Sociolinguistics final chapters ALL

Interlocutor

The people who are talking together are eachothers interlocutors

Social meaning

Inferences about speakers or the variety they use and the interpretations we draw about how those speakers are positioned in social space because of this.

Weighting

An adjustment that can be made to raw frequencies of a variant so as to take into account any biases or skewing of its overall distribution. Expresses the probability or likelihood with which a variant will occur in a given linguistic environment or with a given non-linguistic factor.

Variable

In this text, principally an abstract representation of the source of variation. Realised by two or more variants

Variant

The actual realisation of a variable. Analogous to the phonetic realisations of a phoneme.

Constrain/ constraints

If the distribution of variants is neither random nor free, and instead shows systematic correlations with independent factors, those factors can be said to constrain the variation, or to be the constraints on the variable.

Free variation

The idea that some variants alternate with each other without any reliable constraints on their occurrence in a particular context or by particular speakers

Determinism/ deterministic

The idea that there is a strong causal relationship between two factors (i.e., one determines how the other will be). The idea that if you know the value for one factor, you can automatically and reliably predict the value for another. (See also Linguistic relativism.)

Linguistic and nonlinguistic factors

Sometimes referred to as ‘internal’ and ‘external’ factors, respectively. The distribution of the variants of a variable may be constrained by or depend on other factors in the linguistic system. (For example: Is the subject a pronoun or a full NP? Is the following phonological segment coronal or velar?) The distribution may also be constrained by factors that lie outside of the grammar or core linguistic system. (For example: Is the speaker talking to a close friend or a stranger? Is there a lot of background noise?)

Regional dialectology

The identification and mapping of boundaries between different varieties on the basis of clusters of similar and different features in particular regions, towns or villages.

Principle of maximum differentiation

An idea that there may be functional constraints on phonological variation preventing the realisations of one phoneme overlapping or encroaching too much on the realisations of another.

Reallocate/ reallocation

Reassignment or reanalysis of forms in contact in a systematic way, e.g., as allophonically distributed variants of a phoneme

Intermediate forms

Forms emerging following contact between closely related varieties that fall in between the various input forms

Social dialectology

The study of linguistic variation in relation to speakers’ participation or membership in social groups, or in relation to other nonlinguistic factors

Interspeaker variation

Differences and variation that is measured between different speakers (individuals or social groups)

Intraspeaker variation

Differences in the way a single person speaks at different times, or with different interlocutors , or even within a sentence. Intraspeaker variation is a necessary corollary of inherent variability

Free variation

The idea that some variants alternate with each other without any reliable constraints on their occurrence in a particular context or by particular speakers.

vernacular

In this text, usually used to refer neutrally to the linguistic variety used by a speaker or a community as the medium for everyday and home interaction. In some linguistic work, the term may be associated with the notion of non-standard norms

Index score

A means by which scalar variables like raising of a vowel can be converted into quantifiable data. For example, very low variants can be assigned a score of 0, and very raised ones a score of 3 with two intermediate levels. Aggregate scores across all tokens allow the researcher to identify some speakers or groups of speakers as more or less conservative/ innovative than others.

Envelope of variation

All, and only, the contexts in which a variable occurs.

Synchronic variation

Variation occurring now

Diachronic change

Change realised over chronological time

Stereotype

A linguistic feature that is widely recognised and is very often the subject of (not always strictly accurate!) dialect performances and impersonations.

Marker

A variable that speakers are less aware of than a stereotype, but which shows consistent style effects. (See also Indicator.)

Indicator

A linguistic variable which shows limited or no style-shifting. Stratified principally between groups.

Group differentiation

A hypothesised function for language variation. Social (in which we can include regional) varieties index group boundaries. In some theories of social psychology differentiation between groups is argued to be an important basis for forming positive self-image.

Motivation

Some linguists believe there are social or psychological factors which drive or motivate variation. Speakers of a language may be able to talk about the different goals, intentions or motivations that are served by using one variant rather than another, but some motivations may be subconscious and not available for such comment.

Accent

Where speakers differ (or vary) at the level of pronunciation only (phonetics and/ or phonology), they have different accents. Their grammar may be wholly or largely the same. Accents can index a speaker’s regional/geographic origin, or social factors such as level and type of education, or even their attitude.

Dialect

A term widely applied to what are considered sub-varieties of a single language. Generally, dialect and accent are distinguished by how much of the linguistic system differs. Dialects differ on more than just pronunciation, i.e., on the basis of morphosyntactic structure and/or how semantic relations are mapped into the syntax. (See also Variety.

