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Bélcio Joao
Eliud Nathanael Mateus Nselela
Estefania Samuel
Fernando Bila
Maxwell Romeio

BASIC CONCEPTS ON SOCIOLINGUISTICS

UNIVERSIDADE ROVUMA
2022
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Bélcio Joao
Eliud Nathanael Mateus Nselela
Estefania Samuel
Fernando Bila
Maxwell Romeio

BASIC CONCEPTS ON SOCIOLINGUISTICS

UNIVERSIDADE ROVUMA
2022
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CONTENTS

Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Basic Concepts.................................................................................................................................5
Introductory Notes On Sociolinguistics...........................................................................................5
1. Definitions Of Sociolinguistics....................................................................................................5
2. Importance Sociolinguistics In Language Teaching....................................................................5
3. Relationships Between Language And Society............................................................................6
4. Language Variety.........................................................................................................................7
5. Dialect...........................................................................................................................................8
6. Language......................................................................................................................................8
7. Register.........................................................................................................................................9
8. Style Of Language........................................................................................................................9
9. Bell’s Criteria On The Distinction Between Language And Dialect...........................................9
10. Regional Dialect.......................................................................................................................11
11. Social Dialect............................................................................................................................11
12. Bilingualism.............................................................................................................................11
13. Multilingualism........................................................................................................................11
14. Mutual Intelligibility................................................................................................................11
15. Code-Choice.............................................................................................................................12
16. Code Mixing.............................................................................................................................12
17. Code-Switching........................................................................................................................13
18. Role Of The Teacher Towards Code Switching, Code Choice And Mixing...........................13
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................15
References......................................................................................................................................16
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INTRODUCTION
Language is an important part of our life. Language and communication cannot separate. People
use the language as a means of communication to express their ideas and feelings. They
communicate either with each other using language in every social interaction; communicate with
others directly or indirectly in the spoken and written form. Therefore, language is an important
thing of communication in social life. In the social life, language and society are two things that
support each other. It is impossible if there is society without language and there is language
without society, because language is a device to communicate one to another (Adam J.H, 1982;
3). There is the study to organize between language and the society that is called sociolinguistics
Because of that, each community in the society has their own language and variety in having their
communication. According to (Ivas Peter, 1995:80) state, that sociolinguistics is the science that
studies of characteristic and function of the language variety the relationship between language
with the characteristic and function in the language society. In communication in the society,
there are many language variations such as register, slang, jargon, dialect, and socialist.
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BASIC CONCEPTS

INTRODUCTORY NOTES ON SOCIOLINGUISTICS

1. Definitions of sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics is the branch of linguistics dealing with the influence of the society on language
and vice-versa.

Hudson (1996, p. 4) Describes sociolinguistics as “the study of language in relation to society”.

Gumperz (1971, p. 223) defines sociolinguistics as an attempt to find correlations between social
structure and linguistic structure and to observe any changes that occur.

Chambers (2002, p. 3) is even more direct: ‘Sociolinguistics is the study of the social uses of
language, and the most productive studies in the four decades of sociolinguistic research have
emanated from determining the social evaluation of linguistic variants.

2. Importance Sociolinguistics in Language Teaching

Sociolinguistics deals with the problems faced in learning a language or, to say how a language is
acquired and also how a language is modified according to different social circumstances.
Through this we also come into contact with the traditional value of a language, which otherwise
would have remained unknown to us. So, Sociolinguistics is an integral part in the study of
language in common, and in the study of the impact of society over language. So, it is really
important in the sphere of the study of language. The teacher must focus, on words, grammar,
and text contents in teaching language recently without considering the communication in its
entirety, whereas in learning the language to use it, appropriate place(s) and cultural(s) of the
language should be taken into consideration in addition of language itself that make the pupils
will never be fluent in another language.

