":t "

112cUl

:i"CQ

iii::J

CQCIIIco11I

anddisadvantagesof 'straighttalking'.Theymusttot up thesocialdistancebetweenthemselvesandthosetheyaretalkingto,thepowerrelafionship,theculturalnorms,andmakea decision.

Supposea colleaguewas drinking toa much whisky.Thespeakercouldsay:

Stopdrinking!

butwouldbemorelikelytosaytactful1y:

I wonderif weshouldkeepourheadsclearfor tomorrow'smeeting?

Or theymightevenmakeajokeof it:

Even if everybodyelse goes bankrupt, the whiskymanufacturerswill survive!

And of course,if offendinga colleaguewasreallytoamuchofa risk,thespeakercouldjusthavekeptquieto

Butsupposesomeonehadanurgentrequest,andfeltobligedtoimposeon anotherperson,what happens?Therearevariousstrategieswhichareusedto soothethesituation.For example,anyoneimposingisoftenpessimistic:

I don'tsupposeYOlf couldlendmea pound,couldyou?Or theymighttrytominimizetheimposition:

I won'tkeepyoua minute,but...

Or theymightjustapologize:

I'm terriblysorrytobotheryou,but...

The variousstrategiesoccurworldwide,but theyarenot allnecessarilyfoundin everylanguage.Eachculturehasits ownpreferredstrategies.This typeof studythereforeoverlapswithsociolinguistics,thetopicof thenextchapter.

Questions1 What is pragmatics?

2 What four conversational maxims form the cooperativeprincipie?

3 What is speech act theory?4 What areframes?

5 Explain what is meant by adjacency pairs. Give twoexamples.

6 How mighta polite speakerphrase a command?

This chapter is concerned withsociolinguistics, whichanalyzes variation within alanguage. It looks atdifferences between speechand writing, and at variation inpronunciation betweendifferent social c/asses. It a/sooutlines divergence between

men's and women's language.It then discusses multilingualcommunities and pidgins andcreoles.

Sociolinguisticsis oftendefinedas thestudyof languageandsociety.Whereasmany linguistsconcentrate on discovcringunitybeneaththediversityof humanlanguages,sociolinguiststryto analyzethesocialfactorswhichleadto thisdiversity.Inbrief,sociolinguistsareinterestedin languagedifferences,andespeciallyin variationwithina particularlanguagc.

The notion of a languagePerhapsthefirst questionthata sociolinguistneedsto askis,'Whatis a language?'Canthenotionof 'a language'bedefinedgeographically?Canit beequatedwithnationality?Or shouldalanguagebedefinedbythemutualintelligibilityof itsspeakers?

The answerto all thesequestionsappearsto be 'no'. Ageographicaldefinition of a language would separateAustralian,BritishandAmericanEnglish,which is obviouslyunsatisfactory.Nationalityis a vaguenotionwhichhaslittletodo with thelanguagea personspeaks.NumerousSovietJews,for example,regardthemselvesasessentiallyJewish,yetspeakRussian. Mutual intelligibility is of little help, since aGlaswegianand a cockneyare likely to find it hardertounderstandoneanotherthana Dutchmananda Germanwhoareconsideredtobespeakingdistinctlanguages.Andthereisnoobjectivelinguisticcriterionwhichcanbe.applied.DutchandGermanare not only mutually intelligible,they are alsostructurallymorealikethansomeof theso-calleddialectsofChinese.

Facedwith thisdilemma,sociolinguistspreferto startwith thenotionof a speechcommunityratherthana 'language'.Andtheydefinea speechcommunityas anygroupof peoplewhoconsiderthat they speakthe samelanguage.Consequently,Dutchand Germanmustbe regardedas separatelanguages,since,in spiteof theirsimilarities,theDutchconsiderthattheyspeakDutchandtheGermansconsiderthattheyspeakGerman.And all theChinesedialectsmustbeclassifiedasonelanguage,because,in spiteof far-reachingdifferences,theirspeakersallconsidertheyspeakChinese.

