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Language as a set of items
Sounds, Syllables, Words, Phrases, Sentences, Grammatical Constructions, Politness Devices, Terms of Address
Society as a set of terms
Identity, Power or Status, Class, Solidarity, Accommodation, Gender, Education
Sociolingustics
The study of the relationship between language structure, language use, and the structure of society
Social Variables
Age, Gender, Education, Socio-economic Status, Occupation, Place of Residence, Place of Birth, Sexual Identity
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Does our language relfect the way things really are or are things the way they are becasue of our language
Grammar
A system of rules that defines its elemens, items, and useage
Known by every speaker of a language
Individual knowledge - each persons rules differ
Collective/Shared knowledge - everyone has the same rules
Poverty of the Stimulus
A hypothesis that humans muct have innate language capcablities becasue we learn our native language in the absence of environmental conditions, such as, direct instruction or a large number of correct and incorrect examples
Chomskyan Approach
What is Important: Learnability of languages, shared characteristics, rules and principles, children and learning languages
What is not important: Language in use
Probelm: A large part of the language we experience is ‘performance’ and is not worthy of studying
Variation
Different way of labeling the same thing/ person/ phenomenon
4 Reasons for Variation
Signal various types of relationships/ roles/ situations
Expresss our identity
Achevie semantic effects
Gateway to lingustic change
When is Variation Acceptable
Mutual intelligability and utterances are gramatically acceptable
Idiolect
The particular way someone speaks (pronunciation, word choices, syntax)
Identity
Formed through actions, gives you certain rights, privileges, and expectations
Language is one of the most powerful indicators
Power
Ability to control events in order to acheiv one’s aims
Divergent Accommodation
changing speech towards (if we like the group) or away (if we dont like the group) from a group of people
Convergent Accommodation
Unaware of the changes in our speech, change is not radical, two groups usually converge together
Unmarked Variant
What is normally used in a particular language/ context/ situation
Marked Variant
What is not normally used in a paritcular language/ context/ situation
Variety
A specific set of ‘lingustic terms’ and ‘human speech patterns’ associated with external factors
Vernacular
The speech of a particular country or region transmitted from parent to child as the primary medium of communication
Dialect (popular defintion)
Non-prestigious, sub-standard, powerless variety of a language
Dialect (Lingustic Defintion)
Forms of a language that differ in systemic ways
Standardization
Process by which a lanuage has been codified (agreement of what is in the language)
Steps for Standardization of a Variety
Formal Matters: codification and elaboration
Functional Matters: selecting, accepting, and idealizing a norm
Standard English
Based on regional variety, became preffered by the upper class, developed and promoted, carried overseas
Diachronic
The study of history of language and language over time
Synchronic
Study of a sapshot of the language at a very moment
Newspeak
A controlled language of restricted grammar and limited vocabulary, meant to limit the freedom of thought - personal identity, self-expression, free will - that threatens the ideology of the régime of Big Brother and Party
Follows english grammar, yet has continually diminishing vocabulary; complete thoughts of reduced to simple terms of simplistic meaning
Interactionist Sociolinguistics (Monika Heller Theory 1/3)
what language use can tell us about social processes, and therefore a central concern is the social meaning of language use
Variationist Sociolinguistics (Monika Heller Theory 2/3)
Accounts for linguistic variation and change
Language is mainly symbolic in this view
Microsociolinguistics (Monika Heller Theory 3/3)
Studying the linguistic system as that system was influenced by social factors
Americanisms
Came from American loyalists that moved to Canada during the revolution in the late 1700s. Sounded Yankee-like
Use of like
Beginning: “like, i dont know”
Before a noun phrase: “wear, like, a jean skirt
Before a verb: “We can, like, see more people”
Signifier
Word used to describe the thing (word)
Signified
The thing the word is describing (idea)
Syntax
How you combine words together
Solidarity
Motivations which cause individuals to act together
Register
A set of language items associated with discrete occupational groups
Audience Design
Choosing a variety and the appropriate stylistic level appropriate for the audience