Socio linguistics

Sociolinguistics
>Is the study of language in relation to social factors, including differences of regional, class, and
occupational dialect, gender differences, and bilingualism.
>Is the study of the relationship between language and society.
Sociolinguistics can help us understand why we speak differently in various social contexts, and
help uncover the social relationships in a community.

As known that we are all sociolinguists before even studying sociolinguistics, because we simply live
within a society and we use a certain language; which means we have the two tools; we have the
knowledge of language and the knowledge of society so we combine the two to use, to speak
language in a certain way. Moreover the way we speak to our friends in a classroom or outside or in
a cafe is not the same way we speak to our parents when we are at home. We use different styles
then; but why? Its due to the influence of the rules of society; these rules impose us to use one style
with our parents and a different style with our friends, so we are all sociolinguists but we arent
aware yet of the factors that make us speak in such ways.
Sociolinguistics is divided into two parts:
a) theoretical
b) empirical
Empirical means that it is based on experiences and experiments; linguistics is not scientific in itself,
there is nothing scientific in it; but the method it uses in its analyses is a scientific method.
A sociolinguist collects data + analyses his data + conclusions. And these conclusions are based; not
on what he knows but on what his data told him.
Social distribution refers to the speakers & the circumstances in which these linguistic items are
used. The various items use of language can have the same social distribution if they are used by
exactly the same speakers in the same circumstances; so when we have the same social distribution
we mean then same speakers and same circumstances.

Varieties of language:

Superordinate: Language as a system that humans use to communicate. In semantics it is a very

general word.
Hyponyms: French, English, Chinese... etc.

By: YOUSSEF, MOUNIR, SAFAE, MERIEM, SAGHOUANI

Socio linguistics

1. Variety of language
is a very general term which is used to refer to different manifestations of language.
Example: the language of girls at school, the language of football commentaries, the language used
by waiters at cafes
What makes a variety of language different from another is the pronunciation and items, including
function and grammar.
2. Socio linguistics
is the study of the interrelationship between language and the social structure; centrally concerned
with how language varies at a single period of time, and changes (over time) according to how
people use it within society.
3. Variety of language
Variety is a specific form of language, which may include Dialects, Registers, styles and standard
language. We use the term variety to avoid using the term Language that people associate with the
standard language, also to avoid using the term Dialect which people relate with nonstandard
language because they think of it as less prestigious on less correct than the standard one.
Variety can be characterized on the following:
a) Flexibility: we use the term variety to refer to a specific item which can be used by one single
individual but at the same time by a large group of people (the whole country).
b) Overlapping: varieties may overlap which means they could meet a mix, by doing so they became
identical (similar) at the same time they can differ (differences).

4. Speech community definitions:

a speech community or linguistic community refers to a community based on language, and this
allows us to distinguish a community from another by language
1. A speech community refers to a group of people who use a given language or a dialect.
> We consider a group of people as a speech community when they use the same language.
2. Each language defines a speech community; the whole set of people who communicate with each
other, either directly or indirectly, via the common language.
>This means that all the people who speak a common language belong to the same speech
community, whether they can speak directly (face to face communication), or indirectly (using
media). Example: Canada, Australia, England, USA and New Zealand refer to one speech community.
3. Speech community can be defined as a social group which maybe either monolingual or bilingual,
held together by frequency of social interaction patterns, and set off from the surrounding areas by
weakness in the lines of communication.
> This group must be living together or to be in a daily contact as a condition to refer to it as one
speech community because being far away from the surrounding areas (communication weaknesses/
problems of distance) makes it difficult for people to communicate. Then technically this is what
makes the formation of two different speech communities.
>The authorities provided many definitions with different explanation to the concept of speech
community. They are not in a total agreement on what does speech community refer to.
>all the definitions are reliable but there is an approach to which avoid using this expression the
term speech community and they prefer to use the term PROTOTYPS. They are categories of people
which can be recognized as a large group, Example: People categorized in a large group of teachers
and students. We refer to it as a general group > Prototypes.

By: YOUSSEF, MOUNIR, SAFAE, MERIEM, SAGHOUANI

Socio linguistics

N.B Prototype neglects all characteristics of speech communities which are the age, gender, sex,
while the term speech community is more detailed.

5. The differences between language and dialect

>Language is usually used to refer to the standard language which is used in official or formal
context. It is prestigious, written, rich in vocabulary, codified, taught in school.
>Dialect is a local form of language; it is often associated with a particular region or subsection of a
larger language community. Which means that dialect is a variety which differs grammatically,
phonologically and lexically from other varieties; this variety is associated with a particular social
class or status group. It is stigmatized, only spoken, poor in vocabulary, not codified, acquired
naturally.
6. Dialect and Isogloss
it is impossible to state in a clear linguistic term where a dialect stops and where another
starts as well as its impossible to state where a language stops and where a language starts.
The boundaries between two places speaking different languages are only covered as a
political division not a linguistic one, because people there, may speak the same dialect with
no differences at all. (E.g. Netherlands and Germany).
>Dialect is based on region, on geography. We call the study of dialect diactology (the study of
dialects) and the people who study it are called diactologists.
Diactology is the study of the geographical distribution of a linguistic item. i.e. To study where words
are used as aid to show the limits, this limits called isoglosses, they are the ones that indicate the
geographical area of a particular word. Therefore isogloss does not determine varieties; it represents
the boundaries of one single word.
>Isogloss is a geographical representation marking the distributional limits of lexical items or
linguistic forms (sometimes the area associated with a linguistic form).
> In linguistics we have a criterion called the criterion of mutual intelligibility (mutual
understanding), when we want to divide between two languages the most important
criterion is the political criterion and not the mutual intelligibility because and concerning
the example of the two guys of Germany and Netherlands, one call himself Dutch and the
other call himself German however when they communicate with each other they speak the
same language. So this means that we have here the mutual intelligibility criterion but they
do ignore it and they take to account politics, that is to say when we say this is German and
this is Dutch; we do it for political reasons not for linguistic reasons and because of the
speech continuum and we still do not take into consideration intelligibility but we take
politics.
8. Speech continuum: we can say that varieties may be arranged in a dialect continuum taking
Moroccan Arabic as an example which is starting form Casablanca to Oujda; it is arranged in
a dialect continuum which means starting from Casablanca we have dialect after dialect
after dialect and so on. One attached to the other in which two neighbouring varieties are
very similar.