Dialect and accentWithin a speechcommunity,thereis considerablelanguagevariation.The speechof itsmembersvariesaccordingto many

factors,includinggeographicallocation,age,occupation,socio-economicstatus,ethnicgroupandsexo

Themostobvioustypeof varietyin a speechcommunityis theuseof differentdialeets.A dialectis usuallyassociatedwith aparticulargeographicalarea,suchastheGeordieandCockneydialectsof English,whicharespokenin TynesideandLondonrespectively.The term'dialect'refersto far greaterdifferencethanmerepronunciation.The Lancashiredialectdiffersfromstandard British English in sound system, syntax andvocabulary,withphrasessuchasI don'twantfor togo,summatfor 'something',nowtfor 'nothing'.AmericanEnglishranksasa differentdialectfrom British English,with phonologicalinnovationssuchasnasalvowels,andconstructionssuchas 'Ikindafiguredmaybe'and'He saidfor younottoworry'.

Unfortunately,in everydayusage,the term dialectis oftenconfusedwith the word accent.An accentrefersonly to adifferencein pronunciation.A Scotsmanand a Londonerarelikely to speakEnglish with differentaccents.But if theunderlyingsystemandthevocabularyarethesame,theywill bespeakingthe samedialect.In fact, althougha considerablenumberof localaccentsarestill foundin Britain,dialectsaredying out, que to the influenceof education,radio andtelevision. .

From high to lowMore interestingto sociolinguistsis variationwithin a singlegeographicalarea.This is of two maintypes:variationwithinthespeechof a singleperson,andvariationbetweenpeople.Thesetwo interact,and it is not alwayspossibleto separatethem.Let usbeginby consideringthestylisticvariationwhichexistsin thespeechof anyoneperson.

Every native speakeris normally in commandof severaldifferentlanguagestyles,sometimescalledregisters,whicharevariedaccordingto thetopicunderdiscussion,theformalityoftheoccasion,andthemediumused(speech,writingor sign).

Adaptinglanguageto suitthetopicis a fairlystraightforwardmatter.Manyactivitieshaveaspecializedvocabulary.If youareplayinga ballgame,youneedto knowthat'zero'is a duckincricket,lovein tennis,andnil in soccer.If youhaveadrinkwithfriendsin a pub,youneedto knowgreetingssuchas:Cheers!Here'stoyourgoodhealth!

115

116 In somecases,a relativelynormalvocabularyis combinedwithalteredsyntax. In newspaperheadlinesand telegrams,allsurpluswords are routinelyomitted,sometimesresultinginunintentionalambiguity:

GiantwavesdownQueenMary'sfunnel(Britishnewspaper)Dacoits(=bandits)shootdeadpoliceman(Indiannewspaper)

Specializedspeechstylesarecarriedto excessin somecultures,wheresocialsituationsmayfollow a highdegreeof ritual,asamongtheSubanun,aPhilippinetribe.If youwantadrink,it isnotsufficientsimplyto givetheSubanunequivalentof English'Pleasemay I havea drink'. This utterancemightcauseaSubanunspeakertopraiseyouforyourfluentSubanun,butyouwouldnot geta drink!Drinking,particularlythedrinkingofbeer,is a highlyritualizedactivitywhichprogressesthroughanumberof stages.At eachstage,thereis anappropriatestyleofspeech,andadvancementin Subanunsocietydependson howwellapersoncopeswiththis.

Othertypesof variationare lessdearcut.The samepersonmightutteranyof thefollowingthreesentences,dependingonthecircumstances:

I shouldbegratefulif youwouldmakelessnoise.PleasebequietoShutup!

Heretheutterancesrangefroma highor formalstyle,downtoa low or informalone- andthechoiceof a highor low styleispartlyamatterof politeness(Chapter9).

Butpolitenessis justonecomponentof amoregeneralskill,theappropriateuseof language.Knowing what to say when issometimesknown as communicativecompetence.Nativespeakersjust'know'it wouldbeoddtosay'Kindlyrefrainfromsmoking'to a 10year-oldpuffingata stolencigarette,ar rudeto say 'Put that fag out' to a duchess.Both utterancesareequallyinappropriate.Childrenand foreignlearnershavetoacquirethis skill overa longishperiod.Lack of this typeofknowledgoftenmakesaspeakersoundveryfunny,somuchsothattheuseof aninappropriateregisterisonesourceofhumourin English,asin:

.Scintillate,scintillate,globulelucific,FainwouldI fathomthynaturespecific.

