Kaarten: Sociolinguistics | Quizlet

3 definitions of Sociolinguistics

1. Janet Holmes: sub-branch of linguistics, relation language-society, different social contexts-different social functions and meanings, language as social and cultural phenomenon
2. William Labov: not sub-branch, no such thing as non-socio linguistics
3. Gumperz & Hymes: own field with border disciplines, social factors affecting speech - different methods of operating

2 traditions of Sociolinguistics

1. Sociolinguistics within linguistics = variation studies : quantitative variation (60s)
2. Ling anthropology within anthropology = interactional sociolingx : qualitative, draws on conversation analysis and pragmatics

Sociolinguistics vs Sociology of language

1. socioling = effects of society on language (variation)

2. sociology of language = sociological knowledge of language and interaction; >sociological knowledge (language, face-to-face interaction, L related phenomena)

Key themes of early variation studies

overt & covert prestige; hypercorrection and social (in)security; gender; prestige and upward mobility

overt prestige

orients towards standard/prestige forms and status (women mostly)

covert prestige

orients away from standard; value in-group solidarity (men mostly)

plight of the middle class

upward mobility, hypercorrection bc of social insecurity in lower middle class

Elaborated Code

Bernstein; Middle Class; explicit, diverse, varied, rich & can stand on its own; socialisation that facilitates expression of individual experience and focus on individual "I"; education advantage

Restricted Code

Bernstein; Working Class; implicit & need of insider knowledge; limited voc, predictable and highly ritualised lang; socialisation that is based on common identifications and expectations of the social class; orientation to "we" as social group; deficit in education

Deficit view on language-education

Basil Bernstein: Elaborated code in middle class vs Restricted code in working class bc of different socialisation

Difference view on language-education

William Labov; Critique on Bernstein for using terms like restricted; some groups' lang use matches school's expectations better and thus do better; focus on grammaticality of BVE; variation = systematic = rule-governed; invariant & variant rules; social and cultural differences create language variation

Communicative Competence view on language-education

Dell Hymes; interaction with Chomsky on innate ling ability okay but what about communicative ompetence;

interaction with Bernstein not social valuation of different codes but prejudice;

language use comes with expectations of appropriate language use;

adaptability; just speaking grammaticaly is not good enough;

speaking-grid;

Mapuches repeat question is insult

speaking-grid

Dell Hymes; Setting/Scene; Participants; Ends; Act sequence; Key, Instrumentalities; Norms; Genre

Legitimate language & capital view on language-education

Pierre Bourdieu; social class ~ standard language use ~ legitimate speaker;

class advantage also in communicative legitimacy;

linguistic exchanges driven by market mechanisms (economic principle):

3 forms of capital = symbolic capital;

habitus = how we behave habitually in our bodies;

we need to know background of people to understand their participation in social world; play the market for profit

3 forms of capital

Pierre Bourdieu; financial/economical capital (wealth); social capital (networks, connections); cultural capital (knowledge, skills, education, etc); the Bourgeois has all of these and unifies its market to secure advantage

Rehabilitation of Bernstein's work within language-education

Ruquaiya Hasan; stress on carers and schools and their role in socialisation process of child; Home and School are critical for socialisation, but also evaluate & maintain differentiation and hierarchy

functional coding orientations

Class antagonism in language-education debate

Sherry Ortner; class-specific coding orientations are domestically acquired;

class antagonism is introjected, within class linked to valued behaviours;

one class sees the other as their worst fear so they prohibit behaviours in their class that reminds them of the other one;

no coarse words in MC, or hanging out with WC children;

no affective speech in WC, see MC values as feminine;

gender friction because WC sees women as carriers of MC values

Ebonics debate within language-education debate

1. '96 in Oakland resolution recognising legitimacy of ebonics as medium of instruction; motivation to maintain legitimacy and richness AAVE; motivation to facilitate acquisition and mastery of English language skills; loads of resistance even from Blacks
2. Early '97 a more downtoned version of the policy adopted: transitionary function for Ebonics; renewed emphasis on learning standard English

Remedial pedagogies for underachieving migration kids

1. Interdependency theory (Jim Cummins): development of parallel literacy in L1 has positive effect on proficiency school language
2. Translanguaging (Ofelia Garcia): encourage & foster use of spontaneously adopted lang habits in school
3. Functional Multilingual learning: allow kids to use L1 during school interactions

