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Sociolinguistics
Dylan Glynn
www.dsglynn.univ-paris8.fr
Introdução / Einleitung Part 1
Quelle langue de communication ?
It’s appropriate that in a sociolinguistics seminar, that we have this question
What language will we use to communicate in? Before we answer this question,
let’s ask a question:
Qu’est que c’est une langue ?
Qu’est que c’est une langue ?
1. Napoleon, Taxes, Armies, and Power
2. Human identity and tribalism
3. Human individualism and variation
Une langue n’existe pas!
A langue is an analytical construct – a simplification for teaching people
A langue is a political construct – a tool for controlling people
社会言語学
Langue as an analytical construct (there is no word in English for langue)
Construct – terme technique en philosophie
Constructe – Català
Constructo – Español
Konstrukt – Polski
Does the centre of mass exist?
It a construct needed to understand the world...
(from Wikipedia)
Langue as an analytical construct Humboldt, de Saussure, and Chomsky
ergon - energeia, or langue - parole, performance – competence
Une peu de révision Place
Time
Социолингвистика Langue as an analytical construct
Rouen 2025
Lyon 2018 Poitiers 1988
Arras 1996
But actually that’s not quite true....
Age
Gender
Class
Time
Place
Lyon 2018
Arras 1996
Ethnicity
Poitiers 1988
Langue is a political construct A langue is a political construct – a tool for controlling people
What is a country?
What is a nation?
Have they always existed?
Do all nations in the world have the same understanding of what a nation is?
What has any of this got to do with language?
Langue is a political construct
Is there such a thing as right or wrong in language for a native speaker?
Langage!
Language is inherently varied, but it is also inherently shared
It is inherently individual, but it also inherently interpersonal
To say - I am French, I am a woman, I am a teenager
is at once
- individual = I am
- interpersonal = French / woman / teenager
社会 言学
Identity and Tribalism / Individualism and Variation We all want to be individuals But we all want to belong It is human nature It is language
समाजभाषािवज्ञान
Communication – Conception But langauge is more than a vehicle for identity it’s is a vehicle for communication! We communicate our conceptions and intentions How we see the world and what we want in the world
Conception Humboldt eine eigentümliche Weltansicht un point de vue du monde A specific worldwiew The difference in languages is not a difference in sounds and signs but rather a difference which implies a different conception of the world … Language is the expression of form in which the individual carries the world within [him/herself] … words are the landmarks that enable [one] to orientate oneself amid the multitude of phenomena. Humboldt (1974[1820]: 58, 162). The background linguistic system (in other words the grammar) of each language is not merely a reproducing instrument for voicing ideas … [w]e dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages. The categories and types we isolate from the world of phenomena … [have] to be organized by our minds and this means largely by the linguistic systems in our minds. Whorf (1997[1956]: 212-213).
Gliederung / Outline
Part 2
Outline
(Il n’y pas de mot en français pour outline....)
1. The course is a practical course
It is based on two studies that you will do yourselves on a topic that you choose
2. First, we need to cover some theory
I’m new, so I don’t know your level, so I don’t know long long we need with this.
Plan (proposé) Séminaire 1 : Théorie I – révision et notions de base
Séminaire 2 : Théorie II – question de recherche et méthodologies
Séminaire 3 : Projet I – « Elicitation » et la question de recherche / étude pilote
Séminaire 4 : Projet I – Résultats d’étude pilote / proposition d’étude de « Elicitation »
Séminaire 5 : Projet I – Concaténation de résultats d’étude de « Elicitation »
Séminaire 6 Projet I – Statistiques et interprétation de résultats
Séminaire 7 Projet II – Observation et la question de recherche / étude pilote
Séminaire 8 Projet II – Collecte de données
Séminaire 9 Projet II –Analyse de données
Séminaire 10 Projet II – Analyse de données
Séminaire 11 Projet II – Statistiques et interprétation de résultats
Séminaire 12 Projet II – Statistiques et interprétation de résultats
Project I
Elicitation – questionnaires and statistics
Project II
Observation – corpora and statistics
Sociolinguistique Science des structures sociales encodées en langage et Science des structures linguistiques encodées en société
Who are you? What is you identity? Black / White? Man / Woman? French / Italian? Teenager / Pensioner Cool / Conservative Working Class / Middle Class Urban / Rural All of that is encoded in how you speak! Langauge is like the way you dress
It is a code tell the world who you are! Think of 3 clothing signifiants that encode identity? What is the difference between dressing and language?
