UNIT 2 - Directions in Language and Society Flashcards
Difficulty with sociolinguistics
The problem lies in the drawing of the line between language and society and sociolinguistics.
Directions in Language & Society
Sociological Objectives
Ethnomethodology
Directions in Language & Society
Sociological & Linguistic Objectives
- Sociology of Language
- Anthropological Linguistics
- Social Psychology of Language
- Discourse Analysis
- Ethnography of Communication
- Language & Gender
Directions in Language & Society
Linguistic Objectives
- Traditional Dialectology
- Variationist Sociolinguistics
- Geolinguistics
- Historical Sociolinguistics
- Creole Sociolinguistics
THE SOCIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE
the study of who speaks which language (or variety) to
whom
THE SOCIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE
Assumption:
all speech varieties are worthy of investigation and that the non-standard ones are not precisely deviations from the standard.
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE
deals with attitudes to varieties of language, and with the way in which speakers interact with each other through conversation.
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE
Assumption:
Arbitrariness and subjectivity of social attitudes
The intellectual and emotional response of the members of the society to the languages and varieties in their social environment.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS
studies language variation and use in relation to the cultural patterns and beliefs of man
ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS
Assumption:
an interpretation of socially determined meaning
DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
Looks analytically at texts to achieve a greater understanding of textual cohesion and coherence
DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
Assumption:
seven basic factors that are necessarily involved in any speech event, characterizes social interaction
✓ a SENDER (addresser),
✓ a RECEIVER (addressee),
✓ a MESSAGE FORM,
✓ a CHANNEL,
✓ a CODE,
✓ a TOPIC, and
✓ a SETTING (scene, situation)
THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION
studies the norms of communicative conduct in different communities
THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION
Assumption:
Conversation is a rule-governed activity with seven basic invariable principles
BUT: conversational rules vary cross-culturally:
✓ Formulae
✓ Silence
✓ Loudness
✓ Directness/Indirectness
✓ Telephone behaviour
✓ Distance
LANGUAGE & GENDER
language and gender differences in the use of language and conversational strategies on the part of men and women
LANGUAGE & GENDER
Assumption:
Language and equality
TRADITIONAL DIALECTOLOGY
Traditionally concerned with the systematic study of regional dialects. Regionally distinctive words were the centre of attention of dialectologists
TRADITIONAL DIALECTOLOGY
Assumption:
Dialects are (NOT PRECISELY!) homogeneous and discrete entities separated by dialect boundaries. They focussed on regions.
VARIATIONIST SOCIOLINGUISTICS
linguistic variation
investigating topics such as the mechanisms of linguistic change, the nature linguistic variability, and the structure of
linguistic systems.
VARIATIONIST SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Assumption:
*Language use and change are not only regionally but also socially conditioned.
*Linguistic variation is not free at all, but constrained by social, contextual and/or linguistic factors.
GEOLINGUISTICS
concerned with the study of the geographical dispersion
and behaviour of linguistic elements
- linguistic geography (Dialectology),
- urban dialectology (Variationist Sociolinguistics), and
- human geography (Geography)
GEOLINGUISTICS
Assumption:
A more dynamic dimension of the study of language phenomena occurred over physical geography: the linguistic variable can improve our knowledge of the relationship between language and geography, and of the geographical setting of linguistic change.
CREOLE SOCIOLINGUISTICS
The sociolinguistic study of pidgin and creole varieties
CREOLE SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Assumption:
Pidgin and creole languages are worth investigating.
HISTORICAL SOCIOLINGUISTICS
The sociolinguistic study of the history of languages
HISTORICAL SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Assumption:
The linguistic behaviour of ancient sociolinguistic communities
may perfectly have been determined, to some extent, by patterns of sociolinguistic behaviour
observed by Sociolinguistics
