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Sociolinguistics
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FOUNDATIONS OF
SOCIETY AND
LANGUAGE
Theme 1
Sociolinguistics III L2
sociolinuistics?
To understand what sociolinguistics is all
about it may help to review the following
questions:
1. Which features of language behavior are people
conscious of using which are below the level of
their conscious awareness?
2. To what extent individuals and groups use
language to define themselves or to set
themselves apart from others?
sociolinuistics?
4. What factors cause individuals or groups to
change their language in order to sound either
similar to or different from others?
5. What factors inhibit or promote the extinction,
rise or maintenance of local varieties of
languages?
6. What factors cause listeners to perceive one
type of language as higher in status than
another?
7. What attitudes do people have towards regional
dialects and foreign accents?
What is
sociolinguistics?
Sociolinguistics can be defined as a field of
research and study that deals with the
relation between language and society.
It copes with the links that can be found
between one or more languages and their
users who live within a specific speech
community.
What is
sociolinguistics?
Sociolinguistics examines the societal and
linguistic patterns that govern our behavior
as members of human society and how they
affect interaction.
Sociolinguistics is a very broad field, and it
can be used to describe many different ways
of studying language.
What is
sociolinguistics?
A discipline concerned with linguistic
diversity from the point of view of social
Pavlik: 29)
attempt to find correlations between
(Gumperz 1971)
Branches of Sociolinguistics
Language and Interaction
The principles of conversation, the ways in which
people make adjustments in speech when
interacting with others and the ways in which
societies differ in their assumptions about,
expectations for, and use of language.
Branches of Sociolinguistics
Language Variation: Style, Situation,
Function
Deals with the importance of contextual
factors in determining different registers,
styles, and genres.
It also deals with the use of language for
specific domains and functions as in
advertising, religion, business, and e-mailing.
Branches of Sociolinguistics
Language Variation and Change (Dialects
and Social Groups)
The differences within a language according
to social groupings, especially class, gender,
ethnicity, and region.
The variationist interest in language change
is also represented in this section.
Branches of Sociolinguistics
Language Contact
Stresses the reality that societies are rarely
monolingual; languages exist among other
languages.
The ways in which speakers of different
languages influence each other, and how
multilingualism is 'managed' by speakers at a
microlevel and by societies at a macrolevel.
Branches of Sociolinguistics
Language, Power, and Inequality
Deals with the ways in which language is
entrenched in, and entrenches, relations of
dominance in societies.
Branches of Sociolinguistics
Language Planning, Policy, Practice
Deals with the macrosociolinguistic issues of
the choice of a national language or
languages, and the ways in which languages
can be developed to face the challenges of
communication in an era spanning political
independence, nation building, and
globalization.
Branches of Sociolinguistics
Language and Education
Stresses the close relation between
Sociolinguistics and education, especially in
relation to validating the languages and
dialects that children bring to the school.
Branches of Sociolinguistics
Language and Education
The home language-school language
interface, the public debates about Standard
English and less feted varieties like Ebonics,
an understanding of educational failure,
enhancing gender sensitivity in male
dominated classrooms, and so forth.
What does
sociolinguistics study?
the social importance of language to
groups of people, from small sociocultural
groups to entire nations
language as part of the character of a
nation or a culture
the development of national standard
languages and their relation to regional
and local dialects
What does
sociolinguistics study?
attitudes toward variants and choice of
which to use where and when
how individual ways of speaking reveal
membership in social groups: working
class versus middle class, urban versus
rural, old versus young, female versus
male
What does
sociolinguistics study?
how certain varieties and forms enjoy
prestige, while others are stigmatized
ongoing change in the forms and varieties
of language, interrelationships between
varieties
language structures in relation to
interaction
What does
sociolinguistics study?
how speakers construct identities through
discourse in interaction with one another
how speakers and listeners use language
to define their relationship and establish
the character and direction of their talk
What does
sociolinguistics study?
how talk conveys attitudes about the
context, the participants and their
relationship in terms of membership,
power and solidarity
how listeners interpret talk and draw
inferences from it about the ongoing
interaction
Sociolinguistics vs.
The sociology of language
When in the late 60's sociolinguistics first
developed as an academic field of study, two
names used interchangeably were given to
this still incipient discipline:
Sociolinguistics and Sociology of language
Sociolinguistics vs.
The sociology of language
Sociolinguistics vs.
The sociology of language
Sociolinguistics vs.
The sociology of language
Sociolinguistics vs.
The sociology of language
Sociolinguistics vs.
The sociology of language
Sociolinguistics vs.
The sociology of language
Sociolinguistics vs.
The sociology of language
Language & Society
The social study of Language
The social study of Language
Language & Society