Sociolinguistics Flashcards
What is Sociolinguistics?
field that studies the relation between language and society, between the uses of language and the social structures in which the users of language live
Sociolinguistics take two domains into account, what are they + two examples?
- Linguistic domain
- Social domain
linguistic: formal vs. informal, code-switching (language-switching)
Social: Age, world-views
What did Trudgill discover in Norwich in 1974?
Distribution of variables are determined by social factors, where he collected data from different social classes. He had five social classes & four speaking styles.
construct borrowed from Sociology, members of society can be categorized
Basis of categorization: income, occupation, education
What does Trudgill’s approach indicate?
That language is a marker of class membership and social identity.
Marking of social identity can be found on all levels of linguistic description such as lexicon, phonology, morphology and syntax.
What did the Bogart sociological study show?
social class system restricts communication, a given social class has less contact with speakers of other classes than their own -> so different social groups form their own speech
Labov experimented with the badge of identity, what do you know about that?
He did that on an island in Massachussetts where islanders pronounced with a higher degree of centralization & tourists did not
badge of identity can also be: words they use in a social context or which syntactic constructions too
What do accents reveal?
where someone is regionally or socially is from, everyone speaks with an accent
What does a Dialect describe?
their own grammar, vocabulary and aspects of pronunciation
What is Dialectology?
study of dialects
Who is the Father of Sociolinguistics?
William Labov
What is a commonly used criterium for languages?
mutual intelligibility
→ Both, the Viennese dialect and the Styrian dialect are intelligible by speakers of German
→ Speakers of Japanese are not inherently able to speak Vietnamese, and vice versa
Therefore:
→ If two varieties are mutually intelligible, there is a higher likelihood that they are dialects
→ If that is not the case, chances are that the varieties are considered languages
What does NORMS stand for?
Non-mobile, older, rural, male speakers
What is an isogloss?
line which represents a boundary between areas referring to one particular linguistic word
one area calls dog “doggo” and one calls it “doggie” line between it
What is a dialect boundary?
An area on a map that denotes a specific dialect
multiple isoglosses come together and a more solid “line” can be drawn
Is there always a sharp break from one region to the next when referring to a linguistic item?
No, regional variation exists along a dialect continuum. Meaning they are more intwined than sharp break.
Name two examples for regional bilingualism
Canada (French & English), Belgium (French & Dutch)
What is Diglossia?
linguistic phenomenon where two distinct varieties of the same language are used by a single language community in different social contexts. These two varieties usually consist of a “high” (H) variety and a “low” (L) variety, each serving specific functions within society. The high variety is typically used in formal settings, while the low variety is reserved for informal or everyday interactions.)
vernacular = Umgangssprache
Classical Arabic (high prestige), Egyptian Arabic (low prestige); Latin (high prestige), Spanish (low prestige)
What is Language Planning?
Some countries speak multiple languages and then there’s the question which one you teach at schools, hospitals, etc. -> officials plan which varieties as their official language
Guatemala has 26 Mayan languages + Spanish
What is the process of Language Planning?
- Selection
- Codification (basic grammar, dictionaries, written models)
- Elaboration (standard variety developed for every social life)
- Implementation
- Acceptance (majority uses it)
What is a pidgin?
contact language developed for practical purposes e.g. trading
Mandarin for “business”
What is a creole?
pidgin as the first language of a social community
creolization = development from pidgin to a creole
decreolization = process of evolving from a creole into a standard language/variety of a standard language
What is a speech community?
group of people who share a set of norms and expectations regarding the use of language
What are the general (meta) functions of language?
- ideational function (=how we use language to come to terms with the world around us)
- interpersonal function (how we use languages to interact with others)
Ideat. F = classifying, organizing, referring, influencing
Interp. F= establishing social relations, cooperation, belonging to a group
What is a variety?
a set of language habits that is shared by a certain group of speakers for use in certain contexts
What is a regiolect?
Variation according to region
What is a sociolect?
Variation according to social background
What is an idiolect?
Sum total of linguistic variables found within a certain speaker (variation within one individual)
a speaker’s individual way of speaking & a collective of dialect
What is an Ethnolect?
Variation according to ethnicity
What is High- & Low lect?