Each language is used by different contexts, by different people, and for different reasons when
the language is learnt. It is important to consider those factors to effectively communicate to
others, which presumably the ultimate goal. In essence, the study of language and its relationship
with culture and society is known as sociolinguistics. Although it may sound like an intimidating
term that belongs in the academic realm, every language learner should have some awareness of
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sociolinguistics, particularly because the very act of using a language is, in fact, social. Language
was developed out of the need to communicate and interact, and therefore, it is social by nature,
and understanding some part of that allows us to more effectively use the language.

Sociolinguistics take up the social space in the study of language on topics that linguistics usually
keeps in the background. In other words, it is the effort to understand the way that social
dynamics are affected by individual and/or group language use, variations in language and
varying attitudes towards language. Additional examples include the differences between the
ways men and women speak, the ways children or teens speak, or even the way different social
classes communicate. Being unaware of social courtesies (or aspects of sociolinguistics) can lead
to embarrassing situations as a language learner.

For example: in Nampula, a child is not expected to say to an elder a phrase like “Quala cena?”
it is considered extremely disrespectful.

In the Nampula, the phrase “quala cena” is considered acceptable to people of the same social
class, it is informal. Making a mistake of this sort, according to David Broersma can lead people
to not only think that one is ignorant, but “ill mannered, dishonest, insincere, rude, pushy, etc.”
The most intimidating part is, the better you are at speaking, the more severely you are judged in
total communication, and all the more reason you have to improve and develop your
sociolinguistic skills as an important facet of your language learning experience.

3. Relationships between language and society

There are several possible relationships between language and society. One is that social structure
may either influence or determine linguistic structure and/or behavior. Certain evidence may be
adduced to support this view: the age-grading phenomenon whereby young children speak
differently from older children and, in turn, children speak differently from mature adults; studies
which show that the varieties of language that speakers use reflect such matters as their regional,
social, or ethnic origin and possibly even their gender; and other studies which show that
particular ways of speaking, choices of words, and even rules for conversing are in fact highly
determined by certain social requirements.

A second possible relationship is directly opposed to the first: linguistic structure and/or behavior
may either influence or determine social structure. This is the view that is behind the Whorfian
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hypothesis, the claims of Bernstein, and many of those who argue that languages rather than
speakers of these languages can be ‘sexist’.

A third possible relationship is that the influence is bi-directional: language and society may
influence each other. One variant of this approach is that this influence is dialectical in nature, a
Marxist view put forward by Dittmar (1976, p. 238), who argues that “speech behaviour and
social behaviour are in a state of constant interaction” and that ‘material living conditions’ are an
important factor in the relationship.

A fourth possibility is to assume that there is no relationship at all between linguistic structure
and social structure and that each is independent of the other. A variant of this possibility would
be to say that, although there might be some such relationship, present attempts to characterize it
are essentially premature, given what we know about both language and society. Actually, this
variant view appears to be the one that Chomsky himself holds: he prefers to develop an asocial
linguistics as a preliminary to any other kind of linguistics, such an asocial approach being, in his
view, logically prior.

4. Language variety
Hudson (1996, p. 22) defines a variety of language as “a set of linguistic items with similar
distribution”. From that definition we can say that the Emakua spoken in Nampula is different
from that spoken in Cabo Delgado, Nacala, Niassa, Zambezia.

Ferguson (1972, p. 30) offers another definition of variety as “anybody of human speech patterns
which is sufficiently homogeneous to be analyzed by available techniques of synchronic
description and which has a sufficiently large repertory of elements and their arrangements or
processes with broad enough semantic scope to function in all formal contexts of
communication.’

Hudson and Ferguson agree in defining variety in terms of a specific set of ‘linguistic items’ or
‘human speech patterns’ (presumably, sounds, words, grammatical features, etc.) which we can
uniquely associate with some external factor (presumably, a geographical area or a social group).
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5. Dialect
Haugen, (1966, p. 924–5). As a social norm, then, a dialect is a language that is excluded from
polite society’ It is often equivalent to nonstandard or even substandard, when such terms are
applied to language, and can connote various degrees of inferiority, with that connotation of
inferiority carried over to those who speak a dialect.

Donald G. (1999) “A dialect is variation in grammar and vocabulary in addition to sound

variations.”

