Varieties of English Sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics Study of accent

Varieties of English Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics • Study of accent and dialect is part of sociolinguistics • Mostly so far we have looked purely descriptively at accents/dialects • Clearly just below the surface is the fact that varieties of language are connected in some way to sociological issues • We will look at these issues for the next few sessions 2

Language and dialect • We prefer to think – Languages have various dialects. – There actually a range of varieties that people consider to be standard. – What is considered standard is associated with prestige, a nonlinguistic factor. – From a linguistic standpoint, what is considered standard has NOTHING to do with correctness or superiority. – From a linguistic standpoint, ALL DIALECTS are equally correct, equally expressive, equally complex, equally logical and so forth. That is, the term non-standard dialect means just that, not the standard dialect. It DOES NOT MEAN inferior or sub-standard. – Non-standard dialects are not simply offshoots from the standard. In fact, often the opposite is true 3

Language and dialect • Some common misconceptions – A language is composed of a "standard" dialect from which all of the other non-standard dialects emerge. – The standard dialect is the "correct" way to speak the language. – The other dialects represent erroneous or inferior ways of speaking the language. – The standard language is more complex, more logical, more expressive than the non-standard dialects. – Non-standard dialects are a product of "lazy" speech. 4

Factors in classifying dialects • Geography – Dialectology – Effects still surprisingly strong despite global communications and mobility • Ethnicity – Often closely tied to geography – Various features associated with certain ethnic groups cut across geographical boundaries – Self identity often an important effect here • Social class – Socio-economic factors – Class consciousness, identity and aspirations 5

History of Sociolinguistics • Usually said to start with Labov (1966), but actually dates back to 1900 s • Saussure’s langue~parole distinction reflects difference between abstract and “language in use” • Dialect geographers of the 1930 s commented on social aspects of dialect differences • At the same time, anthropological linguists couldn’t help but note socially conditioned aspects of “exotic” languages • Also, researches interested in bilingualism (1930 s) noted a sociological aspect 6

History of Sociolinguistics • 1960 s/1970 s saw much work in – Language and social context (Hymes, Fishman) – Language and class (Labov, Bernstein) – Language and gender (Lakoff) – Issue of dialect vs language (status) – Pidgins and creoles – Bilingualism, code shifting 7

History of Sociolinguistics • Focus in late 1970 s/1980 s reflects contemporary social issues – Studies of Black English (Ebonics, and other names) • emphasize linguistic integrity of nonstandard forms • link between language and identity • similarities across regions, plus certain features suggest it may be a creole rather than a (number of) dialect(s) – Language and gender • How language reveals, embodies and sustains attitudes to gender. • How language users speak or write in (different and distinctive) ways that reflect their sex • Latterly, including gay and lesbian issues – Language and politics • All of the above, plus: How language reveals, embodies and sustains attitudes to political positions (eg marxist, colonialist, …) 8

Fundamental concepts • • • Speech community Prestige Internal vs external language Class Age Gender 9

Speech community • Group of people who share some identifiable aspect of their linguistic communication • More importantly: there should be some self identification as a community … • and there may be some degree of deliberate exclusion of outsiders • Speech communities can be defined by geography, ethnicity, socio-economic class, but also occupation, gender, religion, etc. • It follows that individuals can identify with multiple speech communities … • … and can adjust their language according to the circumstances, so as to identify in the most appropriate way 10

Prestige • Dialects are often classified according to the prestige associated with them • Within vs outside the speech community – Conforming to the speech habits of one’s peer group may accord prestige and acceptance – Some speech habits are viewed as prestigious by outsiders, who then aspire to those speech habits • Prestige may be measured on a scale rather than fixed points (more~less rather than high~low) 11

Internal vs external language • Chomskyan distinction – I-language: abstraction of language as mentally represented knowledge in a native speaker – E-language: language in social contexts – Related to competence~performance distinction – Assumption that all native speakers are quite homogeneous in how they process and perceive language; E-language explains why this is assumption appears to be contradicted by actual use • Many sociolinguists reject this as a false distinction 12

Class • Socio-economic class now more prevalent than geography in dialect studies (since 1960 s) • Undisputable (but still controversial) link between lower classes and less standard language – think about why this is, though! • Labov (1966) first showed that social aspirations influence speech patterns • Highly controversial theory (Bernstein 1971) that elaborated vs restricted codes reflect fundamentally different mental organization of language • We’ll look at these studies in more detail 13

Age • Language change often traceable by studying differences in language use according to age of speaker • Speech communities (cf above), as defined by age, are a factor (issues of identity, exclusion) • Slang comes and goes … • But more significantly, changes are often more prevalent in speech of younger people – Phonetic changes: Vowel shifts, intonation patterns – Changes in meanings of words – Grammatical changes 14

Gender • It has long been acknowledged that there may be differences in language usage between men and women: quite extreme in languages other than English • Lakoff (1975) identified extensive differences not just in grammar and lexis, but in aspects of style, register, and (especially in dialogues) dynamic roles • Studies have adapted to the broader social agenda: early theories relating to power relationships between sexes (Lakoff) now giving way to view that there is a cultural difference (Tannen) • We’ll look at this issue in more detail later 15

Coming up in the next few sessions • We’ll look in more detail at the work of – Labov – Bernstein • Language change • Language and gender • etc 16