Sociolinguistic collection

Everybody has the right to cast hervote.

Everybody has the right to cast theirvote.

These are terrorists. -No, they are freedom fighters!Sociolinguistics “Who uses what language to whom when and for what purpose(s).” (Joshua A. Fishman)Language Variation 2.Society 3.Situation4. Individual 1. Timehistorical variation styleregister, style regional, ethnicity, class, age etc.Language Variation 2.Society 3.Situation4. Individual 1. Timehistorical variation styleregister, style regional, ethnicity, class, age etc.Basic concepts-1 variety -language -dialect -accent varietya set of linguistic items with similar distribution (Hudson, 1980) language?

perceptions; linguistic description dialect ?

regionally localisable accent?

refers to pronunciation only2 sets of criteria •description -perception •linguistic -socio-political/historical e.g.:

dialects around the German/Dutch border Chinese Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian Scandinavian languages Swiss German “A language is a dialect with an army and a navy.”(Bolinger) LANGUAGE -DIALECT Linguistic usage D1D2 D3 D4 D5Popular usage D1D2 L D4 D5Basic concepts -2 standard -non-standard e.g.:

A. He ain’t got none.

B. I seen him.

C. Who did you mention it to?

D. Da hab ich genug von.

E. Da treff ma sich!Standardisation(Haugen, 1966) selectionelaboration acceptancecodificationStandardisation socio-politicallinguistic selectionelaboration acceptancecodification language norms“Standard”(Meyerhoff 2006) oa set of language norms that are shared across many localities osome argue: only applies to grammar and vocabulary, excluding accent ?widely shared evaluation of what are the ‘correct’language norms; i.e. ‘appropriate’in formal settings when social power plays a crucial role (e.g. at school, court)Therefore:

“standard”related to “appropriacy” Appropriacy depends on:

context, speakers’expectations, social power structures, communicative purposes and interactional conventions (-> ‘genre’) Variation acc. to language users Regional dialects Social dialectsVariation acc. to language users Regional dialects(taken from Freeborn, 1993) 1.A good boss was a good boss. He was paying for the stuff that I were supposed to make perfect or as near perfect as possible. It's his money. It's his building.

It's all that. He's kept your childer for so many year while you work for him, style of thing –hasn't he? (Lancashire) 2.…I usually just sub, but then again, I'm a defender. …I likes playing defendermore than anything else. (Plymouth boy)Regional dialects(taken from Freeborn, 1993) 3.I used to work in Marks and Spencer's.

We've always kept friends with the people in there, you know. And then I worked on the station for nineteen year. (Carlisle).

4.When I heard the knocking I never thought nothing like that could ever happen. …. (Norwich)Regional dialects -grammatical features •Noun plurals childer, year •Person endings on verbs I likes •Distribution of forms of to be I were •Multiple negation never thought nothing Other:

past tense forms, personal pronouns, modalsdialect -accent •RP (Received Pronunciation) -Estuary English •dialect geography •dialect continuum •isoglosses + dialect boundaries Varieties of English: a multimedia reference tool: http://www.varieties.mouton-content.com/Social dialects •social factors •social class •social distinctions relevant to a society go hand-in-hand with linguistic differences Variation acc. to language use idiolect -style -register (jargon); domain idiolect: individual choice of language style: linguistic choices depending on social situation comes in scales: e.g.

formal –casual; impersonal –intimate; monologic –dialogic; formulaic -creative "Place the ingredients into a prepared dish.” "Put the stuff into the bowl you've got ready.”Variation acc. to language use idiolect -style -register (jargon); domain Register: “sets of language items associated with discrete occupational or social groups”and forms part of their jargon (Wardhaugh, 1998) classroom -educational register courtroom -legal register church –religious register football-fans weight-watchers deer-hunters brain-surgeonsDomains(taken from Spolsky, 1998) locationrole-relation- ships (e.g.)topics (e.g.) homemother, sondomestic, personalschoolteacher, pupilsocial, educational churchpriest, parishionersermons, prayers, social"Your dialect shows who (or what) you are, whilst your register shows what you are doing." (Hudson, 1966)