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A Portfolio of
Sociolinguistics

Submitted by: Ayesha Mazhar

Submitted to: Ashfaq Ali Meerani
Roll no: 2k14Eng/06
Dated: 10/11/2016
University of Sindh Thatta Campus
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Contents

1. Introduction to Sociolinguistics...............................3

2. Varieties of language...............................................4

3. Socio­linguistic development of a child..................5

4. Bilingualism............................................................6

5. Effects of Bilingualism...........................................8

6. Multilingualism......................................................10

7. Speech Community................................................12

8. Code­switching and Code­mixing.........................15

9. Language Death.....................................................16
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1. Introduction to Sociolinguistics

Correlation b/w social Social function and

and linguistic structure. use of speech

Relationship b/w
language and Society
Focus on variation Find the ways of
language change

A platform where Sociolinguistics Focus on Diversity

we have to accept
each other

Studies Social/Lingual Context

Study language in relation to Explains why we

Culture, Society, Context, speak different in
speaker, listener and linguistic different situations
Competence
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2. Varieties of language

(When the structure of same language varies at a point this is called variation).

Sociolect Register Ideolect

(Social dialects that (refer to selection of (variety of language
dialect spoken by language according to used by a speaker)
a speech community) the context)

Code Isogloss
Varieties of
(arbitrary/man made (A tool that is used
language
prearrangment set of to separate one
signals/language) dialect from other)

Social Regional Diglossia

(When language varies (When language varies (When no more than two
due to social status) due to geography) dialects are found)
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3. Socio­linguistic Development
Of a Child
3 Modals
Parents, Peers, Adults
4 Stages

Babyhood Childhood Adolscense Adulthood

(0­3 years) (3­13 years) (13­19 years) (19­28 years)

Social Social Social Social

Observe exposure sensitive Mature

listen interaction conscious Aware
perceive follow others independent Stable
learn adopt culture friends circle Identity

Linguistic Linguistic Linguistic Linguistic

(LAD) (U.G) (ZPD) Stable

Sounds Bi/Multilingual Performance Fluent
Words Differentiation Hard work Creativity
Phrases Innovative Group work Ling: competence
Sentence Competence Harmonal change Long: performance
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4. Bilingualism

i. What is Bilingualism?

(A person who speaks 2 languages is called Bilingual and the phenomenon

is called Bilingualism)

 Native like control of 2 languages (Bloomfield)

 Bilingualism begins when a speaker of one language can produce complete

meaningful utterances in the other language (Haugen)

 Bilingualism starts when a person begins to understand utterances in a 2nd

language but is unable to produce utterances (Diebold)

ii. Reasons of Bilingualism

Childhood Reasons Adulthood Reasons

Child of immigrants Due to Interests

Market language Due to Market language
Different languages of Parents Due to educational requirement
Different languages of Grandparents Due to professional requirements
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iii.

Daily exposure Daily interaction

Requirements of
Bilingualism

Linguistic Competence Communicative Performance

iv. 3 Generation Cycle

1st Generation Immigrants Native Sindhi

2nd Generation their childs Bilingual (Sindhi+English)

3rd Generation their child's child Native English

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5. Effects of Bilingualism

(Effects of Bilingualism on a child or on a person can be positive or negative or

sometimes both)

Lingual benefits Cognitive development Cross­cultural Awareness

More Creative Flexibility

Positive Effects

Academic skills Sharp memory

Intelligence More Semantic awareness

Best Concept formation

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Less fluency in Native language Less knowledge of Native culture

Intellectual efforts

Negative Effects
lower intelligence Less competence and
and performance in
both languages

Diminishes ability
to learn other things

Feel stranger in his/her own family No sense of identity in native language

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6. Multilingualism

(A person so speaks more than 2 languages is called Multilingual, and the

phenomenon is known as Multilingualism

Market language Professional needs

Tourism

Social/Political causes Economical causes

Reasons of
Multilingualism

Educational needs Personal Interests

International needs
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Cultural openness Globalization

Multiple personalities

Economic advantages Access to information

Effects of
Multilingualism

Cognitive ability Broader and Diverse

view of the world

Multi­task orientor

Increased communication International interaction

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7. Speech Community

(Group of people who use the same variety of a language and who share
specific rules for speaking and for interpreting speech).

