Sociolinguist

ics
Language Varieties, English Varieties, Slang
Varieties
Topics
Language Variety Dialect
0 Discussing about what is 0 Discussing about dialect

1 language variety and its

types 2 and factors that influence
someone’s dialect

0 Accent
Discussing about accent 0 Standard vs Slang
Standard or non-standard?

3 and RP
4
 0
1
Language Variety
 Hudson (1996) as cited in Wardhaugh (2010)
defines variety of language as ‘a set of linguistic items
with similar distribution’
Language Variety
related
• Sounds to:
• Choice of words
• Grammar features
(Wardhaugh, 2010, p. 23)
Language Variety
divided
into:
• Dialect
• Accent
(Trudgill, 2000, p. 5)
0
2
Dialect
 Dialect
According to Trudgill (2000, p. 5) dialect refers to the
diffrences between kinds of language which are
differences of vocabulary and grammar as well as
pronunciation
The Factors
influencing
someone’s • Physical environment
dialect: • Social environment
• The value of society

(Trudgill, 2000, p. 15)

• Two speakers from the same languages will
speak differently

• The individual speaker won’t speak the same

languages in the same way over time
Regional
Dialect
Regional dialect is related to the distinctive
local characters in the language which will
be sounded different from one area to
another
 Regional
Example: Dialect:
Lift Elevator
Ameri
British
can
Example:
● British : I have got.
● American : I have gotten.
● English : It needs washing.
● Scottish : It needs washed.
Example:

You need your hair cutting You need your hair cut

North South
Social
Dialect
Social dialect originates among social
groups and are related to a variety of
factors
 Social Dialect
Example:
Hindi & Urdu Serbian &
in India Croatian in
Yugoslavia
Different language but
almost identical at the
level of grammar
Hindi & Urdu in India

Hindi & Urdu are the

same language

Borrowing Politic &

Language Religion
Written
Forms
Serbo-Croatian in
Yugoslavia
Serbo-Croatian is Slav
language

Cyrillic & Srpski &

Roman Srpskohrvatski

Different vocabulary
Orthodox & Example: ‘varos’ &
Catholic ‘grad’ = train
Example:
Speaker A Speaker B

I done it yesterday. I did it yesterday.

He ain’t got it. He hasn’t got it.
It was her what said it. It was her that said it
(Trudgill, 2000, p. 30)
Those dialects are focused
on:

Regional Social
Dialect Dialect
Distinctive local Social class, religion,
colorings, and ethnicity
geography
0
3
Accent
 Accent
According to Trudgill (2000, p. 5), accent refers
to the differences of pronunciation, and it is
often important to distinguish clearly between
the two.
 Accent

Devonshire Birmingham
Northumberland Newcastle
The Scottish Highlands London

leasant, charming, quaint or amusing

Ugly, careless, unpleasant
(Trudgill, 2000, p. 32)
 RP
Received pronunciation is accent which developed largely
in the residential, fee-paying English 'Public Schools'
favoured by the aristocracy and the upper-middle-
classes, at least for their sons, and which was until quite
recently required of all BBC announcers
(Trudgill, 2000, p. 32)
 0
4
Standard vs Slang
Standard
English
Standard English is that variety of English which is
usually used in print, and which is normally taught in
schools and to non-native speakers learning the
language (Trudgill, 2000, p. 5)
 7 Criteria that may useful in
discussing different kinds of
language:
• Standardization
• Vitality
• Historicity
• Autonomy
• Reduction
• Mixture
• De Facto Norms

(Bell, 1976, as cited in Wardhaugh, 2010)

 Slang
Slang is a kind of jargon marked by its rejection of
formal rules, its comparative freshness and its
common ephemerality, and its marked use to claim
solidarity (Spolsky, 1998, p. 35)
 Slang vs Standard
Standard English and the prestige accents that they are
widely considered to be 'correct', 'beautiful', 'nice', 'pure'
and so on.

Other nonstandard, non-prestige varieties are often held

to be 'wrong', 'ugly', 'corrupt' or 'lazy'.

(Trudgill, 2000, p.8)

 Slang vs
Peer group, gang Standard School, news
speech broadcasts, and other
(some degree of similar situations
secrecy)
Informal, non
standard, trend, taboo A not
Formal, standard
expressions inconsiderable
Example: amount of
The task took hella
days time was