Sociolinguistics and Translation Study Guide

Core References and Literature for Sociolinguistics and Translation

• Primary Texts:   - Sara Ramos Pinto. Sociolinguistics and Translation // Handbook of translation studies online. – John Benjamins Publishing Company. – $\text{Vol. } 3\text{ (}2012\text{)}$. – $\text{pp. } 156-162$.   - Лариса Масенко. Нариси з соціолінгвістики : [посібник] / Л. Масенко; Нац. ун-т "Києво-Могилянська академія". – Київ: Києво-Могилян. акад., $2010$. – $242$ pages.   - R. Wardhaugh, J. M. Fuller. An Introduction to sociolinguistics. – John Wiley & Sons, $2015$.
• Supplementary Materials and Accents:   - RP (Received pronunciation) vs POSH ENGLISH The Differences and the HISTORY Explained (LetThemTalkTV).   - 20 British accents (RP, cockney, multicultural London English) (Learn English with Gill, Eat Sleep Dream English).   - Specific studies on Cockney ($13$ min), Scottish English ($20$ min), Irish English ($7$ min), and American English dialects (WIRED).

Foundations of Sociolinguistics and Translation

• The Cultural Turn:   - Established by Bassnett & Lefévere in the famous introduction to Translation, History and Culture ($1990$). This marked a shift in translation studies toward social and cultural contexts.
• Eugene Nida’s Perspective ($1992: 25$):   - Argued that the connection between Sociolinguistics and Translation Studies (TS) is "a very natural one."   - Sociolinguists deal primarily with language as it is used by society in communicating.   - The different ways societies employ language in interpersonal relations are considered "crucial for anyone concerned with translating."
• Key Intersection Areas:   - Translation and dialectology.   - Register analysis in translation.   - Language change and its impact on translation.   - Language contact, multilingualism, and translation.   - Language planning/policy and translation.

Subject, Aim, and Origins of Sociolinguistics

• Definition:   - Sociolinguistics is a linguistic discipline that studies the social nature of language, its social functions, and the interaction between language and society.
• Terminological Evolution:   - The field has been referred to by various names: Sociology of language, sociological linguistics, social linguistics, linguistic sociology, and finally, sociolinguistics.
• Historical Milestones:   - Haver C. Currie ($1952$): Coined or popularized the term sociolinguistics.   - Antoine Meillet (Антуа́н Меє́): Founded the school of social linguistics at the end of the $19^{th}$ century.   - Prague Linguistic School: Formulated the theory of literary language (Bohuslav Havranek, Vilem Mathesius).   - O. Potebnia: Cited as a contributor to the field's roots.   - Western Response: American and Western European sociolinguistics emerged as a response to the perceived limitations of structuralism.
• Philosophical and Theoretical Roots:   - Principles of positivism, particularly semantic positivism as embodied in social or cultural anthropology.   - Ethnolingual Relativity (етномовна відносність): Developed by Wilhelm Humboldt, Edward Sapir, and Benjamin Lee Whorf.
• Scope of Study:   - Macro-sociolinguistics: Broad topics involving the social character of language development, functioning, and differentiation based on social classes and groups.   - Micro-sociolinguistics: Narrow focus, often associated with William Labov, who treats it as the study of language structures and changes based on data from everyday language use. Some limit it further solely to the verbal behavior of users.
• Joshua Fishman’s Taxonomy ($1972$):   - Descriptive sociolinguistics.   - Dynamic sociology of language.   - Applied sociology of language.
• Related Disciplines: Psycholinguistics and ethnolinguistics.

