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DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY

North La Union Campus
Bacnotan, La Union
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

INTRODUCTION TO
LANGUAGE, SOCIETY
AND CULTURE
(ELSC 109)

FREDIZ WINDA F. BADUA

MODULE 1: Overview of Sociolinguistics

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Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University

La Union Philippines

INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE, SOCIETY

AND CULTURE
(ELSC 109)

FREDIZ WINDA F. BADUA

MODULE 1: Overview of Sociolinguistics

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Course Outline
in

INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE, SOCIETY AND CULTURE

(ELSC 109)

 COURSE DESCRIPTION

The course examines language in its social context, that is, the ways in which
groups of people use language (CMO.24.s.2017). It studies the relationship between
language and society. It looks into the variations of language and how such variations
are constructed by identity and culture.

OBJECTIVES

After completing the course, the student should be able to:

1. Explain the link between language and society.

2. Investigate how social structures influence the way people talk.
3. Describe how language varieties and patterns of use correlate with
social attributes.
4. Appreciate the strong relationship of language, society and culture.

 COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1. Read all the lessons included in this module.

2. Participate in online classes.
3. Answer all activities included in this module.
4. Submit all activities on time.
5. Take and pass the required periodical examination.

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 GRADING SYSTEM

Module Assignments - 40%

Writing Activities

Midterm/Final Examination - 60%

Total 100%

 COURSE CONTENT

Module I Overview of Sociolinguistics

Lesson 1 The Study of Sociolinguistics
Lesson 2 Social Factors, Dimensions and Explanations
Lesson 3 History of Sociolinguistics
Lesson 4 Social Functions of Language

Module II Speech Communities

Lesson 1 Language and Dialect
Lesson 2 Language Styles and Registers
Lesson 3 Linguistic Varieties
Lesson 4 Code-mixing, Code-switching and Diglossia

Module III Language Planning, Language

Maintenance, Shift and Change
Lesson 1 Language Planning
Lesson 2 Language Shift and Language Change
Lesson 3 Language Death and Language Loss
Lesson 4 Language Maintenance and Language Revival

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Module IV Language and Culture

Lesson 1 Language, Gender and Age
Lesson 2 Ethnicity and Social Networks
Lesson 3 Politeness Theory
Lesson 4 Taboo and Euphemisms

 REFERENCES

Ball, M. ( 2010). The Routledge Handbook of Sociolinguistics Around the World.

New York: Routledge.

Holmes, J., (2013). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics 4th Edition. New York:

Routledge.

Stockwell, P. (2007). Sociolinguistics: A Resource Book for Students 2nd Edition.

New York: Routledge.

Wardhaugh, R. (2006). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics 5th Edition. Australia:

Blackwell Publishing.

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MODULE I

OVERVIEW OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS

Lesson 1 The Study of Sociolinguistics

Lesson 2 Social Factors, Dimensions and

Explanations

Lesson 3 History of Sociolinguistics

Lesson 4 Social Functions of Language

MODULE I

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OVERVIEW OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS

 INTRODUCTION

This module gives an overview of sociolinguistics. It is hoped that through this

module, you will learn the terms and concepts in language, society and culture, the
beginnings of sociolinguistics, the social factors and dimensions and explanations
associated with it. You will also learn about the social functions of language.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After studying the module, the student is expected to be able to:

1. Define sociolinguistics and the terms associated to the discipline;

2. Explain the social factors, dimensions and explanations in relation to
sociolinguistics;
3. Discuss the history of sociolinguistics; and
4. Explain the social functions of language.

 DIRECTIONS/ MODULE ORGANIZER

There are four lessons in the module. Read each lesson carefully then answer
the exercises/activities to find out how much you have benefited from it. Work on
these exercises carefully and submit your output to your instructor.

In case you encounter difficulty, discuss this with your instructor during the
virtual meeting. If not, contact your instructor.

Good luck! Happy reading and learning!

Lesson 1

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 The Study of Sociolinguistics

Introduction

Language is both a system of communication between individuals and a social

phenomenon. The area of language and society – sociolinguistics – is intended to
show how our use of language is governed by such factors as class, gender, race,
among many others. This is also concerned with the form and use of language in
different cultures and to what extent the development of language has been
influenced by cultural environment.