This seemsamusingbecauseof the useof a formalstyleto'translate'a rhymeassociatedwithaninformalnurserysetting:

Twinkle,twinkle,littlestarHow I wonderwhatyouare.

In ~gland,the.useof an inappropriateleveIof formalityis notconsldereda senoussocialblunderin mostinstances.In anycasethereisoftenaconsiderableamountofoverlapbetweentheuseofthedifferentstyles.It wouldnotmatterwhetheryousaid'Hallo'or'Good morning'to your neighbour.ln someothercultures,however,thesocialsituationrequiresafargreaterdegreeofrigidity.An extremeexampleisfoundinlava,wheresocietyisdividedintothreedistinetsocialgroups.At thetoparethearistocrats.ln themiddlearethetownsfolk,andatthebottomarethefarmers.Eachofthesegroupshasadistinctstyleofspeechassociatedwithit.ThetopleveIofspeechisusedprimarilybetweenaristocratswhodonotknowoneanotherverywell,butalsobyatOWIlsmanif hehappensto beaddressinga highgovernmentofficia!'ThemiddleleveIofspeechisusedbetweentOWIlsmenwhoarenotdosefriends,andbypeasantswhenaddressingtheirsocialsuperiors.ThelowestleveIisusedbetweenpeasants,or by an aristocrator tOWIlsmanwhentalkingto a peasant,and betweendose friendson any leveI.Furthermore,it is theformof languageusedbyparentsto theirchildren,so it is thestylelearnedfirstby all lavanesechildren.However,as theygrow up, childrenare expeetedto shift toaddressingtheirparentsin a moreformalstyle,eventhoughtheirparentscontinuetospeaktothemintheloweststyle!

The formality-informalityscaleoverlapswith other stylisticconsiderations,in particularthe mediumused.Let us nowconsiderthis.

Speech versus writingSpeechandwritingdifferin a numberof ways.Considerthefollowingspokendialogue:

SpeakerA: But thepointisshe'snotsucha strongcharacter.SpeakerB: It'snotthepointshe'sasstr ... she'sstrongerthanwhatshemakesout['ll tellyounow.SpeakerA: Wellmaybe.SpeakerB: She'sa lot strongercosotherwiseI wouldhavedrivedhermadwhenshelivedherebutnoshe'sa lotstrongerthanwhatshemakesouttoyoulot ['ll tellyouthatnow.

Thetalkis sharedbetweentwopeople.Theybothassumesomemutualknowledge,soweneverhearwhosheis,or wherehereislocated.It'srepetitive:speakerB keepsstressinghowstrongsheis.

117

O

118

iii::Jccc:\liccCD

\li::JC.

~9.~

O

It'snotcomposedpurelyofsentences:thefragment'Wellmaybe'istreatedasacompleteutterance.Theverbsareallactiveones(telI,drive, and so on), and the sentencestructuresare fairlystraightforward.The vocabularyconsistsmostlyof commonwords,withsomecolloquialphrases(drivemad,['lI telIyouthat).

Now look at a passagefroma qualitynewspaperon a similartheme:

Assertivenessproblemsarepervasive.For example,maritaldiscontentcanarisefrom the inabilityof partnersto talkassertivelyabouttheirproblems.Insteadtheytendto bottleup feelings,.which inevitablyleads to hostility.Maritalviolencealso occurs more frequently in men low inassertivenessandmaybeexplainedby theirinabilityto beassertiveasopposedtoaggressive.

