SOCIETY AND

LANGUAGE
Sociolinguistics III L2
Theme 1
 sociolinguistics?
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?
 sociolinguistics?

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?

A field of research and study that deals with the

relation between language and society.

Examines the societal and linguistic patterns that

govern our behavior as members of human society
and how they affect interaction.
 What is
sociolinguistics?
Sociolinguistics is a very broad field, and it can be
used to describe many different ways of studying
language.

The following are some definitions suggested by

some scholars:
 What is
sociolinguistics?
The study of the link between language and
society, of language variation, and of attitudes
about language. (Spolsky, 2010).

A branch of anthropological linguistics that

examines how language and culture are related,
and how language is used in different social
contexts (Bell, 1976).
 What is
sociolinguistics?
A study of the relationship between language and
social factors such as class, age, gender and
ethnicity (Hudson, 1996).

The study of stylistic and social variation of

language (Wardhaugh, 2010).

The study of language in relation to its socio-

cultural context (Van Dijk, 2009).
 What is
sociolinguistics?
Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any
and all aspects of society, including cultural norms,
expectations, and context on the way language is
used (Trudgill, 2000).

The study of language as a factor in demographic

and social organization, the effects of
multilingualism in a geographical area where
distinct languages are spoken.
 What is
sociolinguistics?

What do the sociolinguistic definitions mentioned

before demonstrate?
 What is
sociolinguistics?

In all these definitions, it is clear that sociolinguistics

is a discipline that makes a link between sociology
and linguistics.
It is a branch of sociology and as a concept it is
concerned with how language use is a determinant
of a given societys linguistic requirements.
 What is
sociolinguistics?

Sociolinguistics is related to language use and a

societys response to it.
It shows how groups in a given society are
separated by social variables like ethnicity, religion,
status, gender, age and level of education and how
adherence to these variables is used to categorize
individuals in social classes (Hudson, 1996).
 Branches of Sociolinguistics

Linguistic variation
Focuses on the linguistic variable that correlates with
social differences.
Unit of study is language itself. Considered a part of
linguistics.
Labov.
 Branches of Sociolinguistics

Ethnography of speaking
Emphasis on various aspects of context that are involved
in differing interpretations of language use.
Unit of analysis is not language itself but rather the users
of language: the speech community.
Generally considered part of sociology or anthropology.
Dell Hymes.
 Branches of Sociolinguistics

Language planning
Applied Sociolinguistics (sociology of language)
Emphasis on practical aspects of the study of language
and society at a macrolevel.
Much about language contact issues and language use
in education.
 Factors affecting
language variation
Social class
The position of the speaker in the society is often
measured by the level of education, parental
background, profession and their effect on syntax
and lexis used by the speaker.
 Factors affecting
language variation
An important factor influencing the way of
formulating sentences is, according to many
sociolinguists, the social class of the speaker.

Social class division

Two main groups of language users, mainly those
performing non-manual work and those with more
years of education.
 Factors affecting
language variation
Social Context
The register of the language and style used
depending on changing situations: formal language
in formal meetings and informal usage in informal
meetings.
 Factors affecting
language variation
It is notable that people are highly aware of the
differences in speech patterns that mark their social
class and are often able to adjust their style to the
interlocutor.
Convergence vs Divergence
Social Distance
Accommodation and Audience Design
Solidarity
 Factors affecting
language variation
Geographical Origins
Slight differences in pronunciation between
speakers indicate the geographical region they
come from.

Sociolinguistics investigates the way in which

language changes, depending on the region it is
used in (dialects, idiolects)
Dialect Accent
 Factors affecting
language variation
Ethnicity
Differences between the use of a given language by
its native speakers and other ethnic groups (idiolects)
jargon and slang
Jargon is specific technical vocabulary related with a
particular field of interest, or topic. E.g. words such as
convergence, dialect and social class are a
sociolinguistic jargon.
 Factors affecting
language variation
Slang is a type of language (sociolect) used most
frequently by people from outside of high-status
groups, characterized by the use of unusual words
and phrases instead of conventional forms.
e.g. a sociolinguist might determine what is and is not
appropriate language use in a business or
professional setting through language attitudes.
 Factors affecting
language variation
Nationality
This is visible in the case of the English language:
British English differs from American English, or
Canadian English; Nigerian English differs from
Ghanaian English; The study of language variation
is concerned with social constraints determining
language in its contextual environment.
 Factors affecting
language variation
Nationality
World Englishes
British English differs from American English, or
Canadian English; Nigerian English differs from
Ghanaian English; The study of language variation
is concerned with social constraints determining
language in its contextual environment.
 Factors affecting
language variation
Gender
Patterns of language use of men are different from
those of women in terms of quantity of speech and
the intonation patterns.

