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Sociolinguistics 3

Sociolinguistics 3. Classification: social groups, languages and dialects. The story so far. General knowledge includes knowledge of language (‘ I-language ’) as well as of society (‘ I-society ’). (I = internal)

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Sociolinguistics 3

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  1. Sociolinguistics 3 Classification: social groups, languages and dialects

  2. The story so far • General knowledge includes knowledge of language (‘I-language’) as well as of society (‘I-society’). (I = internal) • General knowledge is an inheritance network so we store general ‘prototypes’ for people and for language. • E.g. American, Student, Woman • English, London English, Casual English

  3. Language and knowledge • Our knowledge is influenced by: • ‘external’ reality, including ‘E-language’ and ‘E-society’ • Our language. • Language can distort reality, e.g. it is ‘digital’, so doesn’t always fit the ‘analog’ world. E.g: • Shingle or pebbles? • Drizzle or rain? • Classical music or jazz or pop?

  4. What about languages and dialects? • We all think about language (mass) in terms of languages (count) and dialects. • How accurate are these concepts? • Are they based on fact or on the terms language and dialect? • Can we use them in sociolinguistics for saying who uses what kind of language?

  5. Some terminology for language varieties • A variety is a distinct language system, with grammar, vocabulary, etc. • A language is a variety which is incomprehensible to speakers of other languages. • A language may include sub-varieties.

  6. Sub-varieties of a language • A dialect is a sub-variety based on social groups, e.g. geography, social class. • An accent is a way of pronouncing a dialect e.g. RP. • A register is a sub-variety based on social situations, e.g. chat, essay, prayer • A standard dialect/register is a sub-variety with high social status.

  7. Varieties of language variety

  8. What are varieties good for? • Crude explicit comment about the social distribution of language items. • Language variety X is used by social type Y. • English is spoken by Brits, Americans, … • Londoners speak Cockney. • The language of Egypt is Arabic, not Egyptian. • Better than nothing …

  9. The social distribution of languages.

  10. What language is this?

  11. …and this …

  12. … and this …

  13. So what? (1) • We organise our knowledge about language (mass) in terms of languages. • But is that how the world organises them?

  14. Now what language is this?

  15. Transcription • And so couldn’t gather their own supper and another of the fairies said er ??? supper ???

  16. …and this … • Holide Karent Affairs:Thursday January  15, 2004  • = Holiday current affairs

  17. continued • long despela program....I luk olsem Papua New Guinea bai mari mari long ol "illegal immigrants" -- pipal bilong narapela kantri husat i bin burukim loa na go stap long PNG • = About this programme …It shows that PNG will ?? because of … people of another country who have broken the law to live in PNG …

  18. …and this? • Wæs dis ealond geo gewurƿad mid ƿam æƿelestrum ceastrum, twega wana ƿrittigum, ƿa ƿe wæron • Was this island once made-splendid with the noblest castles, two less-than thirty, that there were.

  19. So what? (2) • Intelligibility is a matter of degree. • Intelligibility depends on prior experience. • Varieties can vary continuously in • Space • Time • New varieties such as pidgins and creoles are especially hard to classify. • So languages are fictions, not fact.

  20. Are dialects any more real? • We think and talk about divisions within a language in terms of dialects and registers. • E.g. London dialect • Standard English • Academic English • But are dialect boundaries fact or fiction?

  21. Which dialect is this …

  22. …and this?

  23. So what? (3) • All native speakers of a language recognise some dialects. • But these are learned from experience, so we recognise different dialects. • The more experience we have, the more distinctions we make. • So how do these mental distinctions compare with reality?

  24. Dialect geography • Dialectologists traditionally recorded the words and pronunciations of elderly speakers in remote villages. • They showed their findings on maps, with a different map for each feature. • They drew lines separating different areas of use: isoglosses.

  25. ARM = [ɑ:m] or [ɑ:rm]?

  26. SUN = [sʊn] or [sʌn]?

  27. LAST = [last], [la:st] or [lɑ:st]?

  28. HOUSE = [haus] or [aus]?

  29. So what? (4) • Every isogloss follows a different path. • Every variable linguistic feature has a different social distribution. • Dialect boundaries can’t be defined by bundles of isoglosses. • Dialects are fictions, not facts. • But they have some value in thinking and talking about language variation.

  30. And standard dialect? • This is at least as real as any other variety. • Standard English is defined by publishers. • It’s the language of education – especially at university level. • In some countries the standard variety is a register, used only in public. • Called ‘diglossia’, e.g. German Switzerland

  31. And registers? • Folk sociolinguistics recognises some registers by name: • Slang • Baby-talk • Chatting, lecturing, preaching, etc. • But individual linguistic features are related to individual situation features.

  32. So what? • Folk sociolinguistics recognises global categories as related to each other: • varieties of language • social categories (people, situations) • But these are fictions rather than facts. • The facts show much more complex relations between linguistic items and social characteristics.

  33. Coming shortly • Week 4: How we look after each other’s faces. • Week 5: Power and solidarity.

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