Theuninterruptedflowofwordsiswrittenbyasingleauthor.Itis fullyexplicit,in thatit doesnot referto unexplainedpeopleor places.The only repetitionis theoccasionalre-useof keywords,suchas assertiveness,inability.The passagecontainsonly completesentences.There is a passiveverb may beexplainedby,andthesentencestructuresarerelativelycomplex,withseveralembeddings(sentencesoneinsideanother,Chapter7), asin inabilityof partnersto talk,tendto bottleup,whichinevitably leads. There is a spate of abstract nouns:assertiveness,inability, discontent,violence,hostility, andseverallexical itemsare of fairly low frequency:marital,pervasive.

Thesepassagescontainfairlytypicaldifferencesbetweenspokenandwrittenlanguage.Theycanbesummedupin thefollowingtable:

SpokenWritten

Morethanone participant

SinglewriterInexplicit

ExplicitRepetitive

Non-repetitiveFragments

FuI!sentences

SimplestructureElaboratestructure

Concrete,commonvocabularyAbstract,lesscommonvocabulary

figure 10.1

Several~fthesefeatures~v~rla~withtheinformality-formalityscale,wlth speechcontammgmformalfeatures,and writtenlang.uageformalo~es.~onsequently,formalspeechhasquit~alot m commonwlth mformalwriting. Readablewritersare~ometimessaid.to~ethosewho'writeastheytalk'- thoughthisIS usuallyan IlluslOn,and apparenteffortlessspontaneityisoftencarefullycrafted.

Buttheimp0r:ta~t~ointisthis:spokenlanguagetypicallyinvolvesthe.charactenstlcsm theleft-handcolumnof Figure10.1,andwnttenlanguagethoseintheright-handcolumn- thougheachcanborrowfromtheother.Thereisnohardandfastdivide.A sermonislikelytohavemore'written'characteristicsthanachatbetweenfriendsin a pub. One is not 'better'than the other,eachisappropriatein certain circumstances.Written languageissometlmeswronglythoughtof asanidealmodelfor speech.Inpraetice,thosewhoreproducewrittenlanguagewhentheyspeaksoundquiteodd.Occasionally,recentimmigrantsareregardedaspompouspedants,primari1ybecausetheymayhavepainstakinglylearnedEnglishfrombooks.

Spokenandwrittencharacteristics,then,areanotherfacetofspeechstyleswhichefficientspeakersandwriterscontrolwithease.

Charting phonological variationSpeakersvarynotonlytheirvocabularyandsyntax,butalsothesoundstructure.Phonologicalvariation,bothbetweenspeakersand within a singlespeaker,is immenselyimportantas areflectionof varioussocialfactors.Speakersof a languagealtertheirphonologyto suit a particularsituation,oftenwithoutrealizingit. For example,someonefrom Devon is likely topronouncethe[r] in a word suchasfarmwhenchattingwithfriendsathome,butwouldprobablyattemptto suppressit in aformalinterviewin London.In thiscase,thespeakermaywellbeawareof thechangein pronunciation.On theotherhand,fewspeakersof standardBritishEnglishrealizethatin informalsituationstheyoftenomitthe[t]attheendof wordssuchaslastin phrasessuchaslastthing.

At one time, it was thoughtthat suchvariationwas fairlyrandom,andthatnoprecisestatementscouldbemadeaboutit.ButanAmericansociolinguist,WilliamLabov,showedthatthiswasnotso.In a pieceof work whichhasnow becomefamous

119iii::J(Qc:III(QCD

III::JQ.

~C)

~

O

120

iii::;,lQcIIIlQCD

IIIig~

-.a.

Use of -ing

123iQl

1Ilon~

Low density networkHigh density network

figure 10.3

function.But,aswithmanysurveys,theresultis oversimplified.In practice,peopledo notnorma1lylivein suchdearcutlayers:someone&om the so-calledworkingdass mightwell havemiddle-elassfriendsandneighhours.

In fact, humanheingstendto duster into socialnetworks,groupsof peoplewho regularlyinteractwith oneanother.Adetailedstudyof the socialnetworkswithin one particularspeechcommunitycanprovideausefulcorrectivetoLahov-typestudies)which tendto suggesthumansare rigidly stratified.Networkstudiescanprovideamorerealisticpictureof thewaypeople interactin real life. Furthermore)if a sociolinguistmanagesto heintroducedintoanetwork,itsmembersaremorelikeIyto chatin a naturalwaythanin a Lahov-typesurveyinwhich it is sometimesdifficult to observepeoplespeaking'normally).

