LINGUISTICS AND SOCIOLINGUISTICS

Linguistics is the study of language includes psycholinguistics, historical linguistics, morphology, syntax, semantics etcSociolinguistics is the study of variation of language in use – we use different words or grammatical forms depending on context

Variation

Variation is determined by social class, gender, place, age, situation etc.Would you use the same words, syntax and phonology (or even the same language) to ask for a loan from a YB, friend, father, mother, bank, total stranger?

Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching

Implications and questions for language teachingTeachers are supposed to teach to teach communicative competence. Therefore should they try to teach language as it is actually used? If so, as used by whom?

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Teachers need to consider the language/dialect/accent used by their students – Malay dialects(?), Javanese, Manglish, Singlish, Black English, Chinese dialects(?)May be different from teachers’ variety and from standard language

LANGUAGE, DIALECT, ACCENT, CODE, VARIETY

Imagine you move to a village or housing estate 5 miles from you home –do people speak differently?50 miles?200 milesTo IndonesiaTo Rapanui (eye=mata,fish=ika, bird =manu)

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When do you stop understanding people?When do people stop understanding you?How long to learn the local ……?

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When does an accent become a dialect?When does a dialect become a language?A linguist would say if pronunciation is the only difference, it is a dialect, if words and grammar are different, but still still intelligible, it is a dialect.

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What would a sociolinguist say?Depends on social attitudes and politics“a language is a dialect with an army and a navy” (maybe a parliament, a newspaper and a TV channel is enough)

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But does this describe social reality?For a linguist, if two people understand one another they are speaking the same languageSerbs, Croats, Bosnians understand each other but insist they speak different languages (since 1991)

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Indians speaking Hindi understand Pakistanis speaking Urdu but claim they speak a different languageSpeakers of Hokkien “dialect” cannot understand Cantonese or Mandarin speakers, but do not claim to speak a separate language

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Why did Scots and Ulster Scots suddenly become languages in the 1990s? Before then, they were only dialects but now are languages recognised by the Scottish and Northern Ireland parliaments

Is this English?

Hear all see all say nowt Eat all sup all pay nowt And if tha ever does owt for nowt, allus do it for thisen

Answer

Nearly everybody would say yes. Yorkshire dialect (distinctive lexis and some grammar, distinctive pronunciation)

Is this?

A muvver was barfin er biby one night,

The youngest of ten and a tiny young mite,

The muvver was pore and the biby was fin

Only a skellington covered in skin

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An accent – no distinctive lexis – probably not authentic. Imitation Cockney (working class east London)

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Alamak don so kiasu lah. I give you hup-ply discoun, you go to another stylist sure kenna ketok.

Answer

The speaker would probably think so and most educated speakers would accuse him of speaking bad or broken English. Basilectal Singlish.

And this?

For December 10, 1948, di meeting of di whole world, wey dem de call United Nations (naim be say all di kontris wey de for di world come unite to be one), come hold talk and dem come bring out one paper and write wetin suppose to be our right inside. Dem call am Human Rights. Dis na di rights wey human beings get from di time wey dem born us. Na dis rights make human beings take different from animals.

Answer

Officially classified as a distinct language, Nigerian Pidgin English. Many would assert that is simply bad English. Sociolinguists would generally disagree.

How many languages?

1. Hun sidder i vinduet og ser ud over gaden.2. Hun sitter i vinduet og ser ut over gaten.3. Hon sitter i fonstret och ser ut ove gatan.

Answer

Politically three. Sociolinguists would have to accept this.

Is Arabic a language?

Arabic, Algerian Saharan SpokenArabic, Algerian SpokenArabic, Babalia CreoleArabic, Baharna SpokenArabic, Chadian SpokenArabic, Cypriot SpokenArabic, Dhofari SpokenArabic, Eastern Egyptian

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National language. 246,000,000 second-language speakers of all Arabic varieties (1999 WA). Not a first language. Used for education, official purposes, written materials, and formal speeches. Classical Arabic is used for religion and ceremonial purposes, having archaic vocabulary. Modern Standard Arabic is a modernized variety of Classical Arabic. In most Arab countries only the well educated have adequate proficiency in Standard Arabic, while over 100,500,000 do not.

Answer

Arabs generally insist there is only one language. Sociolinguists would have to agree with them but would also analyse the relationship between the different varieties.

Is English a language?

Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, West Country, East Anglia, Birmingham (Brummy, Brummie), South Wales, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cornwall, Cumberland, Central Cumberland, Devonshire, East Devonshire, Dorset, Durham, Bolton Lancashire, North Lancashire, Radcliffe Lancashire, Northumberland, Norfolk, Newcastle Northumberland, Tyneside Northumberland, Lowland Scottish, Somerset, Sussex, Westmorland, North Wiltshire, Craven Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, Sheffield Yorkshire, West Yorkshire. Lexical similarity 60% with German, 27% with French, 24% with Russian.

Code and variety

The lines between accents, dialects and languages are blurred, chamging and socially determinedSociolinguists like to talk about code and varietyAvoids arguments about what is a language and what is a dialect

Is Malay a language?

Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Malayu, Malayu, Melaju, Melayu, Standard Malay Dialects Trengganu, Kelantan, Kedah, Perak (Southern Malay), Sarawak Malay, Bazaar Malay (Low Malay, Pasar Malay, Pasir Malay, Trade Malay). 'Bazaar Malay' is used to refer to many regional nonstandard dialects. Over 80% cognate with Indonesian.

Is Indonesian a language?

Bahasa Indonesia Classification Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Malayic, Malayan, Local Malay Language use Official language. Over 140,000,000 second-language speakers. Language development Roman and Arabic scripts. Grammar. Comments Reported to be modeled on Riau Malay of northeast Sumatra. Has regional variants. Over 80% cognate with Standard Malay.

Questions

Is Malay one Language? How many dialects?Is English?

Chinese?

Arabic?

Summary

For a linguist the rules for deciding whether a variety is a language or dialect are simple. Can people understand each other?In sociolinguistics it is difficult to decide – history, attitudes and politica have to be considered also.

Speech Communities

A group of people with the same rules about the use and correctness of languageMay not coincide with language or dialectE.g. Malaysian Chinese, Arabs, Ireland

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Semi-speakers of dying languages – Celtic languages in Britain

Linked to communicative competence – may not be the same as linguistic competence

Sociolinguistic Methods

QuestionnairesInterviewObservationParticipant-ObservationExperimentsAnalysis of TextsArchive research

Sociolinguistic questions

How and why do languages change (and die)?How do people decide which variety to use?Are men and women different?To what extent can governments control the use of language? Does language vary with social class?

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To summarise – sociolinguists study how linguistics features varyWhen variation is extensive enough and found across domains, sociolinguistics talk about varieties and codesSometimes these are the same as languages and dialects (as described by linguists)

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But sometimes not – sociolinguists also consider social attitudes and status.