Lecture 5: Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics

the descriptive study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and the effects of language use on society.

The standard language

the variety associated with administrative, commercial or educational centers, regardless of region

--> ideal variety, no specific region

Standard English

Found in printed English in newspapers and books, widely used in the mass media and taught in most schools

Recognised varieties of STANDARD ENGLISH

Standard American English

Standard British English

Standard Australian English

Standard Canadian English

Standard Indian English

Accent (Giọng)

aspects of pronunciation that identify where an individual speaker is from, regionally and socially

Dialect (Phương ngữ/Tiếng/Từ địa phương)

features of grammar and vocab as well as aspects of pronunciation that are particular to a specific region or social group.

Regional dialects

different varieties of a language spoken in different regions.

Linguistic point of view

None of the varieties of language is inherently better than any other. They are simply different

Social point of view

Some varieties are more prestigious. The variety that develops as "the standard language" has usually been one socially prestigious dialect, originally associated with a center of economic and political power

Bilingualism

The ability to speak two languages

Individual bilingualism due to political dominance

a member of a minority group grows up in one linguistic community, mainly speaking one language, but learns another language in order to take part in the larger dominant linguistic community

Ex: Canada

Individual bilingualism in familial setting

Two parents speak different languages

However, even in this type of bilingualism, one language tends to become the dominant one, with other in a subordinate role.

Diglossia

--> a situation in which there are two different forms of the same language used by a community, used in different social situations

- A special situation which involves a "low" and "high" variety. The "low" variety is acquired locally and used for everyday matters

The "high" variety is learned in school and used for important matters.

Examples: In the past in Europe

Latin --> high variety

Early versions of modern English, French and Spanish --> low variety.

Pidgin

tiếng giả cầy (tiếng Anh, tiếng Pháp pha trộn yếu tố ngôn ngữ địa phương ở Nam Phi, Đông Nam Á…)

a variety of a language that developed for a practical purpose such as trade among groups of people who had a lot of contact but did not know each other's languages. As such it would have no native speakers

Ex: Tây Bồi - Vietnamese pidgin French

spoken by non-French-educated Vietnamese working in French households during the colonial era

English pidgin

English is the lexifier language, which mean the main source of words in the pidgin

Ex: tu buk (two books)

di gyal place (this girl's place)

* Lexifier language: The dominant language of a pidgin or creole that serves as the basis for most of its vocabulary.

Several English pidgins still used today

- Characterised by an absence of any complex grammatical morphology and limited vocabulary

- Functional morphemes often take the place of inflectional morphemes

Ex: your book -> buk bilong yu (book belongs to you)

creoles /ˈkriː.əʊl/

- descendants from pidgins

- When a pidgin develops beyond its role as a trade or contact language and becomes the first language of a social community --> it is described as a creole

Ex: Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea

- have large numbers of native speakers and not restricted in their uses.

Creolisation

development from a pidgin to a creole

Decreolization

the retreat from the use of the creole by those who have greater contact with a standard variety of the language.

--> a linguistic process whereby a creole language loses its distinct characteristics and begin to resemble the standard language in terms of grammar, vocab and syntax