Traditions of language planning

1. Enlightenment: stress on rationality & standard language as rational model of communication
2. Romantic Idealism: 1 nation = 1 culture = 1 language = 1 history; focus on national authenticity and uniqueness
3. Rebuild after WW2 & postcolonial world: multilingual nations now independent and need to solve language problem
4. 1960s: language planning as academic subject

Language planning (definition)

seeking deliberate language change, with an eye on the future and to solve issues; prepare normative grammars, dictionaries, orthography etc

3 types of language planning

1. Status planning 2. Corpus planning 3. Acquisition planning

Language status in UK

1. official de facto, not de jure language is English
2. Gradual official recognition Welsh, Scottish & Irish Gaelic, Ulster Scottish; EU charter for minority languages signed by UK for those above & Manx
3. Recognition languages of Crown Dependencies: Guernsey, Jersey and Manx
4. recently: official recognition for sign language

Language status US: federal vs state level

Federal: English as de facto, not de jure official language ;

State: 4 possibilities (< english de facto, english de jure, 2 official recognised language, (co)official indigenous languages)

English Plus Resolution

1988, New Mexico : position of English in US is already secure and needs no legislative protection; preservation of languages and cultures important state goal

States with official status vs practice

New Mexico (de facto bilingual, but spanish not de jure); Arizona (de jure English, indigenous voting ballots); Cali (state docs in different languages); NY (Spanish not de jure, but many accommodations)

English Only Movement

°1981 but existed earlier: against bilingual education

Language Policy by Bernard Spolsky

3 foci of analysis within language policy: practices (ecology), attitudes (ideology), management (planning)

3 orientations: drive out the bad; pursue the good; deal with the new (<active monitoring or laissez-faire);

language rights necessary, pessimists assume language is out of control and language policy is impossible task

Developments in language policy by Jernudd & Nekvapil

1. Post WW2 : rebuild and replan postcolonial states & their languages; state as main agent and level of planning
2. Today :

• Language Management Theory (from planning to managing);

• from grammar to all behaviours related to language

• organised management: cyclical => uses-evaluations-interventions

• recognise that planning is political (power, hegemony, identity); tussentaal debate; change of context

Language attitudes (definition)

Language user's subjective appreciation or depreciation for certain varieties - person's values. Focus on aesthetic qualities, intelligibility & prestige. Now shift to language ideologies

Research: language attitudes

Matched Guise technique; 1 speaker reads same text in different varieties; quantitative research; rank varieties based on features/qualities/values. P. Ball in Australia on (non)anglosaxon accents.

Language ideologies

More complete world view (power, dominance, political, common-sense); how is speaker's universe organised? (rankings of languages); internal contradictions in belief systems (gap belief-provable fact); ideologies such as "english is ticket to work" "english easier to learn than french"

P. Bell's research on language attitudes

Matched Guise technique; (non)anglosaxon accents in Australia; advantageous for immigrants to learn other accents?; RP Aussie, Scottish and French; Competence Integrity & Social Attractiveness scales

Folk linguistics (definition)

D. Preston; Study of nature of folk linguistic beliefs on language use (instead of gap attitude-behaviour); what do non-specialists know about language and language variation; conscious reactions and comments on language

Research: folk linguistics

Perceptual Dialectology: draw & evaluate on map different areas where people speak differently in the US; Analysis by computer-assisted composite of hand-drawn maps by respondants; conclusion: status vs solidarity

Folk theory VS Linguistic theory of languages

1. Linguistic theory: each individual has idiolect --> different dialects --> the language ; language is in the mind of the individual; differences language and dialect are social/political
2. Folk theory: individuals possess something language-like; the language --> good language --> ordinary language --> dialects and errors ; good language is lang of elite models of culture; ordinary language is lang of ordinary mortals; humans can responsibly reflect language OR irresponsibily diverge until error and dialect

Language Accommodation Theory

Howard Giles
1. 1970s Speech Accommodation Theory: socio-psychological accounts of how our dialects change bc of whom we talk to; shifti n people's speech depends on situational factors and social groups; influence of interpersonal dynamics, participants and psychology of social life
2. Communication Accommodation theory (after ciriticism of LAT) : verbal & non-verbal behaviours, based on socio-psychological dynamics