By: YOUSSEF, MOUNIR, SAFAE, MERIEM, SAGHOUANI

Socio linguistics

Conclusion:
Hudson 1980 there is no way of delimit a variety, therefore he concludes that variety do not exist,
all that exist are people and items, and people may be more or less similar to one another in the
items they have in their language.
> People are maybe more or less similar to one another in the items they do have in their language.
Because what exist are the items in a language and the people who speak that
language. This means we take the items, we use whatever we like and then depending on
what we use we can be similar to each other or we can be different.
7. Standard language:
Standard languages are usually based on an existing dialect of the language.
Example: the British variety is based, historically at least, on the dialect of the surrounding area
(London), Continental French on the dialect of Paris, and Italian on the dialect of Florence or Tuscany
(although Rome and Milan became important influences in the late twentieth century). In other
countries the situation is not so clear.
The process of standardization:
The language develops in two ways:
Unconscious side: creating new words/vocabulary
Political authority: standardization is the result of a political interaction of society which protest
against standardization, some politicians decide to choose one of the dialects or varieties existed to
turn it to a standard language
it is generally thought of as a process that involves 4 stages; we need not to think of them a being
chronological. Indeed the process of standardization is a one-going one, and a whole range forces are
at work.
a) Selection: Variability is a fact of life for almost all languages. They are different regional dialects,
class dialects, and situational varieties. Standardization represents an attempt curtail, minimize if not
eliminate this high degree of variability. The easiest solution seems to be to pick (although not
arbitrarily) one of these varieties to be elevated to the status of the standard.
This means that specialists have to choose and select a variety or a dialect to standardize, according
to many reasons.
b) Codification: group of intellectuals fix a language to have rules on which all people agree.
c) Elaboration of function: deals with the function of language foe example teaching science,
literature, using it in media, it is going to function incorrectly; they have to pay attention to the
chosen variety.
d) Acceptance: the acceptance by the community of the norms of the variety selected over those of
rival varieties, through the promotion, spread, establishment and enforcement of the norms. This is
done through institutions, agencies, authorities such as schools, ministries, the media, culture
establishment etc. in fact the standard language comes to be regarded not just as the best form of
the language, but as the language itself. The other varieties are then dialects, which tends implicitly
to get stigmatized as lesser forms, associated with the not too highly regarded people, who are seen
as less educated, slovenly, uncouth, etc.
this means that the chooses variety must be accepted by people, we have to think if this variety will
be accepted or not, in order to avoid the conflicts. Example: in Africa they standardized the language
of the colonizer (French).

By: YOUSSEF, MOUNIR, SAFAE, MERIEM, SAGHOUANI

Socio linguistics

> the most important aspects in this process is Selection and Acceptance e-because they go hand in
hand, and then people start to learn it.

8. Diglossia
According to Ferguson: diglossia refers two varieties (High & Low) exist side by side and used by the
same community, the two varieties are related (compare bilingualism).
High is not spoken natively by any sector of the population (compare standard and dialect)
According to Fishman (1967), diglossia refers to all kinds of language varieties which show functional
distribution in a speech community. Diglossia, as a consequence, describes a number of
sociolinguistic situations, from stylistic differences within one language or the use of separate
dialects (Fergusons standard-with-dialects distinction) to the use of (related or unrelated) separate
languages.
>This means that a diglossic speech community is not characterized by the use of two language
varieties only. There may be more than two language varieties used within a diglossic community.

9. The nine characteristics of diglossia (Ferguson 1959)

Ferguson (1959) identifies nine characteristics which distinguish diglossia from other sociolinguistic
situations:
1. Function: H and L are specialized for different communicative functions, with very little
overlapping between them. However; specialization is not as strict as Ferguson claims. Besides,
inserting H items in every day conversation is a normal practice.
2. Prestige: H enjoys unequalled prestige while L is looked upon with a lot of contempt.
3. Literary heritage: H is written whereas L is not; it has a long tradition of literary writing and a
respectable body of literature while L is the vehicle of folk literature, although there are new trends
towards its promotion.
4. Acquisition: H is not acquired natively by any sector of the population, it is superposed.
>Implication: few speakers master it.
5. Standardization: H is highly standardized, with a long tradition of normative grammar. L is
considered to be grammarless/Correct speech is associated with H.
6. Stability: diglossia is not an unusual situation. It may last for centuries. Difficulty of communication
due to the distance between H and L is usually overcome by heavy borrowing and/or code-switching.
7. Grammar: the grammar of H is often more complex than that of L. Grammatical complexity adds
to the prestige of H and the simplicity of L deepens its low status.
8. Lexicon: H and L share the bulk of their lexis, being related varieties, but there are lexical pairs in
which one belongs to H and the other to L. The use of these items signals which variety is chosen.
9. Phonology: H and L constitute a single phonological system in which L phonology is the basic
system.

By: YOUSSEF, MOUNIR, SAFAE, MERIEM, SAGHOUANI