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Sociolinguistics
 More on dialects…
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 When there are systematic differences in the way different groups speak a
language, we say that each group speaks a dialect of that language. Dialects
are mutually intelligible (with the same basic grammar) forms of a language
that differ in systematic ways.

 Every speaker, whether rich or poor, regardless of region or racial origin,

speaks at least one dialect, just as each individual speaks an idiolect.

 A dialect is not an inferior or degraded form of a language, and logically could

not be so because a language is a collection of dialects.
 Regional dialects
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 Dialects develop because languages change, and the changes that occur in one group or area may differ from
those that occur in another.

 Regional dialects and social dialects develop for this reason. Some differences in in US regional dialects may
be traced to the dialects spoken by colonial settlers from England. Those from southern England spoke one
dialect and those from the north spoke another.

 Changes in the grammar do not take place all at once in a speech community. They occur gradually, often
originating in one region and spreading slowly to others, and often over the life spans of several generations
of speakers.

 A change that occurs in one region and fails to spread to other regions of the language community creates
dialect differences. When enough such differences accumulate in a particular region, the language spoken has
its own character, and that version of the language is referred to as a REGIONAL DIALECT. Regional
dialects are usually spawned by geographical factors.

 The study of regional dialects has produced dialect atlases, with dialect maps showing the areas where
specific dialect characteristics occur in the speech of the region.
 Regional dialects
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 The people involved in serious investigation of regional dialects have devoted a lot of
research to the identification of consistent features of speech found in one geographical
area rather than another. They tape-record some native speakers’ speech and try to
choose their informants in such a way that their speech could really represent the
dialect of the region. Thus the informants tend to be NORMS, or non-mobile, older,
rural, male speakers. Such speakers were believed to be less likely to have
influences from outside the region in their speech.

 These speakers are believed to have retained the most traditional speech and are
consequently the focus of many DIALECTOLOGY studies.
 Isoglosses and Dialect Boundaries
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 If it is found that the vast majority of informants in one area say they take their
groceries home in a paper bag, whereas the majority in another area say they
use a paper sack, then it is usually possible to draw a line across a map
separating the two areas. This line is called ISOGLOSS and represents a
boundary between the areas with regard to that one particular linguistic item. If
a very similar distribution is found for another two items, then another
isogloss, probably overlapping, can be drawn in. When a number of isoglosses
come together in this way, a more solid line, indicating DIALECT
BOUNDARY, can be drawn.
 Idiolect
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 All speakers of English can talk to each other and pretty much understand each
other. Yet, no two speak exactly alike. Some differences are reflected in word
choices, the pronunciation of words, and grammatical rules.

 The unique characteristics of the language of an individual speaker are referred

to as the speaker’s idiolect.

 English may then be said to consist of more than 450 million idiolects, or the
number equal to the number of speakers of English (which seems to be
growing every day).
 Styles and Jargons
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 Most speakers of a language speak one way with friends, another on a job interview or
presenting a report in class, another talking small children, another with their parents, and so on.
These “situation dialects” are called styles or registers.

 We can assume a gradation of style of speech, from the very informal (casual) to the very
formal according to the type of situation, the person addressed, the location of speech, and the
topic of discussion. This type of variation is more formally encoded in some languages than
others.

 Jargon can be defined as technical vocabulary associated with a special activity or group. In
social terms, jargon helps to connect those who see themselves as ‘insiders’ in some way and to
exclude ‘outsiders’.

 Practically every conceivable science, profession, trade and occupation has its own set of words,
some of which are considered slang and others technical, depending on the status of the people
using these ‘in’ words. These are called jargon. Linguistic jargon consists of terms such as
phoneme, morpheme, phrase structure etc.
 Diglossia
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 When two languages or language varieties exist side by side in a community

and each one is used for different purposes, this is called DIGLOSSIA.
 So, it is a situation where there is a “high” or special variety of a language used
in formal situations (e.g. Classical Arabic), and a “low” variety used locally
and informally (e.g. Lebanese or Egyptian Arabic)

 The ‘low’ variety which is acquired locally is used for everyday affairs (with
family, friends, when shopping etc.).

 The ‘high’ variety or the special variety is learned in school is used for
important matters such as formal lectures, serious political events and
especially in religious discussions.
 Language = window into speakers’ social reality
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 Language and identity: Language plays an important role in identity formation,

although we are not aware of it most of the time.

 Quite often, a few utterances or words are all we need for drawing conclusions
on a speaker’s sociological background (origin, level of education, etc.), while
the speakers themselves are not aware of the fact that the language they use
serves as a window into their social reality.

 But speakers can also use language deliberately to signal that they (want to)
belong, or not belong, to a certain group. Consciously or unconsciously they
can, for example, adapt their language or language style to that of their
interlocutors, thus improving the social relationship with them and creating a
basis for more successful communication.
 How can sociolinguistics help us?
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 Sociolinguistics can help us understand why we speak

differently in various social contexts, and help uncover the
social relationship in a community.
 Sociolinguistics vs. Sociology of language
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 Sociolinguistics is the study of language in relation to

society. We study society to learn more about language. It
looks at how social forces can shape language.

 Sociology of language is the study of society in relation to

language. We study language to learn more about society. It
focuses on the role of language(s) in social organization.
 Sociolinguistics vs. sociology of language:
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 The focus of sociolinguistics, which only started to flourish in the

political climate of the late 1960s, is on the relationship between
language and society. Its aim is to study the use of different forms or
varieties of language and the social factors which determine them.

.
 The research interest of the sociology of language is the exact opposite:
its main motivation for investigating language is to increase the ability
to understand social structures.
 Standard Variety
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 The codified VARIETY of a LANGUAGE, that is, the

language taught in school, used in formal writing, and
often heard from newscasters and other media figures
who are trying to project authority or ability.
 Standard Variety of Language
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 Standard Language: it is the variety of a language treated as the official language and
used in public broadcasting, publishing and education.
 Standard language is an idealized variety, why? Because:

1. It has no specific region, and it is associated with administrative, commercial and

educational centers, regardless of region.
2. It is found in printed newspapers and books.
3. It is widely used in mass media and is taught in most schools.
4. It is the variety we normally try to teach to those who want to learn English as a second
or foreign language.
5. It is associated with education and broadcasting in public contexts.
6. It is more easily described in terms of the written language (i.e. vocabulary, spelling,
grammar) than the spoken language.
 Bilingualism
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 It is the state of having two languages.

 Bilingual: it is a term used to describe a native speaker of two languages or a

country with two official languages.

 Canada, for example, is officially a bilingual country with both French and
English as official languages.

 This recognition of the linguistic rights of the country’s French speakers,

largely in Quebec, did not come about without a lot of political upheaval.
 Sociolinguists Approach
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 Sociolinguistics’ approach is descriptive (how

people actually talk), rather than prescriptive (how
people “should” talk).