Sociolinguistics - Regional and Social Variation

Question 1

Dialectology

Answer 1

The study of dialogues

Question 2

What is a dialect?

Answer 2

Defined by SOCIAL - a group that operates regularly in a society as a functional element.

Develops identifying markers of language structure and language use, different from that of other social groups.

Defined by SYSTEM - a variety of language whose grammar differs in systematic ways from other varieties. Differences can be lexical, phonological, syntactic and semantic

Question 3

Accent

Answer 3

The phonology or pronunciation of a regional dialect

Question 4

Register

Answer 4

A communication situation that recurs regularly in a society

Over time, tends to develop identifying markers of language structure and language use, different from the language of other communication situations

Question 5

Isogloss

Answer 5

A line drawn on a map separating areas according to particular linguistic features…

Isoglosses serve to mark off clearly areas in which a feature is found from those adjacent areas where it is not recorded or only occurs exceptionally.

A COINCIDING set of isoglosses is called a bundle

Question 6

Regional Dialect

Answer 6

We can often identify a regional dialect ‘descriptively’ by examining where isoglosses bundle

Question 7

Social dialect

Answer 7

Emerges when grammatical, phonetic and lexical features “are shaped by speakers of a social grouping”. Some refer to these as sociolects