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CHAPTER 1: WHAT DO SOCIOLINGUISTS STUDY?

What is a sociolinguist?
Study the relationship between language and society
Find the explanation why speakers speak differently in different society
Study the social functions of language and how language conveys social
meaning
o To understand the different types linguistics variations used to express
and reflect social factors
Study the way language works
Describe sociolinguistic variation and explain why these variations happen
o Steps that should be taken to provide explanation:
Step 1: identify the linguistic variation (eg vocabulary, sound,
grammatical construction, dialects, language)
Step 2: identify clearly the different social or non-linguistic factors
which lead speakers to use one form rather than another (eg.
Features relating to participants, setting or function of the
interaction)

Sociolinguistics:
Is concerned with the relationship between language and the context in
which it is used
o The way people talked is influenced by the social context in which
they are talking
o Example: the way you speak to you lecturers is different than the way
you speak to your friends.
Language has a lot of functions:
To ask and give information
To express annoyance
To convey information
Etc
Language provides a variety of ways of saying the same things:
Examples:
o Addressing and greeting people (Hello Dr/Hi/Good morning, sis)
o Paying complements (fantastic job/well done/good work)
Variety
is a term used to denote any identifiable kind of language (Spolsky, 2006)
referring to language context
a set of linguistic forms under specific social circumstances
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The social background of a person (education & occupation) determines the
linguistics variation he/she uses (vocabulary, pronunciation, language choices)
Style - A variety of language used by an individual appropriate to a level of formality
(Spolsky, 20006)
Dialect a variety of a language used recognisable in a specific region or by a
specific social class (social dialect)
Each dialect has its own pronunciation, words
The reason for choosing one dialect rather than the another involves some
social considerations the participants, the social setting, the topic or
purpose of the interaction
Social factors, dimension and explanations:
Social factors:
Have important influences on the use of a particular (or linguistic) variety.
In any situation, linguistic choices will generally reflect the influence of one or
more of the following components:
o The participants who is speaking? & who are they speaking to?
o The setting or social context of the interaction where are they
speaking?
o The topic: what is being talked about?
o The function: why are they speaking?
Social dimension:
There are several important dimensions for analysis which relate to the social
factors
o A social distance scale concerned with participant relationships
o A status scale concerned with the participant relationships
o A formality scale 0- concerned with setting or type of interaction
o Two functionality scales concerned with the purposes or topic of
interaction
THE SOLIDARITY Social distance scale

INTIMATE DISTANT
HIGH SOLIDARITY LOW SOLIDARITY


How well we know
someone determine the
language choice
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THE STATUS SCALE Social distance scale
SUPERIOR
HIGH STATUS



SUBORDINATE
LOW STATUS
THE FORMALITY SCALE setting and type of interactions
FOMAL
HIGH FORMALITY



INFORMAL
LOW FORMALITY

THE REFERENTIAL & AFFECTIE FUNCTION SCALES the purposes & topic of interaction
REFERENTIAL
HIGH INFORMATION LOW INFORMATION
CONTENT CONTENT
AFFECTIVE
HIGH AFFECTIVE LOW AFFECTIVE
CONTENT CONTENT



HIGH STATUS
harbours respect

LOW STATUS Low
Social Economic
Status

In a formal interaction,
the language used will be
influenced by the
formality of the setting.
In an informal
interaction, people will
use colloquial language
Referential convey objective information of a
referential kind and it can also express how
someone is feeling.
Example: Gossip provides a great deal of new
referential information and also conveys how
the speaker feels about those referred to.
Sometimes, one function will dominate.
The more referentially oriented an interaction is,
the less it tends to express the feeling of the
speaker.
Information that is more concerned with expressing
feelings and more often have little new information to
communicate.
Eg: talk between neighbours over the fence, is mainly
affective in function, hence conveys little information
it is intended to convey goodwill towards your
neighbour, rather than new information