Module 1.

Inha Havryliuk
ФАНм-1-21 1.8 д група

1. Watch the following video and answer the questions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=rfkAv5w5r3E&list=RDLVeYIyMCoIAZY&index=4 (15 min)
1. What is Sociolinguistics?
It is a broad subfield in linguistics, it is the study of social norms and context
and their relation to the language system. Literally, it is the study of the
language in its natural environment of development. It is the descriptive study
of the effect of all aspects of society, like cultural norms, mentality, traditions,
discourse, and context, and the effects of language use on society.
Sociolinguistics differs from sociology of language in that the focus of
sociolinguistics is the effect of society on the language, while the sociology of
language focuses on language's effect on society. Sociolinguistics covers to a
considerable degree with pragmatics. It is historically closely related to
linguistic anthropology and the distinction between the two fields has even been
questioned recently. 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., and how creation and adherence to these
rules are used to categorize individuals in social or socioeconomic classes.
2. How does language reflect social norms? Give examples to illustrate how
English reflects social norms.
English reflects social norms for formality or informality. This language may
sound too direct or even rude. ‘You’ is used to address different statuses and
numbers of people whereas the imperative forms usually form as follows: Bare
infinitive + polite framing. Social norms can regulate the flow of conversation,
interest, and attitude. Language is introduced in social and cultural contexts that
have social norms. In a social context, we can define the social status,
behavioral samples, and attitude of a speaker. 
3. What is language variation?
It can be a matter of territory peculiarity which might have incorrect forms.
The thing of softening is a marker of social group memberships. Location forms
the language groups and relates it to different age groups. New generations
learn the new vocabulary as they name the realities where they develop. The old
generation is still accumulated with the previous experience in major. They
bring together these features: differences in voice, grammar, vocabulary. 
Language variation and change is an integrated subfield of linguistics that
includes dialectology (the study of regional variation in language), historical
linguistics (the study of how languages change over time), and sociolinguistics
(the study of social variation in language). This grouping reflects the view that
all three phenomena are related through the central concept of variation: change
occurs via regional and social variation and much variation, therefore, reflects
the ongoing change.
4. What language attitudes are important for sociolinguists?
Language is a social cue to understand the group’s perception. It also triggers
stereotypical perceptions. 
The use of language is a form of social interaction that occurs in various
situations. Social interaction will live from the activity of talking to members of
the language users. Language is also a means to show self-identity. Through
language, we can show our viewpoint, our origins, and nations, our education
level, even our nature. From the sociolinguistic perspective, language attitude in
a multilingual society is an interesting phenomenon to study. Language
behavior and attitude towards language are the two things that are closely
related, which can determine the choice of languages as well as the survival of a
language. The study of sociolinguistics is addressing the phenomena of
language selection as a discourse in the event of communication and
demonstrates the social and cultural identity of the speech participants.
Community members are constantly changing variations in the use of language.
5. Give examples of prestige and non-prestige language varieties.
As the language might show what circle you are from, languages can be divided
into prestige and non-prestige dialects. British accent shows the person’s
elegancy, well-education but also arrogance and humiliation. Hence, the
American accent is perceived as more friendly but low-status. Therefore, there
is nothing bad or good in the variety of language accents as they all refer to its
historical formation and national identity. 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQkF4YYSx6A (10 min)
1. What is an accent and an idiolect?
An accent is a distinctive way of speaking a language. It is recognized by
perceiving utterances of the person. Accents may be various all around the
country. It depends on different pronunciations. Accent deals with intonation
and rhythm. Actually, different facts may influence people’s pronunciation. We
can directly claim that the speaking of every human is different and unique. The
way we speak is always different and individual. 
An idiolect is a certain way of speaking. Every individual has its own manner,
vocabulary, or grammar they operate while speaking. Sometimes this way of
speaking might be inherited and developed through growing up. 
Intrinsically, no accent is more or less privilege, they are balancing on the same
level due to the culture they are used to. 
2. Is accent a social marker? Prove your answer with some examples.
Accents might show our social status and territory relation as well. Spanish,
British accents, and so on mainly appear as a marker of geographical origin.
Stereotypical biases can occur with social markers as an accent. Accents can
create social stereotypes which should be avoided from the humanistic point of
view.