Sociolinguistics Notes

Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics is the study of the sociological aspects of language. It examines how different social factors influence language use and maintain social roles within a community. In essence, sociolinguistics explores the social dimensions of language.

Origins of Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguists investigate linguistic features used by groups to understand how social factors impact language choices. William Labov (1927-present), an American psychologist, is considered the founder of sociolinguistics. Labov integrated linguistics, sociology, psychology, and anthropology to apply a scientific approach to studying language varieties.

Core Focus

Sociolinguistics studies social factors influencing language use, including grammar, accents, and lexical choices. Key social factors include:

  • (Factors not specified in the transcript, but implied to be listed)

Main Concepts

  • Speech Communities

  • Prestige and Vernacular

  • Social Class

  • Perceptual Dialectics

  • Prejudice

Vernacular

The vernacular is the form of a language commonly spoken by people in a particular region or group. It informs an individual’s "idiolect," which is their specific use of language. A person’s idiolect includes all aspects of their communication. Vernacular is associated with a group, while idiolect is associated with an individual.

Speech Communities

A speech community is a group sharing rules for conducting and interpreting at least one variety of a language or dialect. This can apply to a neighborhood, city, region, or nation. Everyone belongs to at least one speech community. The earliest speech community is shared with primary caregivers and family members.

The rules and norms of a speech community appear in a dialect referred to as the vernacular, the most basic variety of language one commands. Vernacular speech is least susceptible to monitoring and change, and individuals may have multiple vernaculars, considering themselves bidialectal.

Speech Communities and Vernacular

Vernacular introduces individuals to their culture, heritage, and ways of being, which are important for development as a member of the human community and form the basis of adult identity. The next speech community involves neighborhoods and extended families. These communities involve regular face-to-face interaction with a larger group of people who may or may not share vernacular speech.

Influence of Speech Communities

Speech communities have different vernaculars influencing an individual's idiolect.

Identity

Different communities have different ideas, rules, and identities. These likely represent different parts of an individual's identity, leading to the use of different vernaculars for each community. Accent and dialect change is linked to the strength of identification with a group (Bronwen Evans, UCL).

Adapting Speech

It is normal to accommodate to different speakers, adapting interactions to match the person being spoken to. This reinforces connection between people and, over time, accents and dialects can merge to form new accents. Amanda Cole's work on Multicultural London English (MLE) shows a convergence of Asian, Caribbean, and Cockney accents into one accent.

Prestige

Speaking more formally occurs in certain situations. Certain ways of speaking are associated with particular social classes, thus having a level of prestige when judged by some in society. This is often referred to as speaking “properly,” which is a social judgment since most people can understand slang. The prestige value of certain ways of speaking is a driver for accent change and judgment/bias.

Perceptual Dialects

Perceptual dialectology studies how non-linguists perceive variation in language. This includes beliefs about where it exists, where it comes from, how it functions, and how it’s socially evaluated. These are the opinions of the general public, not concrete facts, and show how people react to the linguistic elements of different demographics in society. One area examined is ratings of different accents based on feelings about the speaker, including:

  • Trustworthiness

  • Kindness

  • Intelligence

  • Deviousness

  • Ignorance

  • Laziness

  • Pleasantness

Results of Perceptual Dialectic Studies

Scottish accents are often rated as kind, and Newcastle accents as trustworthy. Standard Southern British English (SSBE) is rated as intelligent but not trustworthy. A study with university lecturers showed SSBE was rated as more intelligent than local Birmingham accents, even by students with Birmingham accents (Sharma et al., 2019). This is usually based on prejudices about the area or the people and is not based on fact. The Birmingham accent (rated as the worst in the UK) is rated highly by Indian English speakers unfamiliar with the place or the accents (Ikeno & Hansen, 2007).

Accent Bias

Accent is a recognizable sign of social and ethnic background in the UK. Accent can impact opportunities and life outcomes, and people are biased, positively or negatively, towards different accents. Accent bias can affect someone’s judgment in a professional setting. Perceptual dialect studies suggest this is the case. It’s important not to propagate stereotypes based on dialect and accent (see https://accentbiasbritain.org/accents-in-britain/ for details).