Age
The age of the speaker influences the use of
vocabulary and grammar complexity.
 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
Language & Society
The social study of Language
The social study of Language
Language & Society
 Language & Society

Bi-directional influence
Both social structure and Linguistic structure or
behavior may influence each other

Dialectical influence: Speech behavior and social

behavior are in constant interaction
 Language & Society

Linguistic structure social structure

Each is independent of each other
Some authors recognize that there is such
relationship, its too early to conclude that there is a
clear influence from both since theres more to
investigate on language and society.
Language & Society
 Sapir Whorf Hypothesis

Linguistic Determinism - Linguistic Relativity

strong and weak determinism

strong determinism = Language determines thought

Thought is dependent
on language
 Sapir Whorf Hypothesis

Linguistic Determinism (strong version)

Language determines thought linguistic structure
determines cognitive structure (learning a
language changes the way a person thinks) (hearing
Speakers of different languages perceive and impaired
parents vs
experience the world differently hearing
Linguistic Determinism (weak version) parents)

Language does not define ones view of the world

 Sapir Whorf Hypothesis

Linguistic Relativity
distinctions encoded in one language are unique
to that language alone
there is no limit to the structural diversity of
languages
all languages do not translate each other
The real world isunconsciously built on the
language habits of the group
 Sapir Whorf Hypothesis

Linguistic Relativity
Eskimo - have separate words for different types of
snow (a Eskimo child will develop more cognitive
categories for snow than will an English or Spanish-
speaking child)
When looking out at a snowy environment, the
Eskimo child will, in some sense, see it differently.
(Potato Andean culture vs European culture)
 Sapir Whorf Hypothesis

Linguistic Relativity
In English we use pronouns that distinguish
gender: he, she, him, her, his, hers.
In the Paluang language of Burma, Gender is not
distinguished in pronouns.
In the romance languages nearly every word has
a gender.
 Sapir Whorf Hypothesis

Seeing this, it seems clear that people who speak

romance languages probably pay more attention to
gender difference than the people of Paluang

(Languages rather than speakers can be sexist -

Sexism in language)
 Sapir Whorf Hypothesis

Linguistic Relativity
English - past, present, and future.
Hopi, a Native American language, does not. Hopi
distinguishes between events that exist or have
existed.
So, it would appear that the Hopi are less
concerned with time and English speaking peoples
slightly obsessed with it.
 Sapir Whorf Hypothesis

Linguistic Relativity
Western societies - a wide variety of words to
describe different colors.
In Papua New Guinea they use only two basic
terms: black and white or dark and light.
Differentiating color is probably then, a great deal
more important to Europeans and Americans
 Sapir Whorf Hypothesis

Linguistic Relativity
e.g. the rainbow: the colors we perceive come from
color-naming influence of the language. Some
languages do not divide the colors into the same
number of basic categories.
Speaker of those languages will not describe the
rainbow in the same way as English speakers do.
 Speech
Community
What is a speech
community?

General Linguistics
Sociolinguistics
For general linguistics,
a speech community is a
group of people that
share the same
language or dialect in
 Speech
Community
 Multilingual
Speech Communities
Bilingual Speech
Communities
 Monolingual
Speech Communities
Diglossic Speech
Communities
 Speech
Community
A group of people
who use language in
a unique and
mutually accepted
way among themselves
(societal and extra
linguistic factors)
To be considered part
of a speech
community, one must
 Speech
Community
Theres a degree of
complexity, it depends
on the number of
variables involved in
the social and linguistic
interaction
The verbal repertoire
(set of languages,
dialects, registers,
 Speech
Community
The speaker should
have the ability to
use language in a way
that is suitable for a
given situation.
It is possible for a
speaker to be
communicatively
competent in more than
 Speech
Repertoire
 Speech
Repertoire
 Speech
Repertoire
A person's individual
repertoires may be
diglossic, bilingual or
multilingual

What does it mean?