Variety that is associated with more or less overt prestige (mutually implicated)
What is a Style?
Particular way of speaking according to context
What is Slang?
Way of speaking to signal group membership
also called colloquial speech, words usually used by younger speakers
e.g. bucks instead of money
What is a Jargon?
special technical vocabulary used by those inside established social groups
e.g. occupation -> gamers say OP & nerd
What is an accent?
Phonological and prosodic aspects of a linguistic variety
What does Variationist Sociolinguistics focus on?
→ variation between groups of speakers
→ variation according to cultural & historical content
→ variation within one speaker (style-shifting)
→ the sociolinguistic factors underlying variation
→ urban dialectology
What is a standard variety?
an idealized variety associated with administrative, commercial and educational centres, also a socially favored variety of a language
e.g. Hochdeutsch, General American, Received Pronunciation
What are reasons for standardization?
- golden standard for education
- serves as a monolithic concept
- effective for communication
- but: reinforces social hierarchies -> overt prestige
What is overt prestige?
positive value given to language forms that prestigious/”better” within a society
e.g. standard variety of a language
What is covert prestige?
positive value attached to a variety of language within a community -> group identity/ solidarity
e.g. statt Hochdeutsch -> Hainfelderisch
What is Speech accommodation?
our ability to modify our speech style toward or away from the perceived style of the person(s) we are talking to
What is Convergence?
adopting a speech style that attempts to reduce social distance and use forms that are similar to those used by the person we are talking to
symmetrical/mutual e.g. same words, speed
-> speech accommodation
What is Divergence?
asymmetrical
speech style used to emphasize social distance between speakers
prestigious variety to distinguish one self or vice versa
What is Culture in Sociolinguistics?
it refers to all the ideas and assumption about the nature of things and people that we learn when we become members of social groups
socially acquired knowledge, we develop language and then awareness of our knowledge & culture
What is Linguistic relativity?
the idea that the structure/vocabulary of a language perceive how we think -> influences worldview
suggests that language and thoughts are interconnected
What does “lexicalized” mean?
expressed as a single word
What does “non-lexicalized” mean?
not expressed as a single word
e.g. snow or powdery snow
What are social categories?
words like brother are not just used for your brother, but also for a friend
“Brother” is also an address term to attempt solidarity
What is the sex of a person?
Male or Female
What are tag questions?
short questions consisting of an auxiliary (do, doesn’t) and pronoun (it, they, you) which are added at the end of a statement
“They look awful, don’t they?”
What are Back-channels?
use of words or sounds by listeners while someone is speaking
e.g. yeah, really?, oh wow or hmm, oh
What do gender-neutral pronouns (they/thon) show?
cultural change and language change goes hand in hand
study of language involves the study of diversity and change
What is the most important thing in Sociolinguistics?
descriptivism, bc we want to observe not evaluate
What is synchronic Linguistics?
study of language at a specific point in time
Labov’s department story could a synchronic study of language
What is diachronic linguistics?
study of the development of language over time -> language change
Who is Noam Chomsky?
Father of Universal Grammar, introduces the word “competence”
performance (Labov) vs. competence (Chomsky)
In what century was Codification really going heavy?
19th, French was language of power, Latin language of Church and then to English
What is a polycentric language?
various standards that have been elaborated and are accepted
e.g. Austria multiple standards of German or Norway has two standards
What did the Linguistic Society of America release in 1997?
a statement which says that socially disfavored varieties as slang, mutant or broken English are linguistically speaking incorrect
published because of discrimination about learning real English
What is Dell Hymes’ SPEAKING heuristic?
context of a speech situation -> a simple model to break down the components of communication by considering various aspects of the interaction
re-emphasizes the importance of context in linguistic interaction
1972
What does Hymes’ SPEAKING heuristic stand for?
- Setting (temporal, spatial, physical aspects)
- Participants (age, sex, social status)
- Ends (purpose of interaction
- Act Sequence (activities carried out)
- Key (mood of interaction)
- Instrumentalities (medium used)
- Norms (‘script’ of the interaction)
- Genre (type of event)
What is a language?