Sociolinguistics looks at the role which language plays in society, the identity
function it has in communities and how attitudes frequently determine language
use.

Language made the growth of civilizations possible. The only means of

understanding the great minds of the past is by studying the contemporary written
documents of the time. Language is a means of forming and storing ideas as
reflections of reality and exchanging them in the process of human intercourse.

Language is social by nature and thus inseparably connected with people who
are its creators and users; it grows and develops together with the development of
society. Language arises and develops with the rise and development of a society.
It dies when the society dies. Apart from society, there is no language.

What is a Sociolinguist?

Sociolinguists study the relationship between language and society. They are
interested in explaining why we speak differently in different social contexts, and
they are concerned with identifying the social functions of language and the ways it

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is used to convey social meaning. Another concern of sociolinguist is examining the

way people use language in different social contexts that provides a wealth of
information about the way language works, as well as about the social relationships
in a community, and the way people convey and construct aspects of their social
identity through their language.
We use language to show a variety of functions. For instance, to ask for and
to give people information and to express indignation, annoyance, admiration as
well as respect. Even the aspects of our social identity will be indicated by the way
we talk. Our speech will provide clues to other about our place of origin and perhaps
the social experiences we had.

What is Sociolinguistics?

Sociolinguistics is a branch of linguistics which deals with the study of

language use in society and in a sociocultural context. It is the study of the linguistic
indicators of culture and power.

Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society,
including cultural norms, expectations, and the way language is used. It is concerned
why there are language variations and why language changes over time.

This field also describes language varieties between different ethnic,

religious, status and gender groups and explains how educational level, age and
other factors influence the language differences and categorizes individuals in social
or socioeconomic classes. The relationship of how language and social factors are
related is also a concern of sociolinguistics.

Sociolinguistics is the study about the relationship between language and

society and how language is used in multilingual speech communities. The language
is the communication tool and then the society is the community of people. The
varieties of language used should be suitable with the place, the people speaking it,

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the condition and situation. The place is very important because the language style
of people reflect where the people live.

Sociolinguistics has a strong connection with anthropology and sociology.

Anthropology investigates language and culture and sociology looks into the crucial
roles that language plays.

Characteristics of Sociolinguistics

 Concerned with the relationship between language and society

 Considers that language is a social and cultural phenomenon
 Studies language in its social context, in real life situations by empirical
investigations
 It is related to methodology and contents of social sciences

Relationship of Sociolinguistics to Other Disciplines

A. Sociolinguistics with Linguistics

What is studied in linguistics, the science that examines language as a
phenomenon, provide a basis for sociolinguistics to show different uses of
language associated with social factors.

B. Sociolinguistics with Sociology

Sociolinguistics view language as a basis of assessment and look at the social
structure as a determinant variable.

C. Sociolinguistics with Pragmatics

Pragmatics is the language of science which studies the purpose and effect of
language associated with the context or the use of language that are tailored
with the subject, purpose, participants, and place.

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D. Sociolinguistics with Anthropology

Sociolinguistics is trying to take advantage of the classification of society
through cultural anthropology and do see it as a factor influencing language.
Sociolinguistics tries to test the linguistic data discovered by anthropology.
For example, the view of life which is reflected in the behaviour is used as a
factor causing variations in language, specially the aspects of vocabulary and
structure.

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LEARNING ACTIVITY

Give your reflection on the role that language plays in the society
and in the culture of the community. Your essay should have an
introduction, body and conclusion. In the body of your essay, you should
be emphasizing three (3) points to state your reflection/idea. The
following rubric will be used to grade your essay.

SCORING RUBRIC FOR ESSAY QUESTIONS

15 13 11 9 0
Content Answers are Answers are Answers are Answers are Did not
comprehensive, accurate and not partial or answer
accurate and complete. comprehensive incomplete. question.
complete. Key Key points or completely
ideas are are stated stated. Key
clearly stated, and points are
explained and supported. addressed but
well supported not well
supported.
Organization Well organized, Organization Inadequate Organization Did not
coherently is mostly organization or and structure answer
developed, and clear and development. detract from question.
easy to follow. easy to Structure of the answer.
follow. the answer is
not easy to
follow.
Writing Displays no Displays one Displays three Displays over Did not
Conventions errors in to three to five errors five errors in answer
spelling, errors in in spelling, spelling, question.
punctuation, spelling, punctuation, punctuation,
grammar, and punctuation, grammar, and grammar, and
sentence grammar, and sentence sentence
structure. sentence structure. structure.
structure.

