Sociolinguistics

Question 1

How do different social categories affect language?

Answer 1

Language is based on situations and relationship
It’s how people change communication based on the situation they ‘re in
There’s a relationship between language and society
Language changes the way speakers view the world (Sapir-whorf Hypothesis)
Ex: more/less formal, gestures, humor, slang, intonation, prosody

Question 2

What is a dialect from a sociolinguistic perspective?

Answer 2

Usually political definition (“a language is a dialect with an army and a navy”)
-ultimately a language group must decide if they speak a language or a dialect

Question 3

Dialect to language?

Answer 3

Language naturally changes
Importance of identity. (Shared cultural identity=shared language)

Question 4

What is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis?

Answer 4

Language determines the way speakers view the world
Ex: indigenous people have different classifications which changes the way plants are viewed
Tomato ex: flower vs berry vs fruit
Blackfoot views the berry and fruit as the same (we know this as it has the same name)

Question 5

What is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis?

Answer 5

Language determines the way speakers view the world
Ex: indigenous people have different classifications which changes the way plants are viewed
Tomato ex: flower vs berry vs fruit
Blackfoot views the berry and fruit as the same (we know this as it has the same name)

Question 6

4 phases in Language Interaction cycle

Answer 6

Many factors influence it and it is not a clean cycle

Language
-group of speakers becomes isolated and/or interacts with another language

Dialect
-group of speakers creates simplified language to communicate with speakers of another language

Pidgin (combo of different languages or dialects simplified - no native speakers)

Creole:
-shared language becomes more standardized greater variety & complexity in grammar and vocab (native speakers)

Fully adopted = Language

Question 7

How and why does a language go extinct?

Answer 7

Usually goes extinct in the pidgin or creole stage

Why?
People die or are killed (history)
One culture dominates ( history and modern)

In modern society
-economic necessity (jobs, trades, etc)
-dominant culture/language dictates rules
-more need for dominant language ; indigenous language used less
-no native or. 2nd language speakers; academic

Question 8

How did Indigenous NA languages go extinct?

Answer 8

US: Manifest destiny- indigenous people killed
Canada and US- forced assimilation, residential schools, public policy

Question 9

How do some languages survive?

Answer 9

Through writing and through political and economic strength

Question 10

Kachru 3 circles

Answer 10

English is most widely spoken language but not due to inner circle due to numbers of people in outer and expanding circle. Expanding circle can understand each other better than the inner circle

Inner circle: English as main language and is the standard
Outer circle: English is dominant (political) but many other languages are spoken at home. English dialects influenced by languages spoken at home
Expanding circle: English is not official language, not used in government, used unofficially for business purposes or tourism