Variety

Relatively neutral term used to refer to languages and dialects. Avoids the problem of drawing a distinction between the two, and avoids negative attitudes often attached to the term dialect.

speech community

Variously defined on subjective or objective criteria. Objective criteria would group speakers together in a speech community if the distribution of a variable was consistent with respect to other factors (e.g., style). Subjective criteria would group speakers as a speech community if they shared a sense of and belief in comembership.

style shifting

Variation in an individual’s speech correlating with differences in addressee, social context, personal goals or externally imposed tasks.

attention to speech

Labov proposed that the different distribution of forms in different styles was motivated by the amount of attention the speaker was paying to the act of speaking. In activities such as reading aloud, reading word lists or minimal pairs, Labov argued that speakers are paying more attention to their speech than they are in interviews, and in interviews they pay more attention than when conversing with friends and family. Contrasts with accommodationbased accounts of style-shifting such as audience design. Also contrasts with more agentive theories of style-shifting such as acts of identity

Triangulation

A researcher’s use of several independent tests to confirm their results and aid in the interpretation of their results. For example, use of data from sociolinguistic interviews and a rapid and anonymous study

Sociolinguistic interview

An interview, usually one-on-one, in which different tasks or activities are used to elicit different styles of speech. (You will sometimes hear it used simply to refer to a one-on-one interview lasting at least an hour covering a range of topics.)

stratified

The systematic and consistent patterning of a variant with respect to some independent factor.

monotonic

A steady increase or decrease in a feature along the x-axis of a graph.

Trend

Steady increase or decrease in the frequency of a form across a scale or set of measures.

Rapid and anonymous survey

A questionnaire used to gather data quickly in the public domain

Probability/ probabilistic

The likelihood with which a variant will occur in a given context, subject to the linguistic and nonlinguistic constraints. An adjustment of raw frequencies of forms.

Inherent variability

A way of modelling variation as a property of the grammar. Contrasts with a model of variation as speakers’ (or a speaker’s) alternation between different sound or grammar systems (see code switching ). Also contrasts with the notion of free variation . Inherent variability unifi es interspeaker and intraspeaker variation in ways that the other two approaches do not.

Overt prestige

The prestige associated with a variant that speakers are aware of and can talk about in terms of standardness, or aesthetic and moral evaluations like being ‘nicer’ or ‘better’. (See also Covert prestige.)

Covert prestige

A norm or target that is oriented to without the speaker even being aware that they are orienting to it. Evidence of covert prestige can be found in mismatches between speakers’ self-report of using one variant and actual use of another variant. Often used (wrongly) to refer to the value associated with non-standard or vernacular varieties

Observer’s paradox

The double-bind researchers fi nd themselves in when what they are interested in knowing is how people behave when they are not being observed; but the only way to fi nd out how they behave is to observe them.

Participant observation

The practice of spending longer periods of time with speakers observing how they use language, react to others’ use of it, and how language interacts with and is embedded in other social practices and ideologies. A means of gathering qualitative data rather than quantitative data.

Audience design

Derived from accommodation theory. Proposal that intraspeaker variation arises because speakers are paying attention to who they are addressing or who might be listening to or overhearing them, and modify their speech accordingly

Speaker design

A further approach to analysing styleshifting . Stresses the speaker’s desire to represent her/himself in certain ways. (See also Acts of identity .)

Language attitudes

The study of what people think about different linguistic varieties and how those perceptions about language relate to perceptions of attitudes about different users of language.

semantic shift

Incremental changes to the meaning of a word or phrase. Sometimes included within the scope of grammaticalisation (or grammaticisation) theory, but unlike classic grammaticalisation, semantic shift need not entail structural reanalysis of the word/ phrase. That is, a verb might stay a verb but its meaning might be severely weakened or altered over time.

semantic bleaching

The gradual loss of the most specific, contentful aspects of the meaning of a word until it is left with vague or more generic connotations only. Awesome once meant something that inspires awe , now it’s just ‘good.’ The pas in French negatives ( ne . . . pas ) was once an add-on to the negative ne – ‘not a step’ – now it is the negative and ne can be left out.

Semantic derogation

Semantic shift that results in a word acquiring more negative associations or meanings.

Linguistic relativism

Weaker position than determinism. Holds that the value of one factor is not wholly independent of the value of another factor, but instead is somehow constrained by it. Associated with the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which suggests that the way we perceive the world around us is in some way reflected in the way we talk. (See also Reflexive.)