For example, if one person utters the sentence 'John is a farmer' and another says the same thing
except pronounces the word farmer as 'fahmuh,' then the difference is one of accent. But if one
person says something like 'You should not do that' and another says 'Ya hadn't oughta do that,'
then this is a dialect difference because the variation is greater.

6. Language
Many definitions of language have been proposed:

 Language: unitary system of linguistic communication which subsumes a number of

mutually intelligible varieties (single linguistic norm or group of related norms)

 Language, a system of conventional spoken, manual (signed), or written symbols by

means of which human beings, as members of a social group and participants in
its culture, express themselves.
 Bernard Bloch and George L. Trager formulated the following definition: “A language is
a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group cooperates.”
 Henry Sweet, stated: “Language is the expression of ideas by means of speech-sounds
combined into words. Words are combined into sentences, this combination answering to
that of ideas into thoughts.”
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7. Register
Registers are sets of language items associated with discrete occupational or social groups
(Holmes 2001, p.123). Registers are used in all forms of communication, including written,
spoken, and signed.

E.g. surgeons, airline pilots, bank managers, sales clerks, jazz fans and pimps employ different
registers (vocabulary, syntax, phonology).

In linguistics, the register is defined as the way a speaker uses language differently in different
circumstances. Think about the words you choose, your tone of voice, even your body language.
You probably behave very differently chatting with a friend than you would at a formal dinner
party or during a job interview. These variations in formality, also called stylistic variation, are
known as registers in linguistics. They are determined by such factors as social occasion,
context, purpose, and audience.

8. Style of Language
Intonation and tone of voice are not easily reproducible in orthographic systems, but
part of the skill of novelists or reporters is to convey these features of speech in their
descriptions. Additionally, as the examples above show, grammatical and lexical
choices are available to the writer, and anyone who has written anything to someone
else knows the challenges of making words achieve precisely the purpose for which
they are intended. These variations within a language or within any dialect of a
language, may be referred to as styles.

9. Bell’s criteria on the distinction between language and dialect

Standardization refers to the process by which a language has been codified in some way. That
process usually involves the development of such things as grammars, spelling books, and
dictionaries, and possibly a literature. We can often associate specific items or events with
standardization, e.g., Wycliffe’s and Luther’s translations of the Bible into English and German,
respectively, Caxton’s establishment of printing in England, and Dr Johnson’s dictionary of
English published in 1755.
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Vitality, the second of Bell’s seven criteria, refers to the existence of a living community of
speakers. This criterion can be used to distinguish languages that are ‘alive’ from those that are
‘dead.’ Many of the aboriginal languages of the Americas are also dead. Latin is dead in this
sense too for no one speaks it as a native language; it exists only in a written form frozen in time,
pronounced rather than spoken, and studied rather than used.

Historicity refers to the fact that a particular group of people finds a sense of identity through
using a particular language: it belongs to them. Social, political, religious, or ethnic ties may also
be important for the group, but the bond provided by a common language may prove to be the
strongest tie of all.

Autonomy is an interesting concept because it is really one of feeling. A language must be felt
by its speakers to be different from other languages. However, this is a very subjective criterion.
Example: Some speakers of African American Vernacular English maintain that their language is
not a variety of English but is a separate language in its own right and refer to it as Ebonics.

Reduction refers to the fact that a particular variety may be regarded as a sub-variety rather than
as an independent entity. Speakers of Cockney will almost certainly say that they speak a variety
of English, admit that they are not Languages, Dialects, and Varieties representative speakers of
English, and recognize the existence of other varieties with equivalent subordinate status.

