Sociolinguistics

a set of language habits shared by a certain group of speakers, a language system that has rules

concerned with pronounciation

different from the standard variety in pronounciation, vocabulary and grammatical form

conventional way of using language that is appropriate in a specific context

linguistic feature that marks the speaker as a member of a certain group (eg postvocalic r)

factor (like class) that is used to identify a group of speakers

a variation according to social background

words/phrases used by people outside the higher status group

way of speaking, formal/informal, careful/casual

a variation according to region

personal dialect of an individual

a variation according to ethnicity

vocabulary of a certain technical field, mostly nouns

idealized version of the language associated with commercial centres, education, etc

NORMS-

Non-mobile

older

rural

male

speakers

believed to have been less influenced from the outside

HOWEVER surveys done with norms often show an outdated result of a dialect

a line drawn on a map to seperate two areas whose people have different terms for one specific linguistic item

when a number of isoglosses form a solid line

regional variations don’t exist with sharp breaks, they rather merge into each other and exist along a continuum

pidgins that developed from a contact language to a first lamguage (creolization)

has a fully developed grammar/lexicon and native speakers now

people who use two varieties of the same language with ease

= contact languages

a simplified form of speech developed foreg trade between people who share no language

there are no native speakers of pidgins

rudimentary grammar and lexicon

lexifier language = main source of words adopted in the pidgin

a situation where there is a “high/special” variety of a language uswed in formal situtaions and a “low” variety used locally

(eg swiss german vs high swiss german)

a lamguage used as means of communication among people who have no native language i common (but share a second language)

every language can be a LF, but E is most common

switching between 2 or more languages

switching between formal/informal, careful/casual depending on the situation

• US, UK, CAN, AUS, NZ

• ENL (e as native language)

• first dispersal - new world

• norm-producing

• India, Ghana, Kenya, …

• ESL (e as second language)

• second dispersal - colonisation

• norm-developing

• china, egypt, japan, korea, ussr, …

• EFL (e as a foreign language)

• third dispersal - global english

• norm-dependent

based on history/geography, suggests hierarchy between countries, doesn’t account for proficiency, grey areas

Setting (time, place)

Participants (age,sex,class)

ends (purpose, goal)

activities/ act sequence

key (tone, mood)

instrumentalities (language)

norms (socio-cultural rules)

genre (type of event, poem, essay, lecture)

done to analyze the postvocalic-r

in US: low class r was weak

higher class r was stronger

UK other way round

postvocalic r,

pronounciation of -ing at the end (weak in working class),

h-dropping (Uk working cass)

the more people speak a language, the more useful it gets -> even more people want to learn it

when people try to match/accomodate the speaker they communicate with

(create symmetrical situation)

speech is purposefully not matched, to create eg power imbalance

(asymmetrical situation)