Determinism/ deterministic

The idea that there is a strong causal relationship between two factors (i.e., one determines how the other will be). The idea that if you know the value for one factor, you can automatically and reliably predict the value for another. (See also Linguistic relativism .)

perceptual dialectology

The study of people’s subjectively held beliefs about different dialects or linguistic varieties. The focus on lay perceptions about language complements the regional dialectologists’ more objective focus on the way people are recorded as speaking

sociolinguistic monitor

The store of acquired knowledge that lets us detect the choice of alternate ways of saying the same thing and derive information from that choice.

Social identity theory

A social psychological theory holding that people identify with multiple identities, some of which are more personal and idiosyncratic and some of which are group identifi cations. Experimental work in this framework suggests that people readily see contrasts between groups in terms of competition, and seek to fi nd means of favouring the comembers of the group they identify with over others.

Salient/salience

A maddeningly under-defined term when used in sociolinguistics. Sometimes refers to how readily a particular variant is perceived/heard (this may be due to physiological factors affecting perception, or social and psychological factors that prime speakers and make them attend to a form). Sometimes refers to a non-linguistic factor that the context or participants appear to have foregrounded in discourse.

accomodation theory

The process by which speakers attune or adapt their linguistic behaviour in light of their interlocutors’ behaviour and their attitudes towards their interlocutors (may be a conscious or unconscious process). Encompasses both convergence with or divergence from interlocutors’ norms. (See also Social identity theory.

Communication accommodation

The full term for accommodation in which accommodation between individuals’ linguistic behaviour is seen as only one way in which individuals may converge or diverge from each other.

Attunement

A term sometimes preferred over accommodation because of the strong (but incorrect) association of the specific strategy convergence with the more general phenomenon of accommodation. Just as instruments in an orchestra have to be in tune with each other, speakers attune their behaviour to the situation and in relation to the way their interlocutors are behaving

Convergence

Accommodation towards the speech of one’s interlocutors. Accentuates similarities between interlocutors’ speech styles, and/ or makes the speaker sound more like their interlocutor. It is assumed to be triggered by conscious or unconscious desires to emphasise similarity with interlocutors we like, and to increase attraction. (See also Divergence; Social identity theory.)

Divergence

Accommodation away from the speech of one’s interlocutors. Accentuates differences between interlocutors’ speech styles, and/or makes the speaker sound less like their interlocutor. It is assumed divergence is triggered by conscious or unconscious desires to emphasise difference and increase social distance. (See also Convergence; Social identity theory.)

Symmetric and asymmetric accommodation

Symmetric accommodation means both interlocutors converge or diverge. Asymmetric means one interlocutor converges while the other diverges (can be motivated by mismatch in how interlocutors perceive the interaction)

Subjective and objective measures

A speaker’s perceptions of their own performance and their performance evaluated by some external measure.

Vitality

Demographic, social and institutional strength of a language and its speakers.

Diglossia

Classically defined as a situation where two closely related languages are used in a speech community. One for High (H) functions (e.g., church, newspapers) and one for Low (L) functions (e.g., in the home or market). The situation is supposed to be relatively stable and the languages/varieties remain distinct (cf. creole outcomes of language contact). Now often extended to refer to any two languages (even typologically unrelated ones) that have this kind of social and functional distribution

Invisible language

A language variety that, because of its social stigma, isn’t written down becomes invisible to contemporary speakers/signers and future readers/signers.

Implied language policy

The unspoken attitudes people hold about languages, where they should be used, by who and for what purposes. The practices that give substance to those attitudes.

Overt language policy

Principles guiding the use and recognition of languages in a formal, institutional or national context.

National language

A linguistic variety that has been chosen by a nation as the language expressing or representing national identity

Official language

A linguistic variety that has been designated as the medium for all official, government business. There is usually a right to have all legal and public services provided in an official language, and an obligation on state or regional authorities to satisfy this right.

Ethnolinguistic vitality

A measure of the strength and liveliness of a language, usually a good indicator of the likelihood that it will gradually die out or continue to be used as the living language of a community. Measured in terms of demographic, social and institutional support.

Diglossia

Two languages with distinct functional roles in one community.

Code switching

In its most specific sense, the alternation between varieties, or codes, across sentences or clause boundaries. Often used as a cover term including code mixing as well.

Domain

The social and physical setting in which speakers find themselves.