The British linguistsJim and LesleyMilroy pioneeredthelinguisticstudy of social networkswith a study of threecommunitiesin Belfast.Lesleywasintroducedintoeachgroupas'afriendof afriend'.Thisensuredthatshewasaccepted,andthatpeoplewouldtalkrelativeIynormallyin frontof her:whenoneyouthtriedto showoff hytalkingin a somewhataffectedway,hisfriendpunchedhimandshouted:'Comeon)you'renoton teIevisiorinow)youknow'.

Networkscanheof highdensity)whenthesamepeopletendtowork,playandlivetogether.On theotherhand,theycanheoflow density)whenpeopleonlyhavea smallamountof contactwithanyonenetwork,in thattheymaylivein onearea,work inanother)andtraveIeIsewherefor theirsociallife(Figure10.3).

When the Milroys examinedtheir data, they discoveredanumberof thingswhichwould not havebeendetectablein aLahov-typesurvey.For example)Lahov'swork suggestedthatmenandwomen'sspeechtendedto differ,with womenon the

/ee/ ./e\__e/'.)-

Wordlists

Lower

workingclass

Wordlists

Upperworking

class

WordIists

Middlemiddleclass

o

50

%100

figure 10.2

Social networksLabov-typesurveysrelyoncollectingdatafromarandomsampleof individuaIs.Their speechis analyzedfor various keycharacteristics,which are then correlatedwith their socio-economicbackground.The result,perhapsnot surprisingly,suggeststhathumansocietyis somewhatlikea layer-cake,withdifferentsocio-econorniclayersstackedupontopof oneanother.In one respeet,this is a usefulinsightinto the way societies

to heassociatedwitheIderlyJews)andwith Italiansof all ages.The youngermemhersof the Jewish community)who weremostlyhighlyeducated)hadabandonedit)perhapshecausetheyregardedit as non-standard.The Italians,on theotherhand)tendedto favourit asa markof Italianidentity.Suchstudiescanshedinterestinglighton thepressuresandattitudeswithinparticularcommunities.

122

124

iii::::I

(QC1lI

cg1lI::::Ia.~9.~

O

wholebeingdosertotheprestigenorm.TheMilroys:oundt!'lispattemalso in BelfastoveralI, but with somemteres~l~gsubtIeties.When Lesley examinedthe three commumtlesseparately,and chartedthe occurrenceof the way [a] waspronouncedby peopleof differentagesand both sexes,shefoundsomemodificationof theoveralIpattem.1ntheoldest,mosttightIy-knit,andmosttraditionalcom.munity,shefoundthatthepredictedpattemof male-femaledlfferencewasrn.0stprominent.But in theothertwo,whichwerenewer,andfalrlyloose-knit,thispattemwaslessevident,andwasevenreversedamongtheyoungerwomenof onecommunity.This su~geststhata blurringof sexdifferentiationin languagemaybelmke.dwiththebreak-upof dose-knitnetworks.FindingssuchasthlSindicatethatlinguisticvariationneedsto beconsideredfromatleasttwoangles:fromthepointof viewof a broadLabov-typesurveybasedon a randomsampleof people,but alsofrom adose-upviewof a numberof socialnetworks.

Language and sexPossiblesex differencesin languageusagehave recentIyattracteda lot of attention.