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 REFERENCES

Holmes, J., (2013). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics 4th Edition. New York:

Routledge.

Schmitt, N., (2010). An Introduction to Applied Linguistics 2nd Edition. London:

Hodder Education.

Wardhaugh, R. (2006). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics 5th Edition. Australia:

Blackwell Publishing.

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Lesson 2

 Social Factors, Dimensions and Explanations

Introduction

Why do we say the same things in different ways?

There are more than one way of saying something like greeting to others,
addressing others and paying compliments and our final choice reflects factors such
as the relationship between the people in particular situation, and how the speaker
feels about the person addressed.

What are the different ways we say things?

We say things differently including the vocabulary that we use, and at other
levels of linguistic analysis such as sounds, word structure and grammar. Within each
linguistic level there is variation which offers the speakers a choice of ways of
expression where the choices includes different dialects of a language, or quite
different languages.

SOCIAL FACTORS

1. The participants: “Who is speaking” and “Who are they speaking to”?
2. The setting of social context of the interaction: “Where they are speaking?”
3. The topic: What is being talked about?
4. The function: Why are they speaking?

SOCIAL DIMENSIONS

1. A social distance scale concerned with participant relationships

Intimate______________________________________________Distant

(High Solidarity) (Low Solidarity)

*The solidarity – social distance scale

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2. A status scale concerned with participant relationships

Superior High Status

Subordinate Low Status

*The Status Scale

3. A formality scale relating to the setting or type of interaction

Formal High formality

Informal Low formality

*The formality scale

4. Two functional scales relating to the purposes or topic of interaction

The referential and affective function scales

High information Content _____ (Referential) ____ Low information Content

Low affective content ______ (Affective) ______ High affective content

EXPLANATIONS

Sociolinguistics aim to describe sociolinguistic variation and if possible explain

why it happens.

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 Identify clearly the linguistic variation involved, for example, vocabulary,

sounds, grammatical constructions, dialects, languages.
 Identify clearly the different social or non-linguistic factors which lead
speakers to use one form rather than another.
 Look into the pattern which will help to formulate explanations of why
people use one set of forms in one context, but different forms in others.

Simply put, a sociolinguist’s aim is to move towards a theory which provides

a motivated account of the way language is used in a community, and of the choices
people make when they use language.

What do sociolinguist mean by the term variety?

A variety is a set of linguistic forms used under specific social circumstances,

with a distinctive social distribution.

Formality increases between the participants (speaker and hearer) when the social
distance is greater.

Informality (solidarity) increases when the social distance is little between the
participants (speaker and hearer)

Social status depends on a number of factors such as social rank, wealth, age,
gender and so on. Therefore, the person with the higher social status has the choice
of using formality or informality (solidarity) when addressing other persons of lower
social status but the person with the lower social status uses only formality when
addressing a person of higher social status.

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 LEARNING ACTIVITY

Recall the latest conversation that you had today. Then answer the
following questions. Consider the social factors and social dimensions in
explaining your answer.
1. What is your conversation all about? To whom did you have that
conversation?
2. Why did you select that language variety in your conversation over
the other?
3. Which social factors and dimensions were considered in the language
variety that you have used in the conversation?

 REFERENCES

Holmes, J., (2013). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics 4th Edition. New York:

Routledge.

Wardhaugh, R. (2006). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics 5th Edition. Australia:

Blackwell Publishing.

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Lesson 3

 History of Sociolinguistics

Introduction

The study of language and society – sociolinguistics – can be dated to about

the middle of the twentieth century. Before that, there were authors who
commented on how language use was influenced or indeed guided by socially
relevant factors, such as class, profession, age or gender. Indeed the father of
modern linguistics, Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), saw language as a type of
social behaviour and in this he reflected French sociological thinking of his day,
above all that of his contemporary Emile Durkheim (1858-1917).
In the early 1960s, a number of linguists in America began to investigate
English usage in the United States from a social point of view. Since then there has
been a flood of publications in this vein, primarily in America but soon afterwards in
Europe, notably in Britain.

