LANE 422 SOCIOLINGUISTICS Summarized from SOCIOLINGUISTICS An Introduction

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LANE 422 SOCIOLINGUISTICS Summarized from SOCIOLINGUISTICS An Introduction to Language and Society Peter Trudgill

LANE 422 SOCIOLINGUISTICS Summarized from SOCIOLINGUISTICS An Introduction to Language and Society Peter Trudgill th 4 edition. 2000, and other sources Prepared by Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Shehri 1

Chapter 2 Language and Social Class 2

Chapter 2 Language and Social Class 2

Social Class Dialects (Sociolects) n If you know the English-speaking societies well, you will

Social Class Dialects (Sociolects) n If you know the English-speaking societies well, you will be able to tell a speaker’s social status on the basis of the variety of language he/she uses. n The variety of language that is used by a particular social class is called a sociolect. n A sociolect may include phonological, grammatical, lexical, and phonetic (accent) differences. n The different classes of society are separated by social barriers and distance, similar to ‘geographical ones’. n So, the diffusion of linguistic features may be halted by barriers of social class, age, race, religion, etc, and social distance may also have the same effect as geographical distance. n This type of social differentiation is known as social stratification. 3

Social Stratification n Social stratification is a term used to the hierarchical ordering of

Social Stratification n Social stratification is a term used to the hierarchical ordering of a society, especially in terms of wealth, power and social status. n In the industrialized Western World, societies are stratified into social classes, which gave rise to social class dialects. n Social classes are not clearly defined or labeled entities. They are simply aggregates of people with similar socioeconomic characteristics. n Social mobility – movement up or down the social hierarch – is possible. n Sociolects are not particularly easy to study, and describe, because, like regional dialects, they form a continuum and are rather complex and fluid entities. n The more heterogeneous a society is, the more heterogeneous is its language. n Western-type social-class stratification is not universal. . 4

Caste System n In India, unlike in the Western societies, traditional society is stratified

Caste System n In India, unlike in the Western societies, traditional society is stratified into different castes. n Castes are relatively stable, clearly named groups, rigidly separated from each other, with hereditary membership, and with little possibility of in and out movement. n Different castes speak different varieties of language. n Because of rigid separation between different castes, caste dialects tend to be relatively clear-cut, and caste dialect differences are sometimes greater than regional dialect differences. n Caste dialects are thus easier to study and describe than social class dialect. 5

From Rural Dialectology to Urban Sociolinguistics n In the past, dialectologists focused their study

From Rural Dialectology to Urban Sociolinguistics n In the past, dialectologists focused their study of language variation on geographical dialects of rural areas. n They were concerned to record many dialect features before they were lost. n They thought that, unlike in the city, in the rural speech of older and uneducated speakers, there were the ‘real’ and ‘pure’ dialects. n It turned out later that the ‘pure’ homogeneous dialect is a myth since all language varieties are subject to variation and change. n Dialectologists, then, began to incorporate social as well as geographical information into their dialect surveys. n This paved the way for urban dialectology which then became ‘sociolinguistics’. 6

The Rise of Sociolinguistic Research n Sociolinguistic investigation of language variation gained momentum beginning

The Rise of Sociolinguistic Research n Sociolinguistic investigation of language variation gained momentum beginning 1966 when the American linguist William Labov published The Social Stratification of English in New York City. n Labov carried out a tape-recorded interviews with 340 informants selected randomly. n Since informants were a representative sample, the linguistic description could therefore be an accurate description of the varieties of English in New York. n The study is probably the first of its kind which correlated linguistic variation with social variation. 7

Labov’s New York Study n The study tests Labov’s hypothesis that non-prevocalic /r/ usage

Labov’s New York Study n The study tests Labov’s hypothesis that non-prevocalic /r/ usage (as in farm, fair) correlates with social class of the speaker. n Labov examined the speech of shop assistants in three different department stores, of high, medium and low social status. n The procedure was to find out which departments were on the 4 th floor and then ask as many assistants as possible a question like: Excuse me, where are the women’s shoes? n The answer to this question would be 4 th floor, with two possible occurrences of non-prevocalic /r/. n Information on /r/ usage was obtained from 264 informants. 8

Results of Labov’s New York Study n 38% of the high ranking store assistants

Results of Labov’s New York Study n 38% of the high ranking store assistants used no /r/. n 49% in the middle ranking store used no /r/. n 83% in the low ranking store used no /r/. n Thus, Labov’s study showed how a relatively trivial feature of accent can be important socially. 9

Quantitative Sociolinguistic Research Following the “classical Labovian” approach to quantitative studies, sociolinguistic research differentiates

Quantitative Sociolinguistic Research Following the “classical Labovian” approach to quantitative studies, sociolinguistic research differentiates five different stages. n A. Selecting speakers, circumstances and linguistic variables. n B. Collecting the sample. n C. Identifying the linguistic variables and their variants in the texts. n D. Processing the figures. n E. Interpreting the results. 10

A. Selecting Speakers, Circumstances and Linguistic Variables. n The selection of speakers, circumstances and

A. Selecting Speakers, Circumstances and Linguistic Variables. n The selection of speakers, circumstances and linguistic variables involves some extremely important decisions, which are to a certain extent dictated by hypotheses about the expected results. n It is similarly important that all the speech should be collected under the same circumstances, so far as this is possible. n There is a major problem of definition here, both for social variables relating to speaker and circumstances, and for the linguistic variables themselves. n How can we define 'manual worker'? How can we distinguish old from young? Even worse is the problem of defining the community to be studied, since 'speech communities' are not self-defining. n The researcher has to provide solutions which are at least reasonably satisfactory, to avoid the real danger that his results will be valueless because of ambiguities in defining the variables. 11

B. Collecting the Speech Sample n The collection of the speech sample necessitates finding

B. Collecting the Speech Sample n The collection of the speech sample necessitates finding appropriate speakers who are willing to participate. n This means finding people willing to be interviewed and recorded. 12

C. Identifying the Linguistic Variables and their Variants in the Speech Sample. n At

C. Identifying the Linguistic Variables and their Variants in the Speech Sample. n At this stage, one might expect the least difficulty, since we already know what the variants to be distinguished are, and all we need to do is listen for them. n However, there is a considerable degree of subjectivity in recognizing phonetic variants, and different researchers can produce different analyses of the sample. n One may also need to record information about the social context in which each linguistic variant is used since this often influences the choice of one variant over another, specially if context is specified by the hypothesis as to which social contexts are relevant. 13

D. Processing the figures. n The processing of the figures involves counting the number

D. Processing the figures. n The processing of the figures involves counting the number of occurrences of each variant in each sample, and comparing the figures for different samples. n The obvious step is to reduce all the figures to percentages, since this makes comparison much easier. n The next step is to discover which differences between samples are significant, i. e. which would form a reasonable basis for generalizing to other samples of the same types. n The investigator has to use statistical tests in order to decide how significant the figures are. 14

E. Interpreting the results. n The interpretation of the results is in some ways

E. Interpreting the results. n The interpretation of the results is in some ways the most difficult stage, since this is where the findings have to be fitted into a general theoretical framework dealing with the structure of language and its relations to society and individuals. n Success at this stage depends not only on appropriate methodology, but also on having an adequate general theoretical framework. 15