Sociolinguistics

LING elective year 4

What is sociolinguistics?

The study of the relationship between society and language

Mentalist approach

How language is made in the mind (linguists)

Empiricist approach

Only trust evidence from the real world (sociolinguists)

Standard language perception

Taught in school, media and formal writing

Non-standard language perception

Often branded as dialect (chaos, broken)

Descriptive approach

How people actually talk

Prescriptive approach

How people ‘‘should’’ talk

Mutual intelligibility

Criteria for whether or not people speak the same language (Aussie & Scottish English)

Interlocutor

Person you’re speaking with

Slang

Associated with younger people

Speech community

What language variation your community speaks

Community of practice

People who do the same things you do

Social network theory

New linguistic traits are more difficult to take root if the network is dense (few people interact)

Community of Practice (CofP)

Shows that mini groups want to consciously work on and keep their language identity. (Club, study-group)

Broker

someone who shares language traits between groups (people who change a language, teens).

Direct leveling

Differences between dialiects wearing down over time.

Expanding circle

English is widely spoken (Nederland)

Outer circle

English as historically important language. Former colonies US & UK. SE Asia and Africa. 

Inner circle

English as the first language for most. 

Variety char: 
•Mostly r-ful (rhotic)

•Often keeps THOUGHT and PALM distinct

•Prefers simple past

•British Englishes prefer present perfect

•Avoid shall

•Uses “different than”

USA (non-Southern)

Variety char: 
•MOUTH and PRICE are steady state (ah sound)

•HAPPY sounds similar to the schwa

•Y’all (second person plural pronoun)

•Double modal verbs (I might could do that)

•Fixin’ to to refer to mark future verbs

•Stealing sugar (baby snuggling), heap of (a lot of)

USA (Southern)

Variety char:
•Often similar to non-Southern American

•Merges THOUGHT and PALM

•Canadian Raising = MOUTH sounds comes out as FOOT (oot and aboot)

•Mix of British and American grammar, uses “be” form with some perfect tenses

•Acclamation (elected without opposition), riding (political district)

Canada

Variety char:
•Mix of rhotic and non-rhotic

•Merges FACE and GOAT vowels (see: Scotland)

•Stopped /th/ (dat ting)

•Arguements if grammar is more Creole or English

•Suck-teeth (tsk sound), cut-eye (disapproving glare)

Caribbean

Variety char:
•Non-rhotic

•Distinguished THOUGHT and PALM (different from GA)

•HAPPY similar to Southern American schwa

•North FOOT and STRUT merge

•Use shall, whilst, different from

England

Variety char:
•Rhotic

•Distinguish ‘wh’ and ‘w’ sound (whale, wail)

•Merge THOUGHT and PALM

•FACE and GOAT are steady state

•Needs washed instead of needs to be washed

•Wider use of –ing form

•Wee (small), bairn (child)

Scotland

Variety char:
•Similar to Scotish (but different R)

•In South clear /l/ and fricative /t/ (tch)

•In North palatal /k/ or /g/ (ky, gy)

•I’m after eating (just eaten), in South does be eating (regularly eats)

•Soft day (drizzly day), craic/crack (good times)

Ireland

Variety char:
•Non-rhotic

•Distinct FACE and MOUTH (mate=might, mouth=math)

•KIT similar to FLEECE (feesh, cheeps)

•Grammar close to English, but use different to

•Outback (remote area), g’day (hello)

Australia

Variety char:
•Non-rhotic in most areas

•KIT similar to schwa (fush and chups)

•TRAP near DRESS

•NEAR and SQUARE merge (bear and beer sound similar)

•Grammar close to English

•Togs (swimwear), kia ora (Maori hello, be healthy)

New-Zealand

Variety char:
•Non-rhotic

•KIT, DRESS, TRAP close to New Zealand

•Grammar close to English

•Bakkie (pick-up truck), robot (traffic light)

South-Africa

Physical isolation

Isolated from everyone (mountains, valleys, islands, etc.)

Linguistic isolation

Isolated from speakers of the same/similar language (Quebec French, English language, etc.)

Social isolation

Isolated by conventions or attitude (prejudice, distrust, difference).

Isolated communities

Keep older speaking habits, are reinforced by limited access to education and media, and limited in-migration.

Shibboleth

When a pronunciation becomes a stereotype of a certain region. 

Supralocal

Clumping tiny dialects into a big one (above the local). 

Enregisterment

Linguistic forms become linked with social meaning. (T-shirts, bumper stickers, dialect dictionaries, poetry, etc.)

Dying dialects

Chaing dialects with dying features.

Viariable (variants) linguistic functions

They can be pronounced in two or more ways. Gives prestige or stigma

Borrowed prestige

When the role of the speaker influences their speaking habits (working in a fancy store).

Crossover effect

Lower class speakers use too many prestige variants to appear more first rate. Also known as social hypercorrection (linguistic insecurity—> die-pass on, rich-wealthy, what?-pardon?).

Stereotypes

Often salient features of language between classes.

Sociolinguistic markers

Barely noticable features of language between classes. Affected by speech community’s norms.

Sociolinguistic indicators

“Below the radar” features but noticed with studies. Affected by speech community’s norms.

Caste

Social group that is hard to get out of.

