Sociolinguistics

mutual intelligibility

the ability of speakers from different language varieties to understand each others

dialect

the language variety characteristic of. particular social group

speech community

a group of people who speak the same dialect

language variation

phonetic, morphological, syntactic, semantic, lexical

phonetic variation

differences in pronounciation

morphological variation

difference in morphological structures

syntactic variation

variation in how phrases and sentences are structured

semantic variation

the same word means different things in different language varieties

lexical variation

different words for the same thing

isogloss

the geographical boundary marking the limit of

difference between dialect and language

dialect is the variations in a language

isogloss bundle

when many different isoglosses fall in approximately the same location

social dialects

variety of speech associated with a particular social class or occupational group within a society; ethnicity, class, gender

class

socioeconomic status affects language

gender

masculinity vs femininity

age

younger speakers often speak differently than older speakers; part of natural language change

overt prestige

people model their speech after the dialect that is prestigious to them; dialect with most prestige usually the standard

covert prestige

speaker chooses to differ from the standard and assimilate to different non-standard language variety

speech style

systematic variations in speech based on factors such as topic, setting, addressee

register

different levels of formality, and are characterized by an entire set of linguistic features

slang

words or expressions used in informal settings often to indicate membership in a particular social group

jargon

technical language, typically association with a particular specialized domain

privilege

a group of unlearned cultural, legal, social, and institutional benefits extended to a group based on their social group membership

linguistic discrimination

discrimination against an individual on the basis of the way they speak

standard varieties privilege

speakers of standard varieties often perceived to be more credible

language and power

official language, disability, foreign accent, asl, notion of prestige

official language

status as an official language means government business must be conducted in that language; people who do not speak the language may have limited access to voting, court, education, etc.

disability

assumptions about speech and intellect, generation of pejorative terms

communication access

the various tools ad methods through which people receive and exchange information