They may be able to
function in the High and
Low domains of their
language and the
 Speech
Repertoire
Lack of active
proficiency in certain
registers but may
passively understand
them; this passive
knowledge is culturally
appropriate and not to
be considered in any way
unusual.
e.g. some people
 Social network
A social network is
another way of
describing a
particular speech
community in terms of
relations between
individual members in
a community.
A network could be
 Social network
An office or factory
may be considered a
tight community (all
members interact with
each other)
A large course with
100+ students would be
a looser community
(students may only
 Social network
A multiplex community
is one in which
members have multiple
relationships with each
other.
e.g. in some
neighborhoods,
members may live on
the same street, work
 Social network
The looseness or
tightness may affect
speech patterns
adopted by a
speaker.
A social network may
apply to the macro
level of a country or
a city, but also to
 Density and
plexity in social
networks
Density refers
to whether
members of a
persons network
are in touch
with each
other.

Plexity is a
measure of the
 Density and
plexity in social
networks
A dense network is one in
which people you know
and interact also know
and interact with one
another (all members
know each other)

Dense networks slow down or

inhibit change. Members
control each others
 Density and
plexity in social
networks
A loose network is just
the opposite not all
members know each other
.

Loose networks make

people more open to
change. The ties that
individual members have
to other networks provide
High pestige and
low prestige
varieties
Crucial to
sociolinguistic analysis;
speech habits are
assigned a positive or a
negative value, which
is then applied to the
speaker.
This can operate on
many levels. It can be
realized on the level
High pestige and
low prestige
varieties
An important implication
of sociolinguistic theory
is that speakers 'choose'
a variety when making
a speech act, whether
consciously or
subconsciously.
 Whats the goal of
Sociolinguistics
To understand the different types of variation
(synchronic vs. diachronic)
To map linguistic variation concerning social conditions
To describe how language works in society to better
understand society
To investigate the social aspect of language to better
understand its use, structure and development
Applications of Sociolinguistics
The following are some practical outcomes of
sociolinguistic research:
Applied sociolinguistics (Language and
Education),important contribution of sociolinguists
covering the home language-school language
interface, public debates about Standard English and
less recognized varieties like Ebonics, an
understanding of educational failure, enhancing gender
sensitivity in male dominated classrooms, and so forth.
Applications of Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguists provides expert testimony in courtrooms
based on their studies of discourse and accent
patterns (Forensic Phonetics and Sociolinguistics',
Discourse Analysis and the Law)
It contributes to the growing attempts to save
endangered languages (Reversing Language Shift)
Cooperates with other educationists in government and
non-government committees on language (Language
Development; Language Adaptation and
Modernization; Language Planning: Models);
Applications of Sociolinguistics

contributes to cultural vitality by recording, describing

and popularizing rural speech and varieties that are
either denigrated or not recognized in the popular mind
as 'legitimate' language (Dialect and Dialectology;
Pidgins and Creoles).
 The origins of sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics as an academic field of study, as a discipline
only developed within the last fifty years, in the latter part of
the last century.

Certainly, an interest in the social aspects of language, in the

intersection of language and society, has been with us
probably as long as humankind has had language, but its
organized formal study can be dated to quite recently.
 The origins of sociolinguistics
The word sociolinguistics was apparently coined alreadyin
1939 in the title of an article by Thomas C. Hodson,
Sociolinguistics in India in Man in India.

It was first used in linguistics by Eugene Nida in the second

edition of his Morphology (1949: 152), but one often sees the
term attributed to Haver Currie (1952), who himself claimed to
have invented it.
 The origins of sociolinguistics
When sociolinguistics became popularized as a field of study
in the late 1960s, there were two labels sociolinguistics
and sociology of language for the same phenomenon.

Eventually a difference came to be made, and as an

oversimplification one might say that while sociolinguistics is
mainly concerned with an increased and wider description of
language, sociology of language is concerned with explanation
and prediction of language phenomena in society at the group
level.
 The origins of sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics turned out to be a very lively and popular field
of study, and today many of its subfields can claim to be fields
in their own right, with academic courses, textbooks, journals,
and conferences; they include pragmatics, language and
gender studies, pidgin and creole studies, language planning
and policy studies, and education of linguistic and minorities
studies.
The origins of sociolinguistics
In Europe, sociolinguistics started with the study of historical
linguistics and linguistic geography with three main fields of
interest: dialectology, regional languages and the linguistic
situation of colonized countries (Calvet, 2003).

