Sociolinguistics refers to the study of language that relates with the society and the social factors. Language and dialects are both two different things. Taking into account Linguistic Variation, a language and dialect is differentiated based on mutual intelligibility. Mutual intelligibility refers to two speakers who speak the same language and understand each other but in different dialects. Dialects can be based on regional dialects which means with regards to geographical locations or it can be based on social dialects with regards to social class, gender, age, ethnicity. However, if two speakers are not able to converse, it is unintelligible which means that they are both speaking in different languages.
Max Weinreich, a Yiddish Sociolinguist …show more content…
Singapore is a country filled with many races such as Malay, Chinese, Indian and Eurasian who speak different languages. The languages include English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil. These are considered to be languages because when one person speaks Malay with a Chinese person, they might not be able to converse. This creates a barrier when communicating with one another. In social factors, language diversity in Singapore is important especially when there are many races living together. At the same time, they are more official and is what tells a race and culture apart from one another. A language is also a form of comfort zone for the users when communicating with members of the same race or those who generally speak the same language. Naturally, a language used is what a person has learned while growing up and have gotten used to it. The most important language in Singapore would be English. English is the optimal language that majority use to communicate with one another, especially for those of different races. Languages in political terms means the use of a standard language for power. In this case, we can look at Symbolic power which means that one can use a language to prove their point in an argument by intimidating the party. Speakers would use big words and sentence their words in a way to make it seem like a powerful statement. With the power over a language, it could result in a person to dominate …show more content…
Take for example, Chinese. In Singapore, the general language the Chinese speak is Mandarin. However, there are many different dialects that it consists of for example, Hokkien and Cantonese which are the common terms we hear of and that is highly used here in Singapore. Social factors fits Singapore’s context in a sense that the dialects used in Singapore are based on a person’s ethnicity and most of the time age. Usually, the older generations would use dialects different from the common Mandarin we usually hear. Some would use Hokkien or Cantonese because of the dialects used with them when they were brought up along the years. At the same time, political factors also take place. The government eventually stepped in to discourage the use of dialects in Singapore and to use standard Mandarin in Singapore. The aim of the governments decision was to focus highly on the 4 common languages that are widely used in the country. The government eventually set up campaigns to encourage the Chinese to speak Mandarin rather than dialects. Also, they government had banned TV channels, shows and radio stations that uses dialects.
Max Weinreich, a Yiddish Sociolinguist …show more content…
Singapore is a country filled with many races such as Malay, Chinese, Indian and Eurasian who speak different languages. The languages include English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil. These are considered to be languages because when one person speaks Malay with a Chinese person, they might not be able to converse. This creates a barrier when communicating with one another. In social factors, language diversity in Singapore is important especially when there are many races living together. At the same time, they are more official and is what tells a race and culture apart from one another. A language is also a form of comfort zone for the users when communicating with members of the same race or those who generally speak the same language. Naturally, a language used is what a person has learned while growing up and have gotten used to it. The most important language in Singapore would be English. English is the optimal language that majority use to communicate with one another, especially for those of different races. Languages in political terms means the use of a standard language for power. In this case, we can look at Symbolic power which means that one can use a language to prove their point in an argument by intimidating the party. Speakers would use big words and sentence their words in a way to make it seem like a powerful statement. With the power over a language, it could result in a person to dominate …show more content…
Take for example, Chinese. In Singapore, the general language the Chinese speak is Mandarin. However, there are many different dialects that it consists of for example, Hokkien and Cantonese which are the common terms we hear of and that is highly used here in Singapore. Social factors fits Singapore’s context in a sense that the dialects used in Singapore are based on a person’s ethnicity and most of the time age. Usually, the older generations would use dialects different from the common Mandarin we usually hear. Some would use Hokkien or Cantonese because of the dialects used with them when they were brought up along the years. At the same time, political factors also take place. The government eventually stepped in to discourage the use of dialects in Singapore and to use standard Mandarin in Singapore. The aim of the governments decision was to focus highly on the 4 common languages that are widely used in the country. The government eventually set up campaigns to encourage the Chinese to speak Mandarin rather than dialects. Also, they government had banned TV channels, shows and radio stations that uses dialects.