialectology. UK: Cambridge university press.
Lewandowski, M. (2010). Sociolects and Registers – a Contrastive Analysis of
Two Kinds of Linguistic Variation. Polandia: Instytut Językoznawstwa,
Uniwersytet Im. Adama Mickiewicza Al. Niepodległości.
Putra, N. A. (2010). Bahasa, Varietas Bahasa, Dan Variabel-Variabel Penentu
Penggunaannya. Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Vol.6.No12.
Robert Rodman, N. H. (2003). An Introduction to Language seventh ediction.
USA: Thomson Wadsworth.

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