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Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics. Language in use As a social identifier Varieties of speech Knowing what to say, and how and when to say it Linguistic competence Cultural competence. Language as a social phenomenon. Idiolect Dialect. Cockney . Is there a Portland dialect?.

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Sociolinguistics

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  1. Sociolinguistics • Language in use • As a social identifier • Varieties of speech • Knowing what to say, and how and when to say it • Linguistic competence • Cultural competence

  2. Language as a social phenomenon • Idiolect • Dialect Cockney. Is there a Portland dialect?

  3. We ALL speak in a dialect • In linguistics, distinguish between • Standard dialect (either accentless or considered an acceptable accented variant) • Vernacular/non-standard dialects (what we often mean by “dialect” colloquially) The Beatles: speakers of “Scouse” English, or a dialect centered in Liverpool

  4. Speech community • Those people who share the same rules for the interpretation and production of speech

  5. Bilinguality/multilinguality • Ability to speak more than one language

  6. Diglossia • There is more than one variant of a language • H/L • Arabic-speaking nations • Switzerland (Swiss German & Standard German) • Greece (standard and colloquial)

  7. Distribution of speech resources • Not equal • Higher class/status are more likely to know H • Role of education • Lower class/status restricted to L • Class closely correlated to ability

  8. An important practice • Code-switching • The ability and/or tendency to switch between: • One language and another • The H or L form where there is diglossia • One dialect and another (e.g. vernacular and standard)

  9. How to use speech properly • .. means how one phrases requests, opinions, responses and so on and so forth in an acceptable way • i.e. what is “polite” or what is “appropriate” • Many languages and cultures prefer INDIRECTION in speech interactions

  10. Use of titles and address conventions • Why study this? • Simple, short interactions • Very much governed by norms of politeness and proper social interaction • Details are variable culture to culture and language to language

  11. What are the rules?

  12. When are the rules broken? • Assertion and protest • Discrimination and belittlement • One curious example..

  13. Thus… • Competent use of language is not just following rules • It’s knowing how and when to meaningfully break them

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