Ukrainian Sociolinguistics

• Legal and Constitutional Milestones:   - $1989$: Adoption of the law "Про мови в Українській РСР," which granted Ukrainian the status of the official language.   - $1996$: Article $10$ of the Ukrainian Constitution reaffirmed the status of the state language.
• Soviet-Era Linguistic Policy:   - $1962$: Setting up of the Scientific counsel "Закономірності розвитку національних мов у зв’язку з розвитком соціалістичних націй."   - $1978$ and $1983$: Resolutions aimed at improving and enforcing the study and teaching of the Russian language in the Ukrainian SSR's educational institutions.
• Key Scholars and Works:   - Yu. Zhluktenko (T. Shevchenko Kyiv University): Українсько-англійські міжмовні відносини. Українська мова у США і Канаді ($1964$), Мовні контакти ($1966$), Українська мова на лінгвістичній карті Канади ($1990$).   - Stanislav Semchynskyi: Researched Ukrainian-Romanian language contacts; author of the textbook Загальне мовознавство ($1988$).   - Vitaliy Rusanivskyi: Article "Prognostic functions of sociolinguistics" (Прогностичні функції соціолігвістики) in the journal Мовознавство ($1989$).   - N.P. Shumarova: Мовна компетенція особистості в ситуації білінгвізму ($1997$).   - Volodymyr Demchenko: Мовне середовище: екстралінгвістичний нарис про південь України ($2001$).   - Tetiana Burda: Мовна поведінка особистості в умовах українсько-російського білінгвізму (молодіжне середовище м.Києва) ($2002$).   - Oleksandr Cherednychenko: Про мову і переклад ($2007$).   - Bohdan Azhniuk: Мовна єдність нації: діаспора й Україна ($1999$).   - Halyna Matsiuk: До витоків соціолінгвістики: Соціологічний напрям у мовознавстві ($2008$).
• Sociopolitical and Cultural Figures: Yuriy Andrukhovych, Ivan Dziuba (author of Internationalism or Russification?), Oksana Zabuzhko, Oksana Pakhlovska, Mykola Riabchuk, Yevhen Sverstiuk.
• Social Dialectology and Jargon:   - Lesya Stavytska: Brief dictionary of jargon vocabulary of the Ukrainian language ($2003$), Український жаргон ($2005$), Українська мова без табу ($2008$).
• Linguistic Status and History:   - Yuriy Sheveliov: Українська мова в першій половині двадцятого століття (1900-1941). Стан і статус and Українська мова в себе вдома сьогодні й завтра.   - Sviatoslav Karavanskyi: Секрети української мови ($1994$), До зір крізь терня, або хочу бути редактором ($2008$).   - L. Masenko: Мова і суспільство. Постколоніальний вимір ($2004$).
• Organizational Founding: The Shevchenko Society of the Ukrainian Language was founded in Kyiv on February $11-12, 1989$.

Methods of Sociolinguistic Research

• Material Collection: Field research including questionnaires, mass focus groups, expert surveys, interviews, and direct observations.
• Analytical Methods: Sociological analysis, specifically correlational analysis to find relationships between social variables and linguistic features.
• Descriptive/Presentation Tools: Use of tables, graphs of dependencies, and mathematical/statistical methods for quantitative description.

Language, Dialect, and Variety

• Definitions:   - Society: A group of people drawn together for specific purposes.   - Language: A system of linguistic communication particular to a group.   - Variety: Every language exhibits internal variation; a language is the sum of its varieties.   - Vernacular: The language/variety a person grows up with and uses in everyday, ordinary social interactions.
• Distinguishing Language vs. Dialect:   - Mutual Intelligibility: Often used as a criterion, but frequently fails in practice.   - Examples of Political over Linguistic distinction: Serbian and Croatian are linguistically similar but socially distinct. Danish, Norwegian (two varieties), and Swedish are largely mutually intelligible but separate languages.   - Examples of Linguistic difference within one "Language": Cantonese and Mandarin (Chinese) are mutually unintelligible yet grouped as one language.   - Defining Factor: Sociolinguists argue that sociopolitical identity, power, and solidarity—rather than linguistic similarity—determine if two varieties are distinct languages or dialects.
• Standardization:   - The process of codification involving grammars, spelling books, and dictionaries.   - Standard English: Usually used in print, taught in schools, learned by non-native speakers, used in news, and spoken by educated people. It is the "empowered variety" chosen for political, social, or economic reasons.

Received Pronunciation (RP) and Accents

• RP Terminology: Known as Standard British English, Oxford English, BBC English, or the Queen’s English.
• History: Term coined by A.J. Ellis in $1869$. "Received" means accepted or approved. It gained wide usage after Daniel Jones published the English Pronouncing Dictionary in $1917$.
• Accent vs. Dialect:   - Accent: Refers strictly to pronunciation.   - Dialect: Includes pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.
• RP Social Context: RP is a middle-class accent not tied to a region. "Posh" is associated with the upper class/aristocracy.
• Variations: "Cockneyfied RP," "Estuary English," and "Standard Southern British (SSB)."