Mixture refers to feelings speakers have about the ‘purity’ of the variety they speak. This
criterion appears to be more important to speakers of some languages than of others, e.g., more
important to speakers of French and German than to speakers of English. However, it partly
explains why speakers of pidgins and creoles have difficulty in classifying what they speak as full
languages: these varieties are, in certain respects, quite obviously ‘mixed,’ and the people who
speak them often feel that the varieties are neither one thing nor another, but rather are debased,
deficient, degenerate, or marginal varieties of some other standard language.

de facto norms refers to the feeling that many speakers have that there are both ‘good’ speakers
and ‘poor’ speakers and that the good speakers represent the norms of proper usage. For example,
so far as English is concerned, there is a very profitable industry devoted to telling people how
they should behave linguistically, what it is ‘correct’ to say, what to avoid saying, and so on
(Wardhaugh, 1999).
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10. Regional Dialect

Regional variation in the way a language is spoken is likely to provide one of the easiest ways of
observing variety in language. As you travel throughout a wide geographical area in which a
language is spoken, and particularly if that language has been spoken in that area for many
hundreds of years, you are almost certain to notice differences in pronunciation, in the choices
and forms of words, and in syntax. There may even be very distinctive local colorings in the
language which you notice as you move from one location to another. Such distinctive varieties
are usually called regional dialects of the language.

11. Social Dialect

In sociolinguistics, social dialect is a variety of speech associated with a particular social class or
occupational group within a society. Also known as a sociolect, group idiolect, and class dialect.

Factors that can be used to determine social position, e.g., occupation, place of residence,
education, ‘new’ versus ‘old’ money, income, racial or ethnic origin, cultural background, caste,
religion, and so on.

Whereas regional dialects are geographically based, social dialects originate among social groups
and are related to a variety of factors, the principal ones apparently being social class, religion,
and ethnicity.

12. Bilingualism
Hakuta, (2009) Bilingualism refers to the coexistence of more than one language system within
an individual, as contrasted to monolingualism.

13. Multilingualism
Multilingualism is the use of more than two language, either by an individual speaker or by a
group of speakers.

14. Mutual intelligibility

Mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of
different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or
special effort.
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E.g. a Portuguese speaker in contact with a Spanish speaker.

15. Code-choice
Code-choice refers to a speaker’s decision of which code to use in a given utterance, and in case
of a Code-switching utterance, to what extent the different codes are to be used. Depending on
the sociolinguistic and conversational context, a speaker’s code-choice may be unexpected and
noticed by other speakers, and is likely to affect other speakers’ subsequent code-choice. In other
words, speakers may accommodate to each other’s code choice, positively or negatively. Genesee
(1982).

Levine (2011, p. 50). Code choice is also defined as “…the systematic, alternating use of two or
more languages in a single utterance or conversational exchange.”

16. Code Mixing

Code mixing is the phenomenon found in daily life. People often use two or more languages
when they are speaking.

Wardhaugh (2006) states that “a code is a system of communication that used when two or more
people communicate each other in speech”.

According to Abdullah (2011) “the condition when people use two or more languages in the same
sentence or discourse is called code mixing”.

Hoffman (1991) state that “code mixing is an act of switching one language to another used
within the same sentence”. As stated by Wardhaugh (2006) that “code-mixing occurs when
conversant use both languages together to the extent that they change from one language to the
other in the course of a single utterance”.

According to Richards (2002) states that code mixing is a mix of two codes or languages without
a change of topic.

According to Spolsky (1998) people often mixed a code when they learn a new language. They
often add some new words when they speak from their new language in their old language. It is
something natural when they use it because they speak to know both languages. The case above
is same as the students’ and the teachers’ classes. Students and teachers often use code mixing in
teaching and learning process.
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Example:

Eu estava indo ver um movie ontem and pelo percurso, I met Honório.

Translation — I was going for a movie yesterday and on the way, I met Honório

Simply, Code mixing is mixing of two or more languages while communicating. Now, it is often
common for a speaker who knows two or more languages to take one word or more than one
word from one language and introduce it while speaking another language.

17. Code-switching
Switching is defined as "a phenomenon of switching from one language to another in the same
discourse" (Nunan & Carter, 2001, p.275).

Davy Crystal (1987) views the concept as a code switch when an individual who is bilingual
alternates between two languages during his or her speech engagement with another bilingual.

For Gardner (2009) and Levine (2011), it is "the systematic alternate use of two or more
languages in a single utterance or conversational exchange for communicative purposes."

