2 - language variation

Language Variation

Language is not monolithic—it varies across users, contexts, and time.

Types of Linguistic Variation

Synchronic Variation:

• Variation across different language varieties at a single point in time.

  • different dialects spoken in England today.

Diachronic Variation (Language Change):

• Evolution of language over time.

  • the shift from OE to MoE.

Codes and Situational Use

Idiolect

• The unique linguistic fingerprint of an individual, encompassing all varieties and styles they command.

Code-switching

• The strategic alternation between language varieties, dialects, or registers depending on context, topic, or audience.

  • AAVE → StE

Diglossia

• The stable coexistence of two functionally differentiated varieties of the same language within a community. (High vs. Low)

Language Identity

Defining a “Language” vs. a “Dialect” is not purely linguistic, but a socio-psychological and political issue.

A language can be understood as the sum total of all its accepted varieties, shaped by cultural and ideological unity.

Dialects

Regional:

• Varieties tied to geographical regions

• Vary systematically in phonology, lexicon, morphology, and syntax.

• mapped using isoglosses (bath)

Prestige/Standard:

• socially elevated variety that often originates from a regional dialect but transcends geography.

• used in: education, government, media

• symbolic prestige, but linguistically not superior

  • RP, GA

Sociolect:

• a variety of language used by people in the same socio- cultural position

  • age, gender, group

Speech vs. Writing

Speech: spontaneous, contex-based, informal structures

Writing: deliberate, context-independent, syntactically more complex

Style

determined by social roles, formality, and speaker-hearer relations

Style Continuum

• Very Formal: ceremonial contexts

• Formal: academic or official discourse

• Neutral: everyday polite interactions.

• Informal/Colloquial: casual speech

• Very Informal/Familiar: slang, intimate settings

Register

style shaped by topic and field of discourse (topic-specific variation)

Jargon

• specialized terminology understood only by members of a specific profession or group.