A variety with social and political importance
The spread of English can be put into multiple groups what are they?
first only British islands then
1. First dispersal
2. Second dispersal
3. Third dispersal
What is the first dispersal of the spread of English?
- Jamestown, 1607
- Plymouth Colony, 1620
- Australia & NZ, ~1750-1800
- South Africa, ~1820s
What is the second dispersal of the spread of English?
Colonialism in Africa & Asia, 18th & 19th century
e.g. Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe & India, Pakistan, Bhutan
What is the third dispersal of the spread of English?
globalization, economic & social importance of English
ca. 2 billion speak English (2006)
Approximately how many territories speak English?
75
Singapore, India, Zimbabwe either as a first or second language
Why is it alright to use the word “Englishes” in Sociolinguistics?
because there are a lot of varieties
What models do you know that showcase the spread of English?
- Streven’s Family Tree Model
- Kachru’s Circle Model
- Modiano’s Common Features Model
- Graddol’s Proficiency Model
Explain Kachru’s circle model of World Englishes
a consequence from the tree diagram, from the 80s
1. Inner circle ENL
2. Outer circle ~second dispersal, ESL
3. Expanding circle
example each: Canada, Singapore, Brazil
ENL, ESL, EFL, ELF = English as native/second/foreign/lingua franca language
What are the limitations of Kachru’s Circle Model?
- inner circle as nuclear core
- positions the circles along a hierarchy
- depends on proficiency (problematic)
Explain Modiano’s Common Features Model
English as international language (EIL)
-> one common core and AE, BE, etc. cut inside it
What are the limitations of Modiano’s Common Features Model?
Who decides what is included in the common core and it’s non-transparent
Explain Graddol’s Proficiency Model
getting rid of history & geography; he had hundreds of circles and he graded proficiency from the inner 500 (high) to low proficiency kinda like A1-C2
entire focus on speaker’s proficiency
What is a dialect?
variation of a language spoken within a specific community
has its own vocab, grammar, pronunciation
Since the 1960s there’s the term modern/urban dialectology, what is that?
Traditionally researchers were only interested in regional variation (Norms, isoglasses, ..), nowadawys they also add social variation into their research
creation of linguistic atlases & corpora, study of diverse social groups
What is Vernacular?
ordinary speech, relaxed, casual style -> you don’t think how and what you say you just do it
e.g. African American Vernacular English (AAVE)
lowkey Umgangssprache
What does bilingual mean?
describes a person/country that with two languages
What is a Bidialect?
speaking two dialects
What is code-switching?
between languages
to exclude others, attain prestige, increade rate of information transfer
What is style-shifting?
within a language e.g. formal to informal
bidialectal, also accents
to increase distance, elicit certain reaction, positioning oneself a certain way
What does one mean with code choice?
We speak multiple languages & different varieties of languages, so we choose our dialect, language, register
social value of varieties, language as symbolic capital/”money”
Language attitude in the inner circle entails what?
- social & regional variation
- attitudes towards Englishes
- urban dialectology
What is a Language attitude?
attitude(s) towards speakers of a language
also: psychological interest/reactions that humans associate with certain types of language
Language attitude in the outer circle entails what?
- historical context
- high lects & low lects
- Attitudes towards English and other varieties
What is Language policy?
the primary mechanism for organizing, managing and manipulating language behaviors as it consists of decisions made about languages and their uses in society
Where does Language policy come apparent in?
- Corpus planning
- Status planning
- Acquisition planning
CP = developing a language e.g. grammar
SP = function of language e.g. official/national
AP = focus on teaching/learning a language
What is de facto & de iure language policy?
how language policies are practiced in reality (de facto) versus what is legally prescribed/officially recognized
What does English as Lingua Franca mean?
English as a common language for communication among speakers whose first languages (L1s) are different
Lingua could be any language btw
What is the snowball effect of learning English?
the more people learn a language, the more useful it becomes, and the more useful it is, the more people want to learn it.
Why does English have this great status?
- International trade/business
- Films & TV series
- Communication technologies
- Academic publishing
- Travel & Tourism
What is a social marker?
linguistic feature that signals a speaker’s social identity or group affiliation
e.g. age, gender, ethnicity
What is a register?
conventional use of language appropriate in a specific context (situational, occupational, topical)