Regional Dialects of English

• Dialect Geography: Mapping linguistic features (pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax) to show geographical origin.
• Isogloss: The geographic boundary of a specific linguistic feature.
• Major Categories: British Isles, North America, and Australasia (Australia, New Zealand, Pacific islands).
• Specific Dialects in England:   - Northern: Lancastrian, Cumbrian, Northumbrian, Yorkshire.   - Midlands: East (Lincolnshire) and West (Black Country, Brummie, Potteries, Coventry).   - East Anglian: Norfolk, Suffolk.   - Southern: Cockney (working-class London), Estuary (middle-class London/Hampshire), Multicultural London, Sussex.   - West Country: Cornwall, Bristolian, Dorset, Janner.
• Other Isles: Scottish English (Glasgow, Highland), Welsh English, Hiberno-English (Irish English), Manx, Gibraltarian.
• North America:   - USA: Northern, New England, North-Central, Metropolitan New York, Midland, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Southern, Western, Western Pennsylvania.   - Canada: Aboriginal, Atlantic, Greater Toronto, Ottawa Valley, Quebec.

Social and Ethnic Dialects

• Social Dialectology: Studies how speaking habits link to social classes/groups within a region.
• Ethnic Dialects: Ingroup varieties used to construct identity and group boundaries.
• African American Vernacular English (AAVE):   - Features: Deletion of final consonants (e.g., "test," "desk"); r-lessness; "th" pronounced as /t/, /d/, /f/, /v/, or /s/; absence/presence of suffix -s (verbal and plural); invariant use of "be" (e.g., "I be," "he be").
• Latino Englishes (including Chicano English):   - Features: Multiple negation; regularization of irregular past tense (e.g., "striked"); absence of past tense marking (e.g., "she look pretty"); habitual "be" (e.g., "You supposed to be knowing Spanish").

Languages in Contact

• Ethnolinguistic Vitality Framework (Giles, Bourhis, & Taylor, 1977):   - Status: Economic, social, historical.   - Demographics: Territorial distribution, concentration, birth rates, migration.   - Institutional Support: Formal (government, media, education) and informal (workplace, religion).
• Bilingualism Forms:   - Symmetrical: Equal knowledge of both languages.   - Asymmetrical: Different knowledge levels. Includes passive (understanding without speaking), written, and technical (profession-specific).   - Horizontal: Languages valued equally.   - Vertical: One language is preferred over others.   - Distribution: Individual, group, and mass/total.
• Diglossia:   - Defined by Charles Ferguson ($1959$) as a stable situation with two distinct codes: H (High) and L (Low).   - H Variety: Prestigious, powerful, used in literature, formal education, and formal speaking; not used for ordinary conversation.   - L Variety: Home language, learned naturally, used for everyday/colloquial purposes.   - Examples: Classical Arabic (H) vs. Regional Arabic (L); Standard German (H) vs. Swiss German (L); Russian (H) vs. Ukrainian (L) in Soviet Ukraine.
• Lingua Franca: A language used habitually for communication between people whose mother tongues are different (e.g., Swahili, English, Greek koiné, Sabir).

Pidgins, Creoles, and Mixed Languages

• Components:   - Superstrate (Lexifier): Socially and economically dominant; provides the bulk of the vocabulary.   - Substrate: Native languages of the subordinate group; contributes phonology and grammar.
• Definitions:   - Pidgin: Simplified, non-native language with reduced morphology and syntax, used for specific functions like trade.   - Creole: A native, fully elaborated language resulting from the nativization and expansion of a pidgin.
• Models of Development:   - Life Cycle Model: Pidgins arise from need + lack of access to superstrate; nativization leads to elaboration (Creole).   - Language Bioprogram Hypothesis (Bickerton, $1981$): Humans are programmed to create language; children take simplified pidgin input and create an elaborated creole.   - Gradualist Model: Elaboration is driven by communicative context and regular discourse rather than just nativization.
• Mixed Languages: Result from two specific varieties where both components are easily traceable. They arise from widespread bilingualism rather than a need for a lingua franca.