Introduction to

Sociolinguistics
Lectures 1 & 2
Instructor: Dr. Marwa Mekni Toujani
Course: Sociolinguistics
Level: 1st Year MA (Applied Linguistics)
Academic Year: 2023-2024 (SI)
Outline

• Sociolinguistics
1. Defining Key • Sociology of Language
Terms • Why is it important to study
Sociolinguistics?

2. Language, • Language and Society

Communication, • Competence and Performance
and Society • Linguistic Variation
Glimpse about
Sociolinguistics

https://youtube.com/shorts/xAOBysknFok?feature=share
Why shall we bother analyzing
this kind of variation?
Speech &
Society

Sociolinguistics - the study of variation in language - YouTube

Sociolinguistics
in a Nutshell

Varieties of Language - YouTube

SOCIOLINGUISTICS VS. SOCIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE by renel emberso (prezi.com)
Sociolinguistics

Started as a reaction to “formal” linguistics

A new theory within theoretical linguistics

“A better understanding of language as a necessary condition and product of

social life instead of [a pure] linguistic theory [which] is a theory about language
without human beings” (Coulmas, 1997 cited in Wardhaugh, 2010).
Sociology of
Language
SOCIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE
by Siranush Khachatryan
(prezi.com)
Micro vs.
Macro-
Sociolinguistics
(2) micro and macro
sociolinguistics - YouTube
Why do we need
to study
Sociolinguistics?
Think in pairs and then share your answers.
5 min
5 min
Relation between language
and society
‘Society’: a fuzzy notion in sociolinguistics.
It can mean ‘the national group’ (i.e. the conventional
definition), but can also be more loosely defined as
‘community’, ‘group’ or ‘network’.
This collectivity may vary in size and be formed by such
things as age, interest, family, gender, ethnicity,
occupation, geography, social position, etc.

Introduction to Sociolinguistics - [PPT Powerpoint] (vdocuments.net)

‘language’ and ‘society’
connections ...
Several possible connections, or relationships:
1. Social structure (e.g., age, region, education, class, religion, occupation) determines linguistic structure
2. Linguistic structure (a specific language) determines social structure (this is known as ‘The Sapir-Whorf
Hypothesis’)
3. Dialectical relationship between ‘language’ and ‘society’
4. No relationship (e.g. Chomskian view)

Introduction to Sociolinguistics - [PPT Powerpoint] (vdocuments.net)

Chomsky
Knowledge of language: ‘competence’ and ‘performance’
But linguistics should concern itself with the former, rather than the latter, argued
Chomsky (see p. 3)
Study of linguistics should focus on ‘Ideal speaker-listener, homogeneous speech
community, possessing perfect knowledge of language’

Introduction to Sociolinguistics - [PPT Powerpoint] (vdocuments.net)

 Dell Hymes:
Challenges
Chomsky ideas on
language ..
Dissatisfied with Chomsky’s definition of
‘competence’: too narrow, too abstract, too
sterile, and most importantly: too asocial
Hymes broadened the ‘competence’ notion
to include knowledge of appropriate
language use in the social and cultural
context (i.e., not only syntactic correctness,
which Chomsky emphasized)

Introduction to Sociolinguistics - [PPT Powerpoint] (vdocuments.net)

Communicative
Competence

• PPT – Sociolinguistics PowerPoint presentation | free to download - id:

756b4e-YjdmY (powershow.com)
Linguistic
Variation
• Social Variation
• Stylistic Variation
Conclusion & Review
References
PPT – Sociolinguistics PowerPoint presentation | free to download - id: 756b4e-
YjdmY (powershow.com)
Introduction to Sociolinguistics - [PPT Powerpoint] (vdocuments.net)
Holmes, J. and Wilson, N. (2017) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. 5th Edition,
Routledge, Oxford, 285-316.
Wardhaugh, R. (2010). An introduction to sociolinguistics. (6th Ed.). UK: Willey-
Blackwell.
Wardhaugh, R. (2006). An introduction to sociolinguistics. (5th Ed.). UK: Willey-
Blackwell.
 EMAIL
marwa.meknitoujani1@gmail.com