First we needto sort out whetherwomenrealIydo speakdiffe~entIyfrom men.People'simpressionsarenot necessarilycorrect:it isoftenassumed,for example,thatwomentalkmorethan men, whereasalmost alI researchon the topic hasdemonstratedtheopposite,thatmentalk morethanwomen.Similarly,it is sometimesdaimed that womenu~e'empty'adjectives,such as divine,charming,cute,yet thlS type ofdescriptionis possiblymoreusualIyusedby (presumablymale)writersin popularnewspapersto describewomen.Themostconsistentdifferencefoundbetweenmenandwomenwithinthewestemworldis a tendencyforwomentospeakin awaythatis doserto theprestigestandard.1ncolIoquialterms,theyspeak'better'thanmen.No oneisquitesurewhythisisso,andseveraI explanationshavebeenproposed,whichma.yalI bepartialIyright. For example,womenmay be pressunze?bysocietyto behavein a 'lady-like'manner,and'speakingmcely'maybepartof this.Or becausetheyarethe.maio;child-rearer~,theymaysubconsciouslyspeakin awayWhlChwllI enablet?elrchildrento progresssocialIy.Or theymaytendto haveJobswhichrelyoncommunication,ratherthanonstrength.AlI thesefactors,andothers,appearto berelevant.Moreover,in recent

years,particular1yamongemployedwomen,the differencesbetweenmen'sandwomen'sspeechappearto bediminishing.Furthermore,somecharacteristicsattributedtowomentumoutto be far morewidespread.For example,womenhavebeendaimedto usemorehedges,tentativephrasessuchaskind of,sort of, in placeof straightstatements:'BilI is kind of short',insteadof 'Bill is short'.Theyhavealsobeenaccusedof usingquestionintonation in responseto queries:'About eighto'dock?' asa replyto: 'Whattime'sdinner?'Yet thisinsecurestyleof conversationseemsto betypicalof 'powerless'people,thosewho aresomewhatnervousand afraidof antagonizingothers.Powerlesspeoplecomefromeithersexo

But thereis an altemativeexplanation:suchspeechmay besupportive.A question intonationpromotesthe flow ofconversation.A commentsuchas: '1t'scold today,isn't it?'encouragesaneasy-to-makeresponse,suchas:'Yes,I evenputmywinterbootson'. 'Powerless'speechcanthereforebeviewedasfriendlyandcooperative,andpowerfulspeechasinsensitiveandauthoritarian.

Friendlyspeechmayalsoreflectthesetting.At ameeting,fairlyformalspeechis thenorm.At home,or in theshops,informalconversationismorelikely.TraditionalIy,menaremorelikelytobe at businessmeetings,andwomenat home,thoughthis ispartIychanging.

Supportivespeechis moreoftenassociatedwith womenthanwith men.Friendlyfemalesarelikelyto helptheconversationalong by saying 'mmm', 'aha', 'yes' - so calIed 'minimalresponses'.Theseencouragethespeaker,byshowingthatsheisbeinglistenedto. SimultaneousspeechcanaIso besupportive,whenthespeaker'smessageisreinforcedbythelistener,asinthefolIowingoverlapaboutgoingto funeraIs:

SpeakerA: Perhapstheywouldwantyoutogo, youknow .SpeakerB: yeahfor theircomfort .

Such supportivespeechcontrastswith its opposite,powertalking,whosecharacteristicsareoutIinedbelow.

Power talkingSpeakerA: Now tellmewhatyou'regoingto do.SpeakerB: Yes,well,first ...SpeakerA: Louder,please,weall wantto hear.

125iii::::I

(Qc:1lI(QlD

1lI:la.~()

~

O

126iii::Jr.acDIr.aCD

DI

5.

~

~

~peaker.1):1a star,;vy cutunguns nere.SpeakerA: Whatdoyoumean'thishere'?SpeakerB: Theplacewhere...SpeakerA: Haveyouwashedyourhands?

'Powerful'speakerstypicallycontrolthetopic,interruptothers,anddemandexplicitexplanations.Occasionally,this maybejustifiedif someoneis chairinga meeting,or in someteachingsituations.Yetquiteoften,asperhapsin theexample,above,the'controller'goesoverthetop, andtriesbothto dominateandflattentheconfidenceof otherparticipants.

Powertalkingmaybe usedby eithersex,thoughit is moretypicallymale.Male speakersnot only talk more,theyalsointerruptmore,eventhoughtheymaynotperceivethemselvesasdoingso.

Men alsoissuemoredirectorders.In a studyof doctor-patientinteractionin theUnitedStates,menusedexplicitcommandsinaboutonethirdof thedirectives,as:'Liedown','Takeoff yourshoesandsocks'.Womenpreferredtophrasecommandsasjointactions:'Maybeweshouldjusttakethetopof yourdressoff?','Maybewhatwe oughtto do is staywith thedoseyou'reon',andsoon.