Situation(al)

A more idiosyncratic and personalised view of the context or situation of language use (cf. domain). In this text, used to describe one of the motivations for code switching

Passive knowledge

the ability to understand, but not speak, a language. (See also Active

Active knowledge

Knowledge of a linguistic variety that includes the ability to produce and use that variety, and not only understand it. (See also Passive knowledge.)

Code mixing

Generally refers to alternations between varieties, or codes, within a clause or phrase. Often elicits more strongly negative evaluations than alternations or code switching across clauses

Translanguaging

A somewhat fl uid term favoured over code switching by researchers who argue that multilingual speakers draw from linguistic features that are socially constructed as belonging to two or more languages.

Speech levels

Replacement of vocabulary with sometimes radically different forms in the different styles associated with different social groups or castes .

Caste systems

Relatively fi xed social groups. A person is usually born into a particular caste and the possibilities for movement out of it are limited. (See also Social class .)

Real time

Augustinian time. The passing of years, hours, minutes and seconds that we measure with calendars and clocks and that we think we understand until we really think about it.

Apparent time

The apparent passage of time is measured by comparing speakers of different ages in a single speech community at a single time. If younger speakers behave differently from older speakers, it is assumed that change has taken place within the community. The apparent time construct relies on the assumption that speakers only minimally change the way they speak after the critical period or in adulthood. A useful method where real time data is absent.

Panel studies

Studies of variation across real time when participants are held constant (cf. Trend studies).

Trend studies

A trend study involves comparing speech from members of the same community at different points in time. (See also Panel studies; Real time.)

Critical period

The period during which language learning seems to be easiest; that is, in childhood and for some people going into early adolescence.

Acquiring (language)

It is sometimes useful to distinguish between the natural acquisition of a language variety (e.g., a mother tongue) and

Learning

learning of a language variety (e.g., in the classroom).

Significant/ significance Significance

Significance has a technical sense, in which it is a statistical measure. The distribution of a variant is said to be statistically significant if it is unlikely to have arisen just by chance. Sociolinguists generally follow normal social science practice and require that tests show there is less than a 5 per cent chance that the distribution of a variable in relation to other factors might be simply a coincidence before they will claim there is a significant correlation or patterning between the variant and some independent factor.

Generational change

Each generation in a community shows progressively more and more frequent use of a variant. A change that can be inferred to be taking place on the basis of apparent time evidence is a generational change.

Lifespan change

A term introduced to the study of language variation and change by Gillian Sankoff. Changes to a speaker’s pronunciation or grammar that take place after the critical period can be described as a lifespan change. Lifespan changes in pronunciation appear to be severely restricted in their form: they generally only move in the direction of the community overall (see also generational change) and they may also be constrained to certain input or starting points for a speaker. On the other hand, lifespan change is well-attested for vocabulary.

Age-grading

If, as a rule, all speakers of a community use more tokens of one variant at a certain age and more tokens of another variant at another age, the variable is said to be age-graded

Stable variable

If there is no evidence (e.g., from generational change) that one variant is pushing out another variant, the variable can be considered stable. A classic example is the alternation between the alveolar and velar nasals in the word-final -ing which has existed for centuries and shows no signs of disappearing at present. Stable variables may exhibit age-grading (i.e., avoidance of a stigmatised variant in adulthood).

Linguistic marketplace

A way of talking about the extent to which an occupation or activity is associated with use of the standard language.

Community-wide change

An entire group or community switch to use of a new variant at about the same time.

Ageing deficits

Changes in individuals’ performance in later stages of their lifespan. ‘Deficits’ refers to impaired performance on tasks or activities compared with younger speakers (e.g., recall, hearing). Focused on more than improvements that are associated with increased age (e.g., narrative skill, vocabulary).

Social class

A measure of status which is often based on occupation, income and wealth, but also can be measured in terms of aspirations and mobility. These factors can then be used to group individuals scoring similarly on these factors into socioeconomic classes.

status

Max Weber’s theory of social class held that it was based on a person’s status, measured in terms of their lifestyle and life choices in addition to measures of wealth and occupation (as per Marx).

Cross-over effect

The cross-over effect emerges at the intersection of style and class. Typically it refers to the breakdown in the most careful speech styles of clear stratification between speakers of different social classes. For example, when reading word lists, speakers from the second-highest social class will suddenly produce more tokens of an incoming or prestige form than speakers in the highest social class do, instead of producing slightly fewer tokens as they do in their conversation or interview styles (cf. Hypercorrection).