WE WILL DISCUSS ABOUT;

1. What is Sociolinguistics? Some definitions of Sociolinguistics

2. Sociolinguistics and Linguistics
3. Sociolinguistics and the Sociology of Language
SOCIOLINGUISTICS;
COMBINATION OF THREE WORDS

1. SOCIO___ COMPANY/SOCIETY
2. LINGUA___ LANGUAGE
3. ISTICS___ SCIENTIFIC STUDY
IN 1960’S THE WORD SOCIOLINGUISTICS WAS POPULARIZED
 SOCIOLINGUISTICS

• The relation between language and society.

or
• Sociolinguistic competence means knowing which words to choose for a given audience
and situation to get the desired effect. For instance, say you wanted to get someone’s
attention. If you were a 17 year old boy and you spotted your friend Ali walking out to his
car, you’d probably utter something loud and informal along the lines of: “Hey, Ali!”
• On the other hand, if you were that same 17 year old boy and saw the school principal drop
something in the parking lot as she was walking to her car, you’d more likely utter something
along the lines of, “Excuse me, Mam! You dropped your scarf.”
• The study of Language in relation to society.(Hudson,1996)
or
• The branch of linguistics that analyzes the effects of social and cultural factors within a
speech community upon its language patterns.
or
Sociolinguistics examines all aspects of the relationship between language and society.
SOCIOLINGUISTICS AND
LINGUISTICS
 SOCIOLINGUISTICS AND LINGUISTICS;

Linguistics; Linguistics is the scientific study of language.

or
Linguistics in a nutshell is the study of language
Meanwhile, Sociolinguistics is also the study of language but it concerns with how
language and society are interwined, how they shape each other, how language is used in
certain context.
According to Fishman in 1972;
Sociolinguistics is interested in knowing who speaks, what language or which language, to
whom? When and Where?
Difference between Sociolinguistics and Linguistics;
Linguistics makes aware of the structure of language whereas, Sociolinguistics tells how we
interact with each other using that structure in everyday situations.
SOCIOLINGUISTICS AND THE SOCIOLOGY OF
LANGUAGE
Sociolinguistics;
Sociolinguistics the characteristics of some particular
language.
Sociology;
it deals with social aspects of language and its end goal is to understand a society
through studying a language deeply.
or
Sociology of language focuses on the effects of language to the social dynamics.
Difference between Sociolinguistics and Sociology;

Sociolinguistics is defined as the study of language in relation to society

Whereas, in sociology we study society.
 Macro-sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics
Micro-sociolinguistics
 MICRO-SOCIOLINGUISTICS

• Microlinguistics focused on the description-analysis of languages (small groups).

Micro-Sociolinguistics concerns itself with the actual use of language in different
social groups. The subject of analysis in Micro- sociolinguistics is the speech and the
speech situation, verbal communication with focus on the individual and not the society
as a whole.
 MACRO-SOCIOLINGUISTIC

Macrolinguistics focused on the study of the language (large-scale – group behaviour).

Macro- Sociolinguistics: The study of the relationship between language and culture
falls within the scope of macro-sociolinguistics.
In this case, the language is viewed as a general social phenomenon within a linguistics
setting rather than a speech situation of the individual as in micro-sociolinguistics.
 DIFFERENCE

• Micro-sociolinguistics explores the ways in which society influences a speaker’s

idiolect - meaning the specific language of a person – and how people communicate
with one another in line with different social variables /factors.
• On the other hand, macro-sociolinguistics focuses more on society as a whole, in
relation to language.
• So with micro-sociolinguistics the emphasis is on language; with macro-
sociolinguistics the emphasis is on society.