LINGUISTICS AND SOCIOLINGUISTICS Linguistics is the study of

LINGUISTICS AND SOCIOLINGUISTICS Linguistics is the study of language includes psycholinguistics, historical linguistics, morphology, syntax, semantics etc Sociolinguistics is the study of variation of language in use – we use different words or grammatical forms depending on context

Variation is determined by social class, gender, place, age, situation etc. Would you use the same words, syntax and phonology (or even the same language) to ask for a loan from a YB, friend, father, mother, bank, total stranger?

Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching Implications and questions for language teaching Teachers are supposed to teach communicative competence. Therefore should they try to teach language as it is actually used? If so, as used by whom?

continued Teachers need to consider the language/dialect/accent used by their students – Malay dialects(? ), Javanese, Manglish, Singlish, Black English, Chinese dialects(? ) May be different from teachers’ variety and from standard language

LANGUAGE, DIALECT, ACCENT, CODE, VARIETY Imagine you move to a village or housing estate 5 miles from you home – do people speak differently? 50 miles? 200 miles To Indonesia To Rapanui (eye=mata, fish=ika, bird =manu)

continued When do you stop understanding people? When do people stop understanding you? How long to learn the local ……?

continued When does an accent become a dialect? When does a dialect become a language? A linguist would say if pronunciation is the only difference, it is a dialect, if words and grammar are different, but still intelligible, it is a dialect.

continued What would a sociolinguist say? Depends on social attitudes and politics “a language is a dialect with an army and a navy” (maybe a parliament, a newspaper and a TV channel is enough)

continued But does this describe social reality? For a linguist, if two people understand one another they are speaking the same language Serbs, Croats, Bosnians understand each other but insist they speak different languages (since 1991) .

Continued Indians speaking Hindi understand Pakistanis speaking Urdu but claim they speak a different language Speakers of Hokkien “dialect” cannot understand Cantonese or Mandarin speakers, but do not claim to speak a separate language

continued Why did Scots and Ulster Scots suddenly become languages in the 1990 s? Before then, they were only dialects but now are languages recognised by the Scottish and Northern Ireland parliaments

Is this English? Hear all see all say nowt Eat all sup all pay nowt And if tha ever does owt for nowt, allus do it for thisen

Answer Nearly everybody would say yes. Yorkshire dialect (distinctive lexis and some grammar, distinctive pronunciation)

Is this? A muvver was barfin er biby one night, The youngest of ten and a tiny young mite, The muvver was pore and the biby was fin Only a skellington covered in skin

answer An accent – no distinctive lexis – probably not authentic. Imitation Cockney (working class east London)

continued Alamak don so kiasu lah. I give you hup-ply discoun, you go to another stylist sure kenna ketok.

Answer The speaker would probably think so and most educated speakers would accuse him of speaking bad or broken English. Basilectal Singlish.

And this? For December 10, 1948, di meeting of di whole world, wey dem de call United Nations (naim be say all di kontris wey de for di world come unite to be one), come hold talk and dem come bring out one paper and write wetin suppose to be our right inside. Dem call am Human Rights. Dis na di rights wey human beings get from di time wey dem born us. Na dis rights make human beings take different from animals.

Answer Officially classified as a distinct language, Nigerian Pidgin English. Many would assert that is simply bad English. Sociolinguists would generally disagree.

How many languages? 1. Hun sidder i vinduet og ser ud over gaden. 2. Hun sitter i vinduet og ser ut over gaten. 3. Hon sitter i fonstret och ser ut ove gatan.

Answer Politically three. Sociolinguists would have to accept this.

Is Arabic a language? Arabic, Arabic, Algerian Saharan Spoken Algerian Spoken Babalia Creole Baharna Spoken Chadian Spoken Cypriot Spoken Dhofari Spoken Eastern Egyptian

continued National language. 246, 000 secondlanguage speakers of all Arabic varieties (1999 WA). Not a first language. Used for education, official purposes, written materials, and formal speeches. Classical Arabic is used for religion and ceremonial purposes, having archaic vocabulary. Modern Standard Arabic is a modernized variety of Classical Arabic. In most Arab countries only the well educated have adequate proficiency in Standard Arabic, while over 100, 500, 000 do not.

Answer Arabs generally insist there is only one language. Sociolinguists would have to agree with them but would also analyse the relationship between the different varieties.

Is English a language? Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, West Country, East Anglia, Birmingham (Brummy, Brummie), South Wales, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cornwall, Cumberland, Central Cumberland, Devonshire, East Devonshire, Dorset, Durham, Bolton Lancashire, North Lancashire, Radcliffe Lancashire, Northumberland, Norfolk, Newcastle Northumberland, Tyneside Northumberland, Lowland Scottish, Somerset, Sussex, Westmorland, North Wiltshire, Craven Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, Sheffield Yorkshire, West Yorkshire. Lexical similarity

Code and variety The lines between accents, dialects and languages are blurred, chamging and socially determined Sociolinguists like to talk about code and variety Avoids arguments about what is a language and what is a dialect

Is Malay a language? Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Malayu, Melaju, Melayu, Standard Malay Dialects Trengganu, Kelantan, Kedah, Perak (Southern Malay), Sarawak Malay, Bazaar Malay (Low Malay, Pasar Malay, Pasir Malay, Trade Malay). 'Bazaar Malay' is used to refer to many regional nonstandard dialects. Over 80% cognate with Indonesian.

Is Indonesian a language? Bahasa Indonesia Classification Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Malayic, Malayan, Local Malay Language use Official language. Over 140, 000 second-language speakers. Language development Roman and Arabic scripts. Grammar. Comments Reported to be modeled on Riau Malay of northeast Sumatra. Has regional variants. Over 80% cognate with Standard Malay.

Questions Is Malay one Language? How many dialects? Is English? Chinese? Arabic?

Summary For a linguist the rules for deciding whether a variety is a language or dialect are simple. Can people understand each other? In sociolinguistics it is difficult to decide – history, attitudes and politica have to be considered also.

Speech Communities A group of people with the same rules about the use and correctness of language May not coincide with language or dialect E. g. Malaysian Chinese, Arabs, Ireland

continued Semi-speakers of dying languages – Celtic languages in Britain Linked to communicative competence – may not be the same as linguistic competence

Sociolinguistic Methods Questionnaires Interview Observation Participant-Observation Experiments Analysis of Texts Archive research

Sociolinguistic questions How and why do languages change (and die)? How do people decide which variety to use? Are men and women different? To what extent can governments control the use of language? Does language vary with social class?

continued To summarise – sociolinguists study how linguistics features vary When variation is extensive enough and found across domains, sociolinguistics talk about varieties and codes Sometimes these are the same as languages and dialects (as described by linguists)

continued But sometimes not – sociolinguists also consider social attitudes and status.