Social Dialects

linguistic relativity

theory that states the characteristics of language affect one’s worldview, guide way ideas are concepualized

communication

ability to engage in an exchange of ideas with another or several other people

communication is composed of

• linguistics

• kinesics

• proxemics

paralinguistics

anything that occurs alongside of language and been referred to as voice cues because it can provide cues about someone’s intentions (pitch, loudness, tone, etc.)

• also applies to written language (emojis, capitalized letters, punctuation)

kinesics

gestures and body movements and postures, and facial expressions that are used in communication

• gesticulations

• language-like gestures

• pantomimes

• emblems

proxemics

how a person “unconsciously structures space”

• four distances (interpreted different among cultural groups)

  • intimate: 6-18 inches

  • personal: 1.5 feet - 4 feet

  • social: 4ft -12ft

  • public: 12ft - 25ft

high and low context cultures

used as a way to differentiatie cultural groups by how much context is taken into considerations communication exchanges

• high-context: convey meaning through nonverbal expressions and indirect ways of speaking

• low context: use linguistic code to convey meaning in messages

language variations

occur as a result of language contact, which occurs under circumstances of unequal power relations such as during war, trade, and more

• variations include bilingualism, multilingualism, and use of social dialects

• differ in pronunciation of words, vocab, grammar, and use

social networks

web ties among individuals that connect through various contexts which include settings such as: work, school, neighborhood or church

• 1st order: all connected with each other

• 2nd order: people who are connected to at least one person in first order

• 3rd order: individuals connected to people in second but not first order

communities of practice

a group of people who come together to solve common problems, 3 criteria

1. mutual engagement among members of community

2. members share a “jointly negotiated enterprise”

3. members have shared resources

regional vs social variations

• regional: based on regions that cultural groups reside

• social: when other language influences a dominant language

AAE

variation of english that is negatively stigmatized and is spoken by many but not all African American communities, social factors in clude

• age

• gender

• socioeconomic status

• education

• geographic location

morphosyntactic features of AAE

• dropping plural /s/ is nourn refers to multiple

• possessive /s/, the word order determines possession

• regular past tense /-ed/

• main verb copula

• zero copula

lexicon of AAE

• creative use of words

• lexicon is mental dictionary

pragmatics of AAE

• speech acts

• discourse management and projection

• ability to recognize listener’s needs during an interaction

communication style differences

• making little eye contact with adults

• public behavior can be intense and demonstrative

• oral communication may be animated, interpersonal and confrontational

• traditional turn taking may not be observed

• participation is expected in conversations

• distinct intonation patterns and rhythms

• “call and response”

language politics

language is constantly changing, including word meanings, spelling, and way sentences are structured

AAE phonological features

• replacement of voiced “th” with /d/ in initial position

• replacement of voiced “th” with /v/ in medial position

• replacement of voiceless “th” with /f/ in medial and final positions

• omission of /r/ after vowel and in final position

• reduction of final consonant clusters on singular nouns

• metathesis within consonant clusters

• omission of unstressed syllables in multisyllabic words

• reduction of certain dipthongs to monophthongs, low to short vowel, high to low vowels