"Speech is a form of social identity and is used, consciously or unconsciously, to

indicate membership of different social groups or different speech communities
George (The Study of Language 2014)

"Regardless of the linguistic differences among them, the speech varieties

employed within a speech community form a system because they are related to a
shared set of social norms". Gumperz (1964)

"Concerned primarily with an ideal speaker­listner, in a completely homogeneous

speech­community, who knows it's language perfectly and is unaffected by such
grammatically irrelevant conditions as memory limitations, distractions, shifts of
attention and interests, and errors (random of characteristic) in applying his
knowledge of the language in actual performance. Choomsky (1965: 3)

"The speech community is not defi ed by any marked agreement in the use of
language elements, so much as by participation in a set of shared norms: these
norms may be observed in over types of evaluate behaviour, and by the
uniformity of abstract patterns of variation which are invariant in respect to
particular levels of usage. Labove (1972: 130­1)
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Shares linguistic norms Share social norms

Shared community membership

Group of people use language to construct

live together and manipulate social
identities

Characteristics of
Speech Community

Share Homogeneous Tolerance/Harmony/Peace

norms and ideologies

Interact fluently
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Anti­language Discourse community

Dialect

Bi/Multilingualism Kinship terms

Speech Community
Style shifting Social/Regional Dialect
Contains

Diaglossia Language planning

Language Variety

Language standardization Linguistic Variation

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8. Code­Switching and Code­Mixing

Code Switching Code Mixing

 Changing one language to another Mixing of one language to another

within the same utterance. within the same utterance.

 It can occur between sentences It occurs at the level of phonology

and within a single sentence.. lexeme, orthography.

 It refers to a movement from one It refers to the blending of two or

language to another one. more linguistic systems into one.

 Its like a 'suspension'. Its like a 'solution'.

 It occurs mostly due to the lack of It occurs mostly due to the lack of
Understanding and Comfortness. knowledge in one language.

 e.g. (Competence simply means) e.g. I need (pencilyun).

(Apki mojoda maloomaat)

 Its like jumping from one side It is like combining the both sides to
to another side of a Bridge. make a new one.

 Jump: English to Urdu Combine: Urdu+English=Unglish.

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9. Language Death

"A language dies when nobody speaks it any more".

Crystal (2003: 1)

"When all the people who speaks a language die, the language dies with them".
Holmes (1992: 61)

Gradual Death Sudden Death

Involves gradual replacement Rapid extinction of language,
of one language by another. without an intervening period
e.g. Replacement of Gaelic by Bilingualism. The last speaker is
English. Monolingual in the dying Lang:
As in the case of Tasmanian.

Types of
Language Death

Radical Death Bottom to top Death

Due to several political
repression, a community may
opt, out of self defence to stop
speaking their language and will
not transmit it to their children.
A language ceases to be used as
a medium of conversation, but
may survive in special use like
a religion or folk songs.
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Natural/Environmental Political/Social/Economical

Cultural/Religious

linguistic Language policy

Causes of
Language Death

Less population Linguicide/Genocide

Of speakers

Imperialism

Language shift Bi/Multilingualism

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Loss of Diversity loss of Knowledge

Loss of Identity

Effects of
Language Death

Loss of Literature Loss of History

Loss of Cultural preservation

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Political Empowerment Human (linguistic) Rights

Preservation

Academic usage International prestige

Solution of
Language Death

Increased population Stable Economy

Culture preservation

Great literature Technological usage

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References

Crystal . D (2000). 'Language Death' Cambridge University Press.

Downed . W 'Language and society' (2nd edition) Cambridge University Press.

Fromkin, V. & Rodman, R. (1998). 'An Introduction to Language' (6th edition)

and Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

Hudson . R (1996). 'Sociolinguistics: Language and Variation' (2nd edition)

Cambridge University Press.

Holmes . J. 'An Introduction to Sociolinguistics'.

Morgan . H 'Speech Communities' Cambridge University Press.

Muysken . P (1998). 'One speaker two languages: Cross Disciplinary

Perspectives on Code­Switching' Cambridge University Press.

Rehman . T (2010). 'Language, Ideology and Power', Oxford University Press.

Takala . E (2016). 'The Advantages and Disadvantages of Bilingualism'

University of Jyvaskyla.