3 features of Language Accommodation Theory (first version)

Situational adjustment is matter of interpersonal dynamics;

parameter: participants;

explanation: psychology of social life (groups)

Types of Language accommodation

Upward/Downward/Mutual Convergence; Upward/Downward/Mutual Divergence; Over-accommodation; Maintenance

Convergence (definition)

shifts in speech to ressemble behaviour/speech of interlocutors

Divergence (definition)

Shifts in speech to stress difference/emphasize distinctiveness

Socio-pyschological dynamics of Communication Accommodation Theory

1. Similarity attraction (similar attitudes and beliefs, more attraction)
2. Intergroup distinctiveness (enhance in-group by distinguishing from out-group; we/they)
3. Social Exchange Processes (assess awards and costs of actions)
4. Causal Distribution (behaviour assessed on attributed causes)

Age as person feature (definition)

relevant sociolinguistic factor in production of especially vernacular forms

Age-grading (definition)

speakers of community use more tokens of variant A at age X and more of variant B at age Y

Types of age-grading studies

1. Apparent time study: lang use of different groups at 1 point in time
2. Realtime study: observations similar populations over extended time

Age-grading ~ vernacular forms (findings)

kids use a lot of vernacular --> societal pressure to conform makes them lose a lot of vernacular during middle-age --> old age more vernacular again, less pressure to conform

Sex vs Gender

1. Sex = biological, dimophic, objective, also trans and inter
2. Gender = social and cultural, continuum, acquired behaviour, socialisation result

Types of gendered variation

1. Sex-exclusive linguistic feature: same language but different linguistic features in one's speech (eg: Yana lang suffix "na" added to general form by men)
2. Sex-exclusive linguistic feature: same language but different voc items in one's speech (eg: traditional Japanese different words for "father" "eat")
3. Sex/Gender-preferential linguistic patterns: same language but variability in frequency of linguistic features and style patterns (eg: women more "ng")
4. Sex and Gender entertwined (pitch/larynx, voice, gendered expectation to effects anatomic difference)

Sex related to prestige patterns

Women more prestige variants, also quicker to adapt to new varieties, bc responsible of education kids; Men more non-standard vernacular forms bc rough and tough masculinity; linked to Overt & Covert prestige

Networks (The Milroys)

1. Density = how open/closed is network (extent to which contacts also know and interact with e/o)
2. Plexity = in how many ways are you linked to someone
- High P & D = closed off from influences outsides (mostly young men, more localised vernacular)
- Low P & D = access to more diversity/varieties (need for more standard speech)
- Prestige not always in the standard form

Research on Networks (Belfast)

3 low status working class communities in Belfast; snowball methodology; women more standard forms and carriers of lang change; men more non-standard forms; women also carriers non-standard forms perceived as attractive

Networks related to status & solidarity

Relative strength of network depends on status & solidarity; solidarity (strong ties) VS status (weak ties); status develops ties in terms of success; show of solidarity through use of vernacular forms

Men & Woman interact differently

1. Lakoff: deficiency view (women's lang & lang about women)
2. Zimmerman & West: dominance view (+ research Fishman)
3. Difference view: Tannen's approach on styles
4. Constructivist perspectives < critique, performance, Ochs' indexing gender secondary level, McElhinny challenging hegemonic masculinities

Deficiency view on men-women

Lakoff : Women experience ling discrimination in 2 ways
1. Women's language signals uncertainty, weakness, excessive politeness; characteristics contribute to lower status and weaker position in society; features (affective adjectives, tag-q's, rising intonation)
2. Language about women against women as serious persons with individual views; features (euphemisms "lady doctor", assumptio of relationality "x's daughter")

Dominance view on men-women

1. Zimmerman & West : male (patriarchal) dominance enacted through language use; research on interruptions
2. Research by Fishman on interactional support work: hierarchical relationships in verbal interaction; woman pushed into supportive interactional work; man dominates floor and does most interactional work (woman asked more q's, more active listener responses >< man responds minimally, initiates more topics)

Difference view on men-women

Men & Women grow up & socialised with different values - causes miscommunication by different expectations of interaction and proper conduct.