Code-switching refers to the fluid alteration between two or more languages within a
conversation, and is a common feature of all multilingual societies. (Auer, 2013). Multilingual
speakers are known to code-switch in spoken conversations for a variety of reasons, motivated by
information-theoretic and cognitive principles, and also as a result of numerous social,
communicative and pragmatic functions (Scotton and Ury, 1977; Soderberg Arnfast and
Jørgensen ¨, 2003; Gumperz, 1982).

I was going to a movie yesterday. Eu encontrei Erasmo Tocota pelo percurso.

Translation — I was going for a movie yesterday; I met Erasmo on the way.

18. Role of the teacher towards code switching, Code choice and mixing.
Teachers employ code switching strategy as a means of providing students with opportunities to
communicate and enhance students understanding. It further helps to facilitate the flow of
classroom instruction since the teachers do not have to spend so much time trying to explain to
the learners or search for the simplest words to clarify any confusion that may arise. The teacher
use code switching by starting the lesson in the English Language and may move into the second
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language and back. This ensures that the lesson is as communicative as possible. This approach
allows teachers to balance the use of language within a given contact.

As teachers switch between codes student’s attention are gradually drawn to the objective of the
teaching. Here code switching helps the learner to start from the ``known to the unknown``.
Situation of code switching in the classroom include topic switch, affective switch and repetitive
switch (Sert 2005). Here a teacher can exploit students’ previous L1 learning experience to
increase their understanding of L2.

In topic switch, the teachers alter his or her language according to the topic being taught. This is
mainly seen in grammar instructions where the teachers may want to introduce the discourse with
a similar realisation in the first language. Affective functions are important in the expression of
emotion, and building a relationship between the teacher and the student. In repetitive function,
code switching is used to clarify the meaning of a word, and stress importance in the English
language content for better comprehension. It also helps student to become more competent in the
language they are trying to learn. Here an instruction is given in English language and the teacher
repeats same in the mother-tongue for the students. Teachers of science, technology and other
allied disciplines will find Code switching very useful in explaining complex scientific terms,
thus making the teaching and learning easy and interesting.

Code mixing is in fact, not a new speaking strategy. It is a sort of common strategy applied by
foreign language learner in terms of engaging their native language in speaking. To a large
extent, code mixing functions to lead the students to express their ideas, comments, or responses
orally about something. The learners can mix the isolated words or grammatical construction of
the target language.
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CONCLUSION

Our consideration of various issues has revealed above all how complex a thing a language is, or
any variety of a language. Languages are just as complex as societies, and we all know how
difficult it is to make generalizations about those. All cultures and all languages are extremely
complex. Some may actually be more complex than others, but we do not as yet have an
exhaustive and definitive study of a single culture or of a single language from anywhere in the
world, nor are there any immediate prospects of one. If both the culture and language of any
group of people almost defy adequate description, then we can be assured that the relationships
that certainly exist between the two are not likely to be more transparent, even to well-informed
observers.

One thing that our examination of various issues has revealed though is how society is important
cause as far as we know, a language is a social phenomenon.
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REFERENCES
Cook, V. (2002) Portraits of the L2 User. Cleverdon: Multilingual Matters

Donald G. Ellis, From Language to Communication. Routledge, 1999

Conklin, H. C. (1959). Linguistic Play in its Cultural Context. Language, 35: 631–6. In Hymes
(1964a).

Coulmas, F. (ed.) (1997). The Handbook of Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.

Ferguson, C. A. (1994). Dialect, Register, and Genre: Working Assumptions about

Conventionalization. In Biber and Finegan (1994).

Gardner-Chloros, P. (1997). Code-switching: Language Selection in Three Strasbourg

Department Stores. In Coupland and Jaworski (1997).

Gumperz, J. J. (1972). Sociolinguistics and Communication in Small Groups. In Pride and

Holmes (1972).

Wardhaugh, R. (1985). How Conversation Works. Oxford: Blackwell.

Wardhaugh, R. (1986). An introduction to sociolinguistics.