Questions et domaines de recherche en sociolinguistique
KEY NOTIONS Culture – Society – Identity Variation – Community – Discourse Power – Ethnicity – Gender
Questions et domaines de recherche en sociolinguistique KEY TECHNICAL TERMS Sociolect Dialect Idiolect Discourse Diaglossia Heteroglossia Code Markedness Variation Genre Register Style
Code / Code A code is a construct to talk about a communication channel
When you speak to a child, you use a specific code
When you speak to a friend, you use a specific code
When you speak to a professor, you use a specific code
When you speak to a taxi driver, you use a specific
Perhaps they are all in different languages
Perhaps they are all varieties of the same langauge
But they are different codes.
Typically we use code to refer to langauge determined by social situation
Code Switching / Alternance de code Typical situation:
You speak Farsi with you mother
You and your mother live in Germany
You are speaking about the metro system
Do you use the word – ممتترروو or do you use the word U-Bahn??
To use the word ممتترروو would be marked, most people would say U-Bahn
Code Switching / Alternance de code Un example très connu dans le monde francophone
Jacques Brel
Zonder liefde warme liefde
Waait de wind c'est fini
Zonder liefde warme liefde
Weent de zee déjà fini
Zonder liefde warme liefde
Lijdt het licht tout est fini
Why might Brel code switch here?
In pairs
Think of three situations where you code switch
Class 2
Today: Language – dialect, sociolect Diglossia, Discourse, and code switching Power, status, reappropriation
Code Switching continued Between langauge and between varieties Let’s look a classic example of code switching (?mixing)
Dialect
Dialect / Dialect Can you name some dialects of any langauge you want? What is the difference between a dialect and a language? Is English a dialect? Is Castilian a dialect? Is Javanais a dialect?
Dialect SAE!! – Standard Average European
Dialect - En anglais comment dire: “Ca va?” comment dire: “pardon?” comment dire: “Bonjour!”
Let’s look at some “English examples” Piker and London English Scots Scottish English
Dialect - What are the plural personal pronouns in English or Spanish Write them down...!
Dialect - Spanish Castilian: T : tú (sg) - vosotros or vosotras (pl) V: usted (sg) - ustedes (pl)
Mexican: T: tú (sg) - ustedes (pl) V: usted (sg) - ustedes (pl) Argentine: T: vos (sg) - ustedes (pl) V: usted (sg) - ustedes (pl)
Dialect Some Singular Personal Pronouns in English 1st Person
I – USA, Southern English, Welsh, Australian... us - British polite informal ACC Ah – North English, Scots
2nd Person the – Informal North English thee – Emphatic informal North English thou - Emphatic informal North Eng. ACC ye – Scots, formal North English jəә – USA, Southern English, Welsh, Australian... you – Empathic and written form USA, Southern English, Welsh, and Australian. Yall – Empathic informal southern USA
3rd Person one – animate gender neutral, formal written jəә – animate gender neutral (written form: you) they – gender neutral (takes 3rd person verb) ‘th’m’ (them empathic and written form) he – masculine ACC: him (heem Scots) she – feminine, inanimate Australian ACC: her (er Scots) it – inanimate USA, UK, Ireland...
Sociolect / Sociolect A variety of a langauge associated with a specific society Chav Speak - example Ebonics – example
Sociolect / Sociolect How does the queen speak in the UK? Do you think that is a sociolect? Did Szarkozy speak like other politicians? Do you think the way he spoke was part of popularity?
Sociolect / Sociolect Can you think of sociolects in France ? Are there power relations expressed with different sociolects ?
Reappropriation, Power and Social Status...
Let’s look at some clips on the topic Ebonics – discussion (The evil of Ebonics) Chav – discussion (Rise of Chav)
For a linguistic, slang doesn’t exist! What is slang?
Diglossia / Diglossie – langauge and status Why do the Catalonians want independence?
