Linguistics For Everyone - Chapter 12 - Sociolinguistics

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Sociolinguistics

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Focuses on the study of language variation; the study of how language varies over space (by region, ethnicity, social class, etc). Note: historical linguistics focuses on language CHANGE; sociolinguistics focuses on language VARIATION. Both concern the study of grammatical patterns that differentiate one language variety from another. Variation overlaps with change when a particular variation is adopted by the speech community and passed on to the following generation.

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Language variation

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Language change in progress, such as the Northern Cities Vowel Shift

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How does language variation occur?

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1. Geographic separation/isolation.
2. Age, gender, occupation, social class, religion, politics.
3. Speaker attitude about how they and others talk (what they consider good/bad, standard/non standard).

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Characteristics of a dialect

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Speakers of each variety of the language can understand each other (i.e. the language varieties are mutually intelligible). Dialects are marked by much more than accent, although this is often how we recognize speakers of dialects different from our own.

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Mutually intelligible

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Language varieties that can be understood by speakers of the two (or more) varieties. When language varieties are not mutually intelligible, they are distinct languages, not dialects.

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Post-vocalic [r]

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Distinctive feature of many dialects of English (which pronounce [r] in words such as car and which don't:'cah'. [r]-less dialect areas include Boston and Tidewater, VA. [r]-ful dialect areas include upland Virginia.

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3 main dialects at the time of the American Revolution`

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1. New England
2. Midland
3. Southern.
A 4th dialect - Western - came into existence after the process of western expansion began.

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Dialectologist

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Sociolinguist who focuses on cataloguing and mapping dialects.

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Isogloss

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Geographical boundary of a particular linguistic feature (determined through collecting linguistic data by interview, then plotting this on a map).

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Regionalism

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Feature that distinguishes one regional dialect from others. Eg: Appalachian English vs New England English.

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Appalachian English

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- Scots-Irish settlers arrived in the late 1700s, mingling with Germans who had settled earlier
- distinct features of phonology, morphology, syntax, vocabulary.

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Decreolization

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Process by which a creole language becomes more like the superstrate language.

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Social network

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Social relationships that characterize a group of speakers.

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Community of practice

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Group whose members come together and share activities, beliefs, and perceptions.

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Standard English

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A preferred variety of English that represents a standard - concept is somewhat problematic as the standard is not well-defined.

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General American

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An idealized variety of English that speakers perceive as neutral, with few stigmatized forms or regionalisms. General American is defined by what it doesn't include (eg: [r]-less dialects), and isfairly phonologically flexible (not identified with a particular accent).