Origin of Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics has its roots in dialectology, historical linguistics and language

contact with considerable influence from sociology and psychology. This is why it
has evolved into an exceptionally broad field. It is a new discipline in linguistics and
developed in the last 30 years.

The Development of Sociolinguistics

The development of sociolinguistics is bound up with the activity of American

and British linguists since the early 1960s. First and foremost of these is William
Labov, who, in a pioneering investigation of the English of New York city published
in 1966, arrived at many new conclusions concerning language variation and
language change. Labov stressed that 1) structural systems of the present and

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changes in languages of the past can be investigated in relation to each other, 2)

language change can be observed in progress in present-day language varieties and
3) the fact that so-called ‘free variation’ was not in fact free at all but determined
by deliberate, if not conscious, choices by speakers.

Prominent Figures in Sociolinguistics

William Labov
 He is an American Sociolinguistics at University of Pennsylvania
 He is regarded as the one who started sociolinguistics with his theories on
empirical works: 1. The Stratification of English in New York City (1966) and
2. Sociolinguistic Patterns (1972)
 His study is based on empirical work in social context
 He is the first one to put into practice the field of sociolinguistics in the United
States
 He pioneered a school devoted to showing the relevance of social
determinants of variation for linguistic theory

Peter John Trudgill

 He is the British complement for the secular linguistics of Labov.
 He is known for his The Social Differentiation of English in Norwich (1971)
and Sociolinguistic Patterns in British English (1972)

Basil Bernstein
 He is a British sociologist whose work on class-related codes led to a brief
flirtation with American sociolinguists
 He is famous for his works in the sociology of education

Dell Hymes
 American Sociolinguist who established the journal of Language and Society
 He made a demarcation between Linguistic Anthropology and Anthropological
Linguistics

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 He is noted for his “ethnography of communication” and “communicative

competence model” in response to Chomsky’s theories
 His adaptation of Roman Jakobson’s theory of communication shaped the
ethnography of communication and educational linguistics and who molded
sociolinguistics by editing several pioneering volumes and the flagship journal
Language in Society;

John J. Gumperz
 He is the founder of interactional sociolinguistics
 He is an American Sociolinguistics noted for his works at the University of
California, Berkley
 He was trained in dialectology, Indian dialect and code-switching
 He is famous for his works in international Sociolinguistics which paved the
way for discourse analysts and other sociolinguists

Charles Ferguson
 He is a professor of linguistics in Stanford University
 He is noted for his works and article on diglossia
 He is more of a linguist than a sociologists in comparison to Joshua Fishman

Joshua Aaron Fishman

 He is noted for his works in minority languages and ethnicity
 He worked on Yiddish, language planning, nationalism and language policy
 Founder of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language (1973)
 He is in a complementary position with Dell Hymes’ Language in Society
 He focused more on the sociology aspect of sociolinguistics whereas other
such as Labov took more side with linguistics

Einar Haugen
 He is an American linguist at Wisconsin and Harvard
 He is famous for his works in Scandinavian language and culture

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Learning Activity

William Labov is prominent figure in the field of sociolinguistics. He is

known for his The Social Stratification of ( r ) in New York City Department
Stores. Research about this work of Labov and give a summary about this
study. The following questions will guide you in crafting your summary. Your
output should be in an essay format.
1. What is the study all about?
2. What is the main objective of the study?
3. Where did he conduct his study?
4. Who were his respondents in his study?
5. What are the results of his study?

 REFERENCES

Holmes, J., (2013). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics 4th Edition. New York:

Routledge.

Stockwell, P. (2007). Sociolinguistics: A Resource Book for Students 2nd Edition.

New York: Routledge.

Wardhaugh, R. (2006). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics 5th Edition. Australia:

Blackwell Publishing.

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Lesson 4

 Social Functions of Language

Introduction

No one can deny the important roles played by language in our daily lives. For
this reason, we are going to mention some social function of language: language is
not simply of communicating information about the weather and other subjects, but
it is also a very important means of establishing and maintaining relationships with
other people.

Another important social function of language in conveying information about

the person you are with for instance what sort of job they do and what social status
they have. Without this information you will not be sure how to behave towards him.
Of course, you can make intelligent guesses from their clothes and other
visual clues, but can hardly ask direct questions about their social background. What
you can do is to engage them in conversation and the thing you are going to learn
will be learnt not so much from what the other says as from how it is said. Thus, we
can notice that there is a close relationship between language and society.