Tannen's gender differences

Woman's style = language of rapport, establish relations and connections, emphasis on similarities
Men's style = language to preserve independence and status in hierarchy, exhibit knowledge and skill, be centre stage
Patterns among women: focus on connection, mirror each other, show appreciation
Patterns among men: focus on competing and status

Constructivist perpectives men-women

1. Critique on difference & dominance views
2. 1990s postmodern turn to performance
3. Ochs' indexing gender
4. McElhinny challenging hegemonic masculinities

Constructivist critique on difference & dominance view men-women

most men and women is a trap - plays into stereotypes; currently more power shift too

Constructivist perspective of performance

1990s: gender as contextualised process of identification, as performance; gender as social construct enacted in different contexts; how you perform comes from history, heritage, existing roles etc

Performativity (definition)

How/If participants produce talk, it constructs them in particular kinds of men/women/boys/girls

Ochs: indexing gender at secondary level

behaviours often index gender a-only at secondary level; Behaviours often not gendered when spoken; eg. doctor's caring talk is first doctor's talk, then maybe female talk

McElhinny: challenging hegemonic masculinities

Female & Male police officer handling domestic violence; Female police officer feels like she has to be more tough at work, like a man; gender identity related to occupation identity

Programme of dialectology

Efforts of preservation, not codification; NORM-criterion, origins at variationist sociolingx; isoglosses & transitionary zones; newfound social attractiveness of substandard

Isogloss (definition)

Line on map that marks area with distinct linguistic feature(s)

Transitionary Zone (definition)

Transitionary zones between dialect zones from aggregate map with different isoglosses; eg. East Anglia

Estuary English

Standard English with South-Eastern accent & Cockney features

Different relations dialect vs standard

1. Binary Model: 2 poles (dialect-standard) with gradient (continua) in the middle
2. Triadic Model: exo-/endo-normativity
3. Strata Model: basilect - mesolect - acrolect
4. Divergence & Convergence Model (dutch - flemish spoken divergence, written convergence)
5. Scaled Status Model (Scottish in Scotland prestige, in England not really)

Diatypic variation (definition)

language varies according to situation in which it is used

3 types/interpretations of diatypic variation

1. Halliday: Register
2. Crystal & Davy: Style
3. Irvine: Formal vs Informal

Register (< Diatypic variation)

Halliday; Functional language model that language serves 3 functions: ideational (what); interpersonal (who); textual (how); Situational dimensions are Field (activity), Tenor (relationships); Mode (channels and formats)
- Research on characteristics/register of language of science/religion etc.

Style ( < Diatypic variation)

Crystal & Davy : situational variables impact stylistic features (like brevity); 2 types of features:
1. Style-exclusive features (eg. archaic forms religious texts, doubles in legal texts)
2. Frequency features (eg. article deletion in recipes)

Formality vs Informality ( < Diatypic variation)

Irvine: language can range from aware and unmonitored to fully planned/precoded; formality can be noted as different level of communicative event (not just language); Ancestry in Martin Joos' 5 clocks; Range = aware - monitored - planned - precoded

Martin Joos : 5 clocks (< formality & informality)

Interstices dialects & diatypes

1. NS speech occurs more frequently at informal end
2. NS speech may be situationally required
3. NS speech may reflect former lang domination

Code-switching: 4 main theories

1. Gumperz: situational vs metaphorical CS
2. Myers-Scotten: Markedness Model
3. Auer: CS is conversational
4. Gafaranga: CS determined patterns? Dimensions?

Situational vs Metaphorical CS

Gumperz; situational = diglossic model : one situation requires one language; metaphorical = within dyad : extra/intrasentential CS; special cases tag-switched & intra-word hybridity

Markedness Model

Myers-Scotton; Users choose lang that marks their rights/obligations to different speakers; Deference = speak lang of guest/superior; Access: spek lang understood by all present; Unmarked: no clear lang choice, CS to explore possible lang choices; Critique = is CS always rational/conscious?

CS is conversational

Auer; Focus on locally-accomplished meanings in conversation (relative to speaker/situational preferences); change in footing/alignment; contextualisation cue (Gumperz) : messages to be understood in a certain light; Principles of CA = meaning as momentary move in sequence; Eg of English-Cantonese kid-mom about homework

CS determined patterns?