Change in language stylesThesocialsituationis notnecessarilystatic.Any changein thesocialrelationshipsis likelyto bemirroredin changinglanguagestyles.An exampleofachangeofthistypeoccurredinthegradualmeaningchangein the two forms of the pronounsyou inEuropeanlanguages.

Originally,in Latin,therewasa singularform tu anda pluralformvos.For somereason(thecauseis disputed),thepluralcarneto beusedasa politeform of addressfor speakingto asinglepersonin authority.Onetheoryis thatwhenthereweretwoRomanemperors- onein Constantinople,theotherin thewestin Rome- it becamecustomarytoaddresseachof themasvos,sincebothemperorswereimplicitlybeingaddressedatthesametime.This begana generaltrendfor usingvosto anyonein authority.It graduallybecamecustomaryfor aworking-classpersonto addressa memberof the,aristocracyasvos,whiletheupper classesstill used tu to a lower-classindividual.Meanwhile,as a mark of respect,the aristocracybegantoaddressone another as vos, although the lower classes

connnuedto addressoneanotherastu.This situationis shownin Figure 10.4. This linguisticsituationreflectedthe socialsituation.Thereexisteda feudalsocietyin whichthepowerofoneclassoveranotherwasall-important.

To upper classTo lower class

Upperclass

vostu

Lowerclass

vostu

figure 10.4

However,asfeudalismdiedout,sodidthisstrueturingof tuandvos.Gradually(accordingto onetheory),peopleceasedto feelsuchrespectfor thosein power,and instead,theymerelyfeltremotefromthem.Vos(it is claimed)carneto benotsomuchamarkof respect,asoneof non-intimacy.Tu carneto bethoughtof asindicatingintimacy,companionshipandsolidarity.Peopleinvolvedin friendshipsor closerelationshipsstartedto calloneanothertu irrespectiveof thepowersituation.And this is thestateof affairstodayin thenumerousEuropeanlanguageswhichhavetwo fOftllS of thewordyou.The 'power'to 'solidarity'switchispossiblyonlyoneof severalfactorsinvolvedin thechangefromvosto tu, andsomehavedisputeditsimportance.However,a similarphenomenonseemsto beoccurringin otherpartsof theworldalso:in India,in theHindi and Gujarati languages,therewas formerlya powerpatternshownin the non-reciprocalnatureof the forms ofaddressbetweenhusbandand wife, and older and youngerbrother.Nowadaysthis is dyingout. Reciprocalrelationsaregraduallybecomingmore importantthan the power of oneperson over another,and membersof Indian familiesarebeginningto addressoneanotherwiththeintimateyouforms.

Multilingual communities'I speakSpanishto God,Italiantowomen,Frenchtomen,andGermantomyhorse',is a sayingattributedto theHoly RomanEmperorCharlesV.As thisquotationsuggests,in someculturesa changedsocialsituationis markedby a changein theactuallanguagespoken,a pheno~enonknown as code-switching.

127iir::J

r.aI:DIr.a1Il

III

~

~

O

128

O

Sociolinguistical1y,this is not very ditterenttrom styl1StlCvariationwithinasinglelanguage.Sociolinguistshavethereforebecomeinterestedin studyingcode-switchingin bilingualandmultilingualcommunities.

Forexample,in Sauris,asmallcommunityof north-easternItaly,highin theCarnianAlps,a quiteremarkablelinguisticsituationexists.The'inhabitantsusethreedifferentlanguagesin thecourseof theireverydaylife:a Germandialeet,ItalianandFriulian(aRomancedialect).Italianis thela~guageof organizedreligion,andalsothatusedinschools.Friulianisthelanguageusedbymenin thelocalbars.And Germanis thelanguagein thehome.It ishighlyunusualto hearGermanoutsidethehome,thoughit wasobservedononeoccasionwhenafuriouswomanburstintoabarandupbraidedherhusbandfor nothavingreturnedhomeatthetimehewasexpected!