Why do the Scottish want independence?
Diglossia / Diglossie
Does this power relation only apply to dialects?
Why do people in the suburbs of Paris riot?
Why do people in the suburbs of LA riot?
Diglossia / Diglossie
Every langauge has varieties
Typically, some varieties have a higher social power than others
What is true of a variety, is true of a dialect, and of course a language
Diglossia is probably the most basic and widespread sociolinguistic phenomenon
Gender
Men and women use language differently, but there is a lot of variation
So, it’s not their sex that counts, what counts is how men and women are expected to speak.
In other words
There are male and female varieties of language
Do you think there is a power relation between the varieties?
Gender A. Gender & Register
A study in Dutch parliamentary debates demonstrated that women parliamentarians use more different words and longer words than men. The difference is statistically significant
Can you think of a reason why they would do this?
C. Gender and Turn-taking It is often said that men compete and women collaborate
any teacher knows that this is a generalisation,
but based on truth...
Is it true in every context?
Gender C. Gossip
D. Bitching
E. Showing off
F. Explaining stuff
Genre Genre : 17C sonnets, parliamentary speeches, 20C sermons, broadsheet news press... etc. In pairs, - name 3 genres - name characteristic features of each
Mode Mode is easy – written and spoken and maybe signed but some would say that CMC – computer mediated communication is also a mode it is the medium by which you communicate
Register Register : informal <–> formal What are characteristics of each? How does register interact with mode and genre?
Discourse / Discours
The way a teenage boy speaks in the suburbs of paris is more than
a variety of language...
Discourse / Discours
Should French girls be allowed to shave their legs at school?
The unseen power of discourse
The pressure to shave is an oppressive discourse
It is a visible sign of the “religion” of capitalism
It is a visible sign of the commodification of women
En projetant sur cet événement mineur, d’ailleurs aussitôt oublié, le voile des grands principes, liberté, laïcité, libération de la femme, etc., les éternels prétendants au titre de maître à penser ont livré, comme dans un test projectif, leurs prises de position inavouées sur le problème de l’immigration : du fait que la question patente – faut-il ou non accepter à l’école le port du voile dit islamique ? – occulte la question latente – faut-il ou non accepter en France les immigrés d’origine nord-africaine ? –, ils peuvent donner à cette dernière une réponse autrement inavouable.
Bourdieu
Discourse / Discours
Understating this notion is arguably the most important thing a teacher must learn
it is universal and universally powerful
Language is the main vehicle of discursive power...
Discourse 1. liberté, laïcité, libération de la femme
Discourse 2. Xenophobia, nationalism, racsism
Power exists in being able to manipulate discourses
Sociology and Linguistics need to construct those discourses, to reveal what they are...
Language Policy
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/10/09/protests-on-spanish-islands-defend-education-and-catalan-language/
http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2013/09/06/actualidad/1378458843_834865.html
Homework
Language Policy..... Catalonia, in groups
Q. 1. What the two langauge policies being debated? What are the goals of the two parties concerned?
Q. 2 What would be best for the people? What are the possible solutions?
Q. 3 Does France have similar problems? Can you think of another country that has similar problems
Project 1. Topic: Grammatical variation and language attitude Method: Questionnaires and grammaticality tests
This will be a group project
Each person will work individually and then we will compile the results
Project 1. Grammatical variation and language attitude Topic: Grammatical variation and language attitude
Method: Questionnaires and grammaticality tests
Step 1. Define research questions (whole group)
Step 2. Compose questionnaires (whole group)
Step 3. Pilot questionnaires (individual)
Step 4. Collect data (individual)
Step 5. Collate data (whole group)
Step 5. Interpret results (whole group)
Step 6. Summarise results (groups of two)
Variation in French
Continuer à / de
merci à / merci de
station / arret de bus
bien à vous / cordialement
le lieu que / où j’habite
Let’s think of some examples of variation!
Grammaticality tests, Likert Scales and Questionnaires
A Likert scale is a scale where informants rank a subjective response
Do you think Barroso is a good president?
Circle the appropriate number where 1 is totally agree and 7 totally disagree
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
pretty simple stuff
The problem is fillers and getting information
about the respondents....
Let’s work on one
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