SOCIOLINGUISTICS

OPTION COURSE

MOISE ANDREEA- RALUCA

LMA, F-E, 2nd YEAR, GR. B

1) What aspects of culture do the authors Scollon and Scollon discuss? ( Scollon,
R. and Scollon, S.W., 1995 )
The most meaningful aspects of culture which provide useful information and
explanations regarding the use of systems of discourse in intercultural communication
are the following: ideology, socialization, forms of discourse and face systems. The
last category, face systems, is specific to each culture but not identical. Each culture
has its own pattern of face systems. All these main aspects refer to the beliefs and
values of people taking into account their background education. Moreover, the way
in which people tackle with interpersonal relationships cannot be ignored because it
provides us an understanding and strenghtens our conviction that effective
intercultural communication can be attained.

2) Define and discuss kinship. ( Scollon, R. and Scollon, S.W., 1995 )

First of all, kinship is one of the most basic principles for organising individuals into
social groups. Moreover, it stands out as a relationship among entities that share a
genealogical origin through either biological, cultural or historical descent. However,
the importance of kinship relationships is perceived differently from nation to nation.
In Asia, kinship relationships are extremely powerful and they have contributed to the
preservation of the nations ancient culture. In contrast, westerners are not so found of
kinship. In fact, most of them believe that kinship represents a hurdle in their path to
personal and professional accomplishments. They have the tendency to put more
emphasis on individualism and egalitarianism.
Secondly, when we talk about kinship, we must bring into discussion the two aspects
which are of major importance to intercultural discourse: hierarchy and collectivistic
relationship.
The kinship hierarchy refers to those relationships between fathers and sons, mothers
and daughters. In Asia, traditional kinship relationships refer to the obligations and
responsibilities of an individual towards his ancestors and towards the future
generation. On the other hand, collectivistic relationship implies that a member of a
culture doesnt act independently but within hierarchies of kinship.
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3) Define and discuss Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft. ( Scollon, R. and Scollon,

S.W., 1995 )

The field of sociology tackles with the idea that society is organised in two ways:
Gemeinschaft (community) and Gesellschaft (society).
Gemeinschaft refers to a community based on social solidarity in which individuals
share a common history and common traditions. In contrast, Gesellschaft is a form of
society, more impersonal, in which relationships among people are based on mutual
interests and agreement.
Gemeinschaft is asociated with kinship, the relationships between the members of the
same community are more personal (for example the family businesses in Asia),
whereas the international corporations are regarded as Gesellschaft.
These two ways of social organisation are strongly related to two types of discourse
system. The first kind of discourse system is associated with Gemeinschaft because it
deals with the natural process of birth and growth within a family and community.
The second form of discourse system refers to the utilitarian purpose for which one
accepts to become a member of a corporation.
The distinction between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft is considered to be highly
important because it contributes to our understanding of the discourse systems
regarding the process of socialization and enculturation. In the contemporary society
there is no evidence of pure Gemeinschaft or Gesellschaft. In fact, the modern social
structures are represented by a mixture of elements of both forms of organisation.

4) What is the definition of language on page 1? Can you add to it? ( Hodge, R.
and Kress, G., 1993 )
Firstly, language is defined as a system of signs which functions according to certain
rules and at the same time is considered to be a key instrument in socialization.
Secondly, language is also regarded as an act of will, a living process defining
relations between humans.

It has been said that language is the very essence of what makes us human. If we are
to fully understand what it means to be human, then, we must understand what
language is, how it works and how we use it.

5) What are the advantages of written language ? ( Thomas, J., 1995 )

Many linguists consider that spoken language is primary, but linguistic science holds
evidence that the written language has more to offer.
It is much easier to communicate in writing because in spoken language there is the
interference of emotional factors. As opposed to spoken language, in written language
contradictions are less noticeable and incoherence can be avoided. Although written
language is not as accesible as spoken language for certain classes, it has preserved
our history through writings of all kinds.

