Sociolinguistics: Language Variation Flashcards
What are linguistic variables?
instances of variation between forms that mean the same thing
ex: furniture people sit on, future expression
What are linguistic variants?
Each of the forms participating in the variation
tree: (variable) -> (variant) + (variant) + (variant)
What is intra speaker variation?
Variation within one persons speech
Ex: couch vs sofa
What is inter speaker variation?
Variation in speech with other people
Compares variants across groups
What factors impact language variation?
Socio-economic status
Age
Sex/gender
How does socio-economic status affect language variation?
standard vs non-standard variants
Labov or Trudgill’s studies
What are standard variants?
idealized variety, no specific region, associated with education and mass media, considered acceptable
What are non-standard variants?
informal version of language, not grammaticalized,
What is Labov’s 1996 Study?
NY r-less dialect
higher up the social scare and more formal the spech the more prestigious variants occur
in each class women used more prestigious forms than men
What is Trudgill’s 1972 study?
variable (ing) variants in Norwich English
working class used the local, non-standard form [in] more
high socio-economic status used more standard prestigious variant
How does age affect language variation?
younger speakers are more innovative
why?
How does sex/gender affect language variation?
women are ahead of men in the use of incoming linguistic forms
women are more likely to use standard language
What are the explanations for sex/gender differences in language variation?
60s-80s: women use standard to compensate for gender roles and less social power
2000s: women have better vocab, higher marks on verbal standardized tests and less speech disorders
Social roles and opportunities theory
What social roles and opportunities explain the research on variationist sociolinguistic research?
- In traditional societies, men adopt new forms first
- In mobil groups women adopt new forms first
- In transitional societies, women have conservative AND innovative behaviours
Language use must be understood relative to the social roles (mobility, education, job opportunities)
What is a real time study?
Examining one variable across time
focus on detecting change in chronological (real) time
What is an apparent time study?
more common, compares the speech of different age groups at one point in time
ex: younger speakers vs older speakers
What is a dialect?
sub-varieties of a single language,
differ in morphosyntatic structure, vocab, pronounciation
non-linguists use this term to imply non-standard variation
What is an accent?
when speakers differ in pronounciation only
no major differences in grammar, index by speaker, due to geographic origin or social factors
What is mutual intelligibility?
Differentiates between dialect and language
If two speakers can understand each other with little difficulty its typically a dialect
speaker dependent and experience plays a role
What are the issues with mutual intelligibility?
some languages are mutually intelligible (ex: hindi and urdu)
some dialects are not mutually intelligible (ex: cantonese and mandarin)
must also consider: politics, culture, ethnicity
What is regional dialectology?
study of regional differences in language use
originally examined traditional rural dialects because they preserved older speech features
What are NORMS in regional dialectology?
isolated rural dialects and non-mobile, older rural males
What is the founding research of regional dialectology?
Jules Gilleron making an atlas linguistic of france
1920: surveyed 600 towns with questionnaire to find regional differences
determined isoglosses
What is an isogloss?
line on a dialect map marking the boundary between linguistic features
always crisscross a geographical area