Standardization of language

Starten when uni’s in London started becoming the language of court documents and uni lectures. (Spoken language is almost impossible to be standardized. Often language of the upper socio-classes. 

Sociolect

A subset of language used by particular social group/class. 

Overt-prestige

Sounding “proper”

Covert-prestige

When a positive value is assigned to a variety.

Restricted code

Language used in informal or close-knit communities

Elaborated code

Language used in formal situations.

Apparant time hypothesis

When young people show many differences to older speakers, it is likely that the young’s version is more increasing in the community.

Semantic drift

When words change meaning over time (metaphorical sense or social purpose).

Broadening

Type of semantic drift. ord can mean more things (barn). AKA extension, generalization.

Narrowing

Type of semantic drift. Word can mean only one thing (deer). AKA specialization. 

Amerlioration

Type of semantic drift. Word gets a more positive meaning (praise).

Pejoration

Type of semantic drift. Word gets a more negative meaning.AKA Downgrading.

Uniformation principle

When you look at the changes happening today and apply the “why” to the past. (Using the present to understand the past. Most start in the interior classes: middle & upperworking).

Labov’s principles of language changing over time

1) In stable sociolinguistic stratification, men use more non-standard forms tan women (g-dropping). 

1a) If noticed, woman prefer prestige forms more than men.

2) If unnoticed, woman are often the innovators. (Women change sooner/gaster than men).

Embedding problem

Combination of social and linguistic behavior in which change happens. 

Actuation problem

Determining why change happens when it does. Increase in awareness > education, media > attitudes > affect actual language use.

Above/below

Level of consciousness

Higher/lower

Social classes

Stable variation

When a cariation doesn’t change over time. (Sound shifts=vowels, merge=which, witch).

Style shifting

Understanding that people change their speech depending on who they’re talking to.

Linguistic constraints

Factor that governs the use of a variant (g-dropping).

Childrens’ order of sociolinguistic acquisition

1. Under 3: acquire variation from surrounding language.

2. Style shifting

3. Linguistic constraints on variation

4. Style before rules

S-shaped language curve

First part: slow language change. Second part (the rise): fast language change. Third part: slow language change again, losing the high and ‘settling’.

Ethnolect

An ethnic variety of a language or dialect. (Remember shibboleths).

Ethnic hypercorrection

When people try not to sound like they are from a certain community. 

Ethnic enclave

Place where many people with an ethnic background reside and have little to no contact with people from different backgrounds.

Code-switching

When people alternate between two or more language/varieties in a single conversation. 

Asymmetrical bilingualism

When a less powerful linguistic group has to adapt to the powerful group to access facilities. 

Diglossia

Situation where two distinct varieties co-exist in a community, like a social register. (High variety in formal situations, lower among friends.)

Enthonyms

Preferred name for an ethnic group

Crossing

Using another groups’ ethnolect (minority/marked, majority/unmarked, ABN+Twents).

Naming

Distinctiveness, markedness, “normal” un-named, others not normal.

Women’s language features (roots in women’s perception and place in society, subordinate for too long).

1. Hedges (sort of)

2. Fillers (well, you know)

3. Tag questions (it’s nice, isn’t it?)

4. Uptalk: Rising intonations at the end of s sentence, even if it’s not a question.

5. Empty adjectives (divine, cute)

6. Precise color terms (navy instead of blue).

7. Intensifiers (it was soooooo good)

8. Increase use in standard forms (formality, widely accepted language). 

9. Super-polite forms (oh fudge)

10. Avoidance of strong swear words (some people more than others, stigma)

11. Avoidance of interruptions (supportive (uh-huh), non-supportive (deep interruptions).

Difference model and dominance model

Gender differences in language reflect different cultures of conversation rather than differences in power.

Rapport style

Woman often use language to build and maintain relationships.

Report style

Men often use language to communicate factual information.

Direct indexing

Linguistic feature directly indexes something to have a social meaning if it’s categorical or exclusive (brother, sister).

Indirect indexing

when linguistic feature gets a social meaning because of an expectation or social norm (men-women, assertive-hesitant).

Gender paradox

The principles of language changing over time.

Gender policing

people are encouraged to aim for gender ideals or are sanctioned if they don’t.

Agentive behavior

active doing or choosing

Style

Intra-speaker (within the speaker) variation, ability to adept language according to whom you’re speaking to be best suited. 

Paralinguistic channel cues

tempo, pitch, volume, breathing rate, laughter in speech.

Audience design

Shift styles to accommodate the audience (people trying to sound like speaker = converge, or not = diverge).

Speaker design

Model that leaves more room for creation and presentation of speaker identity (it’s about you and not the listener).

Passing

Sounding authentic, from a certain group, fitting in

Crossing

to be taken as someone with the right to use another group’s language.

Dragging

Identity performance

Register

Type of specific speech situation (academic language)

Genre

recognized category of event with its own name (lecture, recipe, knock-knock-joke).

Jargon

special vocabulary associated with a particular occupation

Argot

Criminal “secret” language

Features for style work

common, salient (noticeable), strongly associated with local social meanings, social linguistic marker

Discourse analysis

Researchers look at structure of a conversation and what it reveals about the roles of people in it.

Speech event (acronym: SPEAKING)

Setting/Scene, Participants, Ends, Act sequence, Key, Instrumentalities, Norms, Genres

Communicative competence

Knowing how to do things with words in different speech acts.