6) What are abstract meaning and contextual meaning ? Describe Thomass

examples and think of examples of your own. ( Hudson, R.A., 1980 )
The term abstract meaning refers to the possible meanings of a word, phrase or
sentence that a dictionary provides. If a word has several meanings, some of them
may be common and some may be restricted to a certain domain of discourse.
Thomass first example refers to the word cat, which has 3 abstract meanings: a
small four-legged animal, a whip used for flogging people and a catalytic converter. It
has been pointed out that if a hearer is in the wrong domain of discourse he may
encounter difficulties in assigning the adequate sense. His second example refers to
the word handout. Using this example, he points out that the awareness of the
social position of the people engaged in a conversation is extremely useful.
A personal example would be with the carte. I was supposed to go with a friend of
mine to a job interview. Not remembering the name of the street, I told my friend:
D-mi cartea. She looked at me somehow confused and came back with a bok
which she borrowed from me. Actually I was referring to carte de vizit.

7) How is speech used in social interactions in the community Hudson describes

on pages 8-9 ? ( Hudson, R.A., 1980 )
According to Hudson, there are various ways in which speech is used in social
interactions. For instance, when one comes in contact with another language, the
choice of language is based on the convenience of the people concerned. In order to
interact with other cultures one needs to know as many languages as possible. More
than that, for young people this is a way of finding a partner. In the society described
by Hudson, there are some rules, one of them being that if you are listening to
someone you respect you should repeat everything he says word for word, at least for
the first few minutes. According to Hudson, a child should know his fathers
language, his mothers language and lingua franca.

8) On page 11, Hudson states that from a social linguistic point of view, society
is structured as a multidimensional space. What does he mean ? ( Hudson,
R.A., 1980 )
Hudson states that society is structured as a multidimensional space because the
individuals living in it dont have the same experience in terms of language and
culture. When it comes to comparing societies, the dimensions of age and region of
origin must be taken into account. Experience as a leader also counts especially when
it comes to speech produced by other individual speakers, each of these speakers
having a unique sociolinguistic past. Moreover, there is also the idea that a member of
a community is able to form his own mental map of the community in which he lives
in and the people in it, comparing them in terms of linguistic dimensions, values and
beliefs.

9) Briefly describe the stages that the child goes through in her/his L1
sociolinguistic development ? Can you think of yourselves and give
examples ? ( Hudson, R.A., 1980 )
First of all, the sociolinguistic development is different from child to child, because
each one undergoes several stages of learning and language development. However,
there is one generalisation concerning linguistic models, that children, during their
four life-phases follow the pattern of first parents, peers and adults.
The first life- phase is babyhood, when we use baby talk and when we depend entirely
on our parents nurture.
The second life- phase is childhood, when we have the tendency to imitate the
language of older children as well as their behaviour. The vocabulary of primary
school children is full of archaic forms .
In adolescence, the third life- phase, children prepare to become adults. At this stage,
it is too late to learn a new language perfectly. Now, they feel the need of having a
life- style model. Each adolescent wants to be popular among his peers and they resort
to renewing the language, forming their own language (teenage slang).
The last life- phase, adulthood, defines each and one of us as mature individuals in
terms of age, religion and social class, prepared to explore the society we live in. At
this point we are all more or less stable linguistically, depending on our educational
background.
In what concerns my personal sociolinguistic development, I strongly believe that I
have undergone the same four life- phases. During the years, my Romanian
vocabulary was also influenced by slang terms, used by my friends like napa,
nasol, marf . Moreover, I used this kind of vocabulary only with them, not at home
or at school. I was aware that in public institutions, a language like that wouldnt be
tolerated.
10) Briefly summarize the conclusions of the chapter 17- 18. ( Hudson, R.A.,
1980 )
Firstly, when learning a foreign language we only deal with its linguistic aspects, not
taking into account the cultural and social background. When further studying, we

start to make connections between the language itself and the community to which it
belongs, that is we begin to acknowledge its cultural characteristics.
Sociolinguistics and non- social linguistics complement one another, meaning that
every discipline deals with what the other one considers irrelevant to its scope.
Chapter 2 explains the relationship between a language and its dialects.
Chapter 3 emphasises the dependence between knowing the language and knowing
the culture.
Chapter 4 describes how speech is considered a social behaviour.
Chapter 5 deals with the fact that spoken language has a variety of forms according to
geographical factors.
Chapter 6 deals with linguistic equality and the last chapter describes various insights
found in earlier chapters.