What are sociolinguists interested in?

 Identifying the social functions of language

 Why do people speak differently in different social contexts
 The ways language is used to convey social meaning

The Social Functions

… an instrument of thinking
… an instrument of communication
… an instrument of accumulation of knowledge

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The social function of language refers to the way we relate language to our
relationships with other people. The cultural function of language is
that language serves to pass on and shape culture, and culture shapes language in
return.
Primarily, language serves as means for communicating information. People
exchange information through the use of language – communicative function.
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 relationships
with other people.
Another social function of language is the clue-bearing role that language
fulfills. 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.
Phatic communion refers to the social interaction of language. Small,
seemingly meaningless topic to maintain a comfortable relationship between people
without involving any factual content is usually observed in this aspect. Expressions
that help define and maintain interpersonal relations such as slangs, jokes, jargons,
ritualistic exchanges and switches to social and regional dialects.

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LEARNING ACTIVITY

How do you see the importance of the social function of language to you
as a member of a certain community or organization? State your answer in 4-6
sentences only.

SCORING RUBRIC FOR ESSAY QUESTIONS

10 8 6 4 0
Content Answers are Answers are Answers are Answers are Did not
comprehensive, accurate and not partial or answer
accurate and complete. comprehensive incomplete. question.
complete. Key Key points or completely
ideas are are stated stated. Key
clearly stated, and points are
explained and supported. addressed but
well supported not well
supported.
Organization Well organized, Organization Inadequate Organization Did not
coherently is mostly organization or and structure answer
developed, and clear and development. detract from question.
easy to follow. easy to Structure of the answer.
follow. the answer is
not easy to
follow.
Writing Displays no Displays one Displays three Displays over Did not
Conventions errors in to three to five errors five errors in answer
spelling, errors in in spelling, spelling, question.
punctuation, spelling, punctuation, punctuation,
grammar, and punctuation, grammar, and grammar, and
sentence grammar, and sentence sentence
structure. sentence structure. structure.
structure.

 REFERENCES

Holmes, J., (2013). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics 4th Edition. New York: Routledge.

Stockwell, P. (2007). Sociolinguistics: A Resource Book for Students 2nd Edition. New York:
Routledge.

Wardhaugh, R. (2006). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics 5th Edition. Australia: Blackwell

Publishing.

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 MODULE SUMMARY

Let us have a recapitulation of what you have studied.

In this module, you were introduced about the overview of sociolinguistics.

You were able to learn about some of the terms, concepts and definitions about
language, society and culture.

There are four lessons in Module 1:

Lesson 1 deals with the study of language, society and culture – what is a
sociolinguist, what is sociolinguistics, the characteristics of sociolinguistics and the
relationship of sociolinguistics to other disciplines.

Lesson 2 discusses the social factors, dimensions and explanations in relation

to sociolinguistics.

Lesson 3 deals with the origin, development and prominent figures in

sociolinguistics.

Finally, Lesson 4 is all about the social functions of language.

Congratulations! You have just studied Module I. Now, you are ready to
evaluate how much you have benefited from your reading by answering the
summative test. Good Luck!!!

 SUMMATIVE TEST

ESSAY

Write an essay explaining the connection/relationship between language,

society and culture. Your essay should have an introduction, body and conclusion.
The essay should have a minimum 400 words and a maximum of 700 words. Use
Trebuchet MS font style, font size 12, 1.5 spacing and one inch margin on all sides.
The essay will be rated using the rubric below with a total of 80 points.

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AREAS OF EXPERT ACCOMPLISHED CAPABLE BEGINNER

ASSESSMENT 20 points 18 points 16 14
Ideas Very Somewhat Ideas are too Ideas are
informative informative and general vague or
and presented consistent unclear
in a
consistent
manner.
Organization Strong and Organized Some No /lacks
organized (introduction, organization organization
(introduction, body and
body and conclusion)
conclusion)
Understanding Writing shows Writing shows a Writing shows Writing shows
strong clear adequate little
understanding understanding understanding understanding
Sentence Sentence Sentence Sentence No sense of
Structure structure structure is structure is sentence
enhances evident; limited; structure or
meaning; sentences sentences flow
flows mostly flow need to flow
throughout
the piece

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MODULE 1: Overview of Sociolinguistics