In the USA, the study of sociolinguistics emerges from the

contact of linguistics with other disciplines such as
anthropology and sociology. (the ethnographic approach of
anthropologists, methodology used in social sciences and the
analysis of linguistic understanding)
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics

The observers Paradox

Qualitative vs Quantitative Analysis
Ethnographic Research Method
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Any adult speaker of a language has
accumulated enough experience to
know that their own language is not
used in the same way by different
speakers in their speech community.
It depends on the interlocutor's social
or geographic background and other
factors such as age, sex or
education.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
This means that every speaker will show
some degree of stylistic variation depending
on
a. the relations of power or solidarity with the
interlocutor;
b. the social context where the conversation
is taking place: at home, in school, at the
working place, neighborhood; and
c. the topic: academic, professional, etc.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
These variables determine that
a researcher willing to search
and analyze the way people
speak and why, will need to
devise some ways to collect
data with a transparent,
systematic and unambiguous
method in order to get reliable
non-biased data.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Sociolinguists at work look for commonly accepted rules
and patterns that account for variations in speech
(pronunciation, word choice or grammatical complexity,
or language choice, etc.) based on determining factors
like:
- age, gender, level of education, place of origin, etc.
- the nature of the encounter (place and topic).
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
The sociolinguists task - to elicit information or observe
a communicative situation.
How about factors such as validity?
The informants might be lying or simply pretending an
accent or using words different to the ones they would
use in a real situation.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Not done on purpose, some speakers, on noticing that
their speech is being analyzed change it unconsciously,
or just try to make it clearer - that is precisely the focus
of sociolinguistic research.
It is necessary to get reliable information about the
linguistic phenomenon and it should represent a true
sample of the way communication takes place without
any type of interference on the part of the researcher.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Intrusion can result not only from the presence of the
researcher or any unexpected device but also from the
alteration, although subtle it could be, of the situation or
the environment.
This brings about a methodological problem pointed out
by William Labov The observers paradox
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
The Observers Paradox
How can we observe the way
people speak when the
researcher is not there and in
situations that might be private
(e.g. at home, business
meeting)
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Overcoming the paradox - Non Intrusive responses
Covert (secret) collection of responses, ideal for
studying larger populations
o Once natural speech sample is collected, it must be
analyzed usually by choosing a variable (a specific feature
that previous observation suggests is likely to prove of
social significance) Pre vocalic /r/ in Spanish from La Paz.
o Can be done by asking a simple question. Whats your
favorite radio station?
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
A common practice was to record telephone or other
types of conversations without asking for permission.
Ethical and legal issues arise on the fairness of using
"hidden devices or sources of information such as
secret recordings in natural settings.
The sociolinguist needs to find adequate mechanisms to
elicit information that is genuine and permitted.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Questionnaires
Early sociolinguistic research - questionnaires to collect
data on attitudes and behaviors - the informant had to
choose one option out of several ones,
e.g. to discriminate one word from another or one
specific pronunciation from others.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Valid and useful depending on the aim of the study and
the type of subjects (age, cultural bounds, place, etc.)
Useful for obtaining demographic information (statistics)
Creates unnatural situations, informants may just
answer what they think the researcher wants to know.
Questionnaires are planned in advance - little room to
gather information that has not been taken into account
when it was designed.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
The sociolinguistic interview (face-to-face interviews)
When asking questions and receiving answers our
interlocutor's speech is being either carefully planned or
at least modified because of the circumstances and s/he
has a more casual speech that s/he possibly uses when
being with friends or the family.
The researcher may concentrate his/her attention on
something while neglecting another interesting aspect.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistic interviews are time- and effort-
consuming, and not always suitable - if not properly
directed they may not be a good way to elicit
information.
There are some techniques that can be used to obtain
casual speech and minimize the presence of the
interviewer.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Devices which divert attention away from speech
Labovs solution - recording when the speakers are
diverted by a break in the interview, e.g. a telephone
call, and are unaware that the recording device is still
running.
This can be done in various intervals and breaks which
are so defined that the subject unconsciously
assumes that he is not at the moment being
interviewed
.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
This, however, violates the principle of informed
consent.
o Research should not involve deceiving the participants
o Some researchers state that, although in some cases it
might be argued that fully informing the participants
might affect results, and that, e.g. some psychological
experiments require the true purpose to be kept from
participants, such research should be avoided

.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Another way in which Labov claimed to have obtained
natural speech was to ask what has become known in
the literature as the danger of death question. Have
you ever been in a situation in which you were in serious
danger of being killed?
Often he becomes involved in the narration to the extent
thatsigns of emotional tension appear (1972: 92)

