ESL Praxis Meeting: 2 March 2013

SociolinguisticsFeldstein

Goal: to understand and recognize the basic sociolinguistic principles and theory related to language learning

Linguistic theory encompassing:o word use across dialectso appropriate language use in different situationso communicative competenceo attitudes toward second-language learners

Sociolinguistics: Chapter 10Language in Society

Pragmatics: Language in Context

TText p. 207 p.

PragmaticsText p. 217: "Context may be linguistic —what was previously spoken or written —or knowledge of the world, including the speech situation, what we’ve called situational context." Text p. 350

How can language vary?• speaker's identity, purpose, context

The language of an individual speaker with its unique

characteristics is referred to as the speaker’s idiolect

What are dialects?

Text p. 430"mutually intelligible 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.

Dialects in the USAhttp://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/dialectsofenglish.html

Southern and South MidlandSouthern and south midland:• "drawl" [lengthening, fronting, and raising vowels]• /ai/ > /æ:/ in find, mind• /oi/ > /o/ in boil, oil• /u:/ > /yu:/ in due, tuesday• au/ > /æu/ in out, doubt• /e/ > /ei/ in bed, head• /e/ > /i/ in pen, ten• greasy > greazy• carry > tote• dragged > drug• you > you all, y’all

Northern

• fog, hog: /fag/, /hag/ -- /fog/, /hog/• roof: /ruf/, /huf/ -- /ru:f/, /hu:f/• cow, house: /kau/, /haus/ -- /kæu/, /hæus/• wash: /wa:sh/ -- /wosh/, /worsh/• darning needle -- snake feeder• pail -- bucket• teeter-totter -- see-saw• fire-fly -- lightning-bug

Standard? http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~

kdk/201/spring02/slides/variation-4up.pdf

“Standard” dialects are idealizations, not actual well- defined dialects of a given language. Nobody actually speaks, for example, Standard American English (SAE). Many people almost speak it.

Standard?

http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~kdk/201/spring02/slides/variation-4up.pdf

For the particular case of SAE we are more interested in grammar than we are in accent (pronunciation) features. The reason is social – regional pronunciation variation is not considered in the US to be very important socially (within limits), so people with a large range of accents can still be considered to be speaking the standard dialect. Contrast this with England, where societal divisions correspond rather closely to pronunciation.

Standard?

http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~kdk/201/spring02/slides/variation-4up.pdf

Examples Senators, governors, presidents, and other high-ranking

government officials are generally considered to be prime examples of SAE, yet they exhibit a huge amount of variation in pronunciation.

What are World Englishes?(according to Wikipedia, there are 75!)BritishCanadianAmericanIndianAustralianNigerianGhananLiberianPhilipino

Communicative Competence

"enables us to convey and interpret messages and to negotiate meanings interpersonally within specific contexts." (Hymes, 1972)

Proxemics

What is proximity?

Proxemicssubcategory of the study of nonverbal

communication• haptics (touch), • kinesics (body movement)• vocalics (paralanguage)• chronemics(structure of time)

What are BICS and CALP?

What is Codeswitching?p. 461

Text Questions

Text Questions

One World Activity

• The classroom represents a map of the United States and its neighboring countries. The front of the classroom is north and the back is south.

• Goal: find as many sociolinguistic differences as possible

One World Activity

• Create a sign with the name of your country or town and state.

• Number yourselves 1 or 2.

• Situate yourself in your country or, state or town in the map, using the “Charlotte sign” as an orientation point.

One World Activity

•At the signal, • Number ones travel to another

country, state or town they would like to visit.

• Two travelers cannot visit one host at the same time.

One World Activityo Number 1’s arrive at the new location

they should try to find as many sociolinguistic differences as possible

• “y’all”, “howdy?” • substitute the product name for the actual object

(coke, kleenex)• say buggy for shopping card• Spanish uses two different pronouns to determine

formal vs. informal register (tú/usted)• “yes ma’am” not used as much in the north of the

United States.

One World Activity• At a second signal, travelers go home.• At a third signal, number twos travel to a town or country

they would like to visit. • The process is repeated. • At the next signal travelers go home.• Share some interesting findings.