Gafaranga; CS patterns are complex but not absolute and not strictly predictable (esp ad hoc); status also regulates dynamics; different dimensions to be considered (situational expectations medium, organisation expectations medium, relational expectations, topic, wat happened before etc)

Spread of English around the world : reasons

1. New world Diaspora : migration of 25000 from UK/IR to N-Am & Aussie - NZ
2. Colonisation Africa : W-Africa British (slave) traders from late 15th C, no settlement, English as lingua franca now official; E/S-Africa British colonies, English as official lang in most
3. Colonisation Asia : S-Asia colonies (East India Company); SE/E-Asia & S Pacific late 18th C seafaring expeditions, british protectorates

Sebba - 6 consequences of close encounters languages

1. Borrowing of lexical and grammatical items
2. CS
3. Language convergence
4. Pidginisation
5. Creolisation
6. Language mixing

Traject pidgin-creole

prepidgin/jargon - pidgin - extended pidgin - creole

Pidgins & Creoles bc of diverse historical circumstances

1. Trade: market language & trade pidgins (Russenorsk)
2. European Settlements: need to learn indigenous lang and vice versa
3. Context of War: contact military - local population (Bamboo English US-Japan; US-Korea)
4. Diasporas/Transnational movements: (labour)migration (gastarbeiterdeutsch)

New World Slavery

Originated most pidgins (slaveholding comm); 17-19th C Trans-Atlantic New World Slave Trade; Crystallisation: fort creales (military) vs plantation creoles; eg. Jamaican Engl (sub W-Afr, super Engl); eg. Haitian Creole (sub W-Afr, super Fr)

Pidgin (definition & main characteristics)

Contact contact; no L1 speakers; reduced language; restricted functions; simplified structure and voc; has superstrate (lexifier lang) & substrate

Lexicon of Pidgins

Small size of lexicon with max use of min resources: Polysemy (1 word =/= meanings); Multi-functionality (1 word =/= categories); Compounds; Circumlocution (specify basic items for lexical diversity)

(Shared) Origin of Pidgins

1. Theory of monogenesis & Relefixication (Portuguese proto-pidgin, nautical elements, critique not enough presence)
2. Independent parallel development hypothesis (parallels in circumstances pidginisation, in superstrate lang, in group substrate lang, in lang learning circumstances)
3. Appeal to linguistic universals (innate linguistic ability, so innate ability to create simple community systems & common denominators that underlie all human languages)

Creole (definition & main characteristics)

Contact language; pidgin now spoken by L1 / as native language; expanded structure and voc

Creolisation (definition)

Vernacularisation & Nativisation of a pidgin; expansion of structure and voc to come to full range of meaning and function

Decreolisation

Evolving relation with superstrate lang of creole-speaking community --> Creole becomes less creole-like and more standard (bc of social mobility) = post creole continuum

Post-Creole Continuum

Continuous spectrum creole-standard : basilect (deep creole) - Mesolect - Acrolect (standardish, New English) ; Dialect - Tussentaal - AN

Recreolisation

Acrolectal (and upper-mesolectal) varieties grow more creole-like bc of lack mobility

Tok Pisin

Creole of Melanesian Pidgin; 1800: contact with European traders - pre-pidgin ; Labour migration to Aussie and Samoa - early Melanesian Pidgin ; Return to home islands - stabilised, expanded pidgin ; Tok Pisin as dialect/creole in Papua New Guinea

Language shift (definition)

Shift to speaking another language (eg. 2nd gen immigrants)

Language attrition (definition)

loss of (first) language (partly) (eg. dialect)

Language death

language loses native speakers ; extinction

Case of Cornish : language vitality & extinction

1300-1750: decline > 1777: last native speaker dies > 2000: 20 native speakers of revived Cornish > 2011: 557 L1-speakers

Fishman: degress of vitality loss/language endangerment

Relatively safe (1) with language in education, mass media, work sphere & governmental docs to Worst Case scenario (8) with reassembling language from isolated, older speakers;

Evolutions of public use - local education only - private use ;

Evolutions of all ages - the very young - only the old

Sallabank: 4 causes of endangerment

1. Natural Catastrophes, famine, disease (natives)
2. War & Genocide (Tasmania)
3. Overt Repression (Welsh)
4. Cult/Econ/Pol/Hist/Attitudinal dominance other language