The Social

Group 1 :
Study of Language
Devani - F1022181048
Lia Widiasari - F1022181041
Priska Vita Noventa - F1022181031
Siti Aisyah - F1022181058

The Scope of
Enquiry
Sociolinguistics is the field that
studies the relation between
language and society.
between the uses of language and the
social structures in which the users of
language live. it is a field of study that
assumes that human society is made up
of many related patterns and
behaviours, some of which are
linguistic.
 One of the principal uses of language is to communicate meaning,
but it is also used to establish and to maintain social relationships.

Examples :

Mother - Daughter You - Your friends You - Strangers

Most of their talk is devoted to nurturing Much of your conversation functions is to The way they talk informs you about their
the social bond of them. express and refine your mutual compact of social and geographical backgrounds, and
companioship. the way you talk sends subtle or blatant
signals about what you think of them.

It is these aspects of language use that sociolinguists study.

 Primary Task of Linguistics

to map linguistic variation on to social conditions

Synchronic Variation : variation at a single

point of time.
This mapping helps to
understand
Diachronic Variation : variation over
time
 Complementary Approaches

The various complementary approaches to the study of language each find a

different aspect of the complex phenomenon to be of enthralling interest.

Scholars What they persue...

Formal Linguist An autonomous system or significant elements that

explain the design and structure of the human brain.

Psycholinguist How the system works and how it can be laerned or

lost.

Sociolinguist How the system is used in a living and complex

speech community.

Applied Linguist How to help people learn language and how to use it
effectively to deal with problems of practical daily life.
 Sociolinguistics

Micro end of Sociolinguistics Macro end of Sociolinguistics (the

The social influences on language. To sociology of language)
show how specific differences in focused more on society as a whole in
pronouncation or grammar lead members relation to language
of a speech community to make
judgements about the education or
economic status of a speaker.
 Some scholars divide the field into two parts

the social influences on language the role of Language in society

 The Methods of enquiry
In Sociolinguistics

is

The observer’s paradox (Labov’s)

it means

How can we observe the way people speak when

they are not being observed?

 What do Sociolinguistics look for?
Sociolinguistics is looking for evidence of socially accepted rules accounting for variations
in speech.
IN PART

The nature of the speech encounter

(it's place, it's topic, the role
relations The speech variation (the differences
of the speakers).
In pronunciation of word choice
or in grammatical choice) The characteristic of the speaker
(age, gender, education, place of birth
and domicile)
 The sociolinguist at work
1. Clandestine recording, do the interview by surreptitiously record. It has been tried and
largely abandoned.
2. Sociolinguistic interview, developed by William Labov, is one of the most common
techniques for gathering sample of language.
3. Non-intrusive responses, simple questions for studying large population by giving
simple questions for studying large population.
4. Variable, once a natural speech sample has been collected, it must be analysed by
using variablef, a specific feature that previous observations suggests is likely to
prove of social significance.
5. Questionnaires, to obtain statistically analysable data about attitudes and behaviours, a
common techniques is the questionnaire, a prepared list of questions to which
strangers are asked to respond. questionnaires are particularly useful in gathering
demographic data. They are also used to study attitudes.