.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
The signs of emotional
tension observed in the
participants speech were seen
by Labov as proof that the
vernacular had been
accessed, since the speakers
were clearly not focussing on
their language production.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Ethics
Researchers should minimise the harm and
inconvenience caused to participants
The use of the danger of death question clearly violates
the principle of minimising harm to participants, since
emotional distress is deliberately caused in order to
divert attention from speech production.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
The sociolinguistic interview - Labov (1972)
Allows for the elicitation of a range of speech styles in a
single interaction
The interviewer systematically manipulates the speech
situation so that the interviewee will produce more
vernacular-like or more standard-like speech
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Ethical Solutions
o When ethics review was first introduced, there was much
grumbling in the discipline about how this would make
research impossible.
o However, the effect has been to encourage creative
ways of eliciting data which have moved the discipline
on
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Ethical Solutions
o Methodologies developed which avoid deception and
give control back to participants
o Greater emphasis on ethnographic methods (in
sociolinguistics)
o Methodologies such as that developed by Carmen
Llamas seek to engage participants in the research
rather than viewing them as lab rats to be deceived into
giving up the vernacular
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Ethical Solutions
o It helped reject the idea of an unselfconscious
vernacular: we now see all speech events as performed
and constructed in some way.
o Methodologies such as that developed by Carmen
Llamas seek to engage participants in the research
rather than viewing them as lab rats to be deceived into
giving up the vernacular.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Torn between the two methods
Qualitative vs Quantitative methodology
Sociologists (conduct interviews and seek evidence in
carefully designed questions)
Ethnographers (document interaction and present
their intuitions through the interpretation of events that
they carefully observe)
Sociolinguists look for evidence of socially accepted
rules accounting for variations in speech
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Observers and quantifiers
Ethnographic research Scientific social science
Method Research method

Qualitative analysis Statistical analysis

Attempts to understand behavior and Seek evidence in the patterns based on the
culture by finding people wherever they answers of a large number of people to
are by doing whatever it is they do many careful designed questions

It means entering someones world for a They believe in the statistically

while (a couple of hours, days or determinable tendencies that can be
months) extracted by analyzing large quantities of
data
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Whats the difference between the ethnographic research
(qualitative) and other type of research?
The depth and intimacy of data collection
we get up close and personal to our research participants
We spend time with people in the natural context of their
lives
We watch the world with a wide-angle lens (we watch,
listen and we learn, and we do all of this in the context of
where the action normally occurs (at home, work, gym,
market, etc.)
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Devices for collecting spoken language data

Researcher-driven methods

Speaker-driven methods

Hybrid methods
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Researcher-driven methods
The structure of the interaction is guided by the researcher
Interviews
Focus groups

Speaker-driven methods
The structure of the interaction is guided by the study participants
Recordings of naturally occurring interaction
Peer conversation
Other forms of interaction and social activity
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Hybrid methods
Partially guided by the researcher and partially by the participants
Semistructured conversations
Some questions are prepared in advance; others arise
during the interview itself.
The interviewer may either remain apart or promote empathy
with the interviewee (more common in sociolinguistics)
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
The ethnographic interview
A qualitative technique that studies the cultural patterns of
participants in their natural settings through the combination of
observation and one-on-one interviews
Discovery oriented - the informant or participant controls what
s/he wants to share with the interviewer.
It is a way for the interviewer to discover, to understand, to learn
the subjects views of their own world.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
It requires spending an
extensive amount of time with
the participants to produce
better results (depending on
the budget and time allocated
for the study)
Questions are generated
through participant-observation
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
The Ethnographic Interview goes through the following process:
Identify the Purpose of the Interview
Describe Sample Selection/Population
Describe the Site
Describe the Data Collection Methods
oParticipant-Observation, Field Notes, Interviews,
photography
Describe Strategies for Data Analysis &
Interpretation
Construct Report of Findings
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Guidelines for ethnographic interviewing
1. Obtain informed consent before interviewing.
2. Maintain neutrality by not conveying to the
interviewee what may be the desired answer.
3. Pre-test questions to make sure they are
understandable and culturally relevant.
4. Keep the recording unobtrusive.
5. Make sure the conditions under which the interviews
are conducted are consistent.
 Doing research in
sociolinguistics
Guidelines for ethnographic interviewing
6. Use simple, clean, and jargon-free language.
7. Phrase questions positively.
8. Keep the questions and the interview short.
9. Avoid questions that have two parts to the answer.
10. Keep controversial questions for the end.