A studyof thewaysinwhichthesemultiplelanguagesareusedisparticularlyimportantforlanguageplanning,asituationinwhichagovernrnentor educationauthorityattemptsto manipulatethelinguisticsituationin aparticulardirection.This ismorelikelytobesuccessfulif existingusesofalanguagearegraduallyextended,sincethesuddenimpositionof a particularlanguageby decreemaywellresultin failure.

However,multilingualsocietiesin which all thespeakersareproficientin alI thelanguagesspokenaresomethingof a rarity.Quiteoften,onelanguage,or simplifiedlanguage,is adoptedasa commonmeansof communication.This canhappeneithernaturalIy,or as a resultof languageplanning.A commonlanguageof thistypeis sometimesknownasa linguafranca.Acoupleofmillenniaago,LatinspreadaroundtheMediterraneancountriesin thisway.In Indiatoday,Englishtendstobealinguafranca:Hindi speakersfromthenortharelikelytocommunicatein EnglishwithpeoplefromthesouthwhomostlyspeakoneoftheDravidianlanguages.The artificiallanguage,Esperanto,issometimesproposedasa candidatefor aworldlinguafranca.

Pidgins and creolesAdoptinga linguafrancaisnottheonlysolutiontotheproblemof communicationbetweengroupsof peoplespeakingdifferentlanguages.In somecases,apidgindevelops.

A pidginis a restrictedlanguagesystemwhicharisesin ordertofulfil essentialcommunicationneedsamongpeoplewith no

commonlanguage.It is no one'sfirst language,andis usedatfirst in a limitedsetof circumstances.Sucha systemtypicalIydevelopson traderoutesandin coastalareas.

A pidgin is usuallybasedon one language,thoughit soonacquires an admixture of other languages,as well asindependentconstructionsof its own.For example,Tok Pisin(alsoknownasMelanesianPidginEnglishandNeo-Melanesian)whichisspokeninPapuaNewGuinea,is basedonEnglish,andmanyof thewordssoundsomewhatlikeEnglishones:

Mi go longtaun.'I go/wentto thetown'.Yu wokabautlongroto'Youwalklwalkedalongtheroad'.

Butthereareplentyof others,whichcannotbepredictedfromEnglish,such as lotu 'church',diwai 'tree',susu 'milk'. Inaddition,it hasacquiredsyntacticconstructionswhichdo notfigurein English.For example,thereis a consistentdistinctionbetweenverbswithanobject('transitive'verbs)whichtaketheending-im, as with bagarapim'wreck', and thosewithout('intransitive'verbs)asin bagarap'collapse','breakdown':

Mi bagarapimka bilongYU. 'I crashedyourcar'.Ka bilongmi i bagarap.'My carbrokedown'.

Anotherinnovationis theparticlei whichsometimeshasto beplacedbefore;theverb(asin thesecondsentenceabove).

Thephonology,syntaxandlexiconaresimplerin apidginthanin an ordinarylanguage.Therearefewerphonemes.In TokPisin,[p]and[f]areoftenmerged,soare[s]and[f], andthereareonly fivevowels.English'fish'was borrowedaspis, andEnglish'ship'assip.In ordertoavoidconfusion,'piss'(urinate)becamepispis,and'sheep'becamesipsip.Thereareveryfewword endings,thesentenceshavea simplestructure,andthereisasmalIvocabulary.Oneortwoitemsstretchoverawidearea,aswith thefollowingusesof thewordpikinini 'child':

pikininiman'son'(lit.childman).pikininimeri'daughter'(lit.childwoman).pikininihos'foaI'(lit.childhorse).pikininipis 'minnow'(lit.childfish).pikininibilongraisericekernels'(lit.childof rice).pikininibilongdiwai 'fruitof tree'(lit.childof tree).

Sometimes,pidginsdieoutof theirownaccord.At othertimestheyincreasein importance,andbecomeusedin moreandmoreareasof life.If someonethenacquiresapidginasa firstlanguage- perhapsbecauseof intermarriagebetweenpeoplewhoseonly

129

O