Sociolinguistics Language and Society
Sociolinguistics Language and Society
Sociolinguistics Language and Society
1. An Introduction
Hainan University Bai Lifang
Outline
2. Teaching method
The course will mainly be given in the form
of lecture, but the students are highly
encouraged to be actively involved in the
classroom activities, including
1) questions-and-answers
2) discussions
3) oral presentations
3. Definition of sociolinguistics
Wardhaugh: (Wardhaugh p12)
Sociolingistics investigates the
relationships between language and
society with the goal being a better
understanding of the structure of language
and of how languages function in
communication.
people
language
place
Social
system
Ray
Example 1
Ray: Hi mum.
Mum: Hi. Youre late.
Ray: Yeah, that bastard Sootbucket kept us in
again.
Mum: Nanas here.
Ray: Oh sorry. Where is she?
Example 2:
Ray: Good afternoon, sir.
Principle: What are you doing here at this
time?
Ray: Mr Sutton kept us in, sir.
Example 1:
Ray: Hi mum.
Mum: Hi, youre late.
Ray: Yeah, that bastard Sootbucket kept us in
again.
Mum: Nanas here.
Ray: Oh sorry. Where is she?
Example 2:
Ray: Good afternoon, sir.
Principle: What are you doing here at this time?
Ray: Mr Sutton kept us in, sir.
Greeting:
Hi vs. Good afternoon
Address:
Mum vs. Sir
Referring to the teacher:
that bastard Sootbucket vs. Mr Sutton
Referring to the event
Kept us in again vs. kept us in
Rays utterance
tells his mother
why he is late, his choice of words
how he feels about the teacher concerned ,
tells us
something about his relationship with his mother.
Margaret Walker
Example 3:
Margaret Walker
Every afternoon as she leaves her office,
her bossiness partner says goodbye
Margaret, (she replies goodbye Mike).
Her secretary says See you tomorrow,
(she replies goodbye Jill).
And the caretaker says Bye Mrs.
Walker (to which she responds goodbye
Andy).
Practice:
Make a list of all the names you are called
by people who know you.
Who uses it to you and when and where?
Do some people call you by more than
one name?
Example 4
Sam : You seen our enrys new ouse yet? Its in
alton you know.
Jim : I have indeed. I could hardly miss it Sam.
Your Henry now owns the biggest house in
Halton.
Different pronunciations
Example 5
(a) Refuse should be deposited in the receptacle
provided.
(b) Put your rubbish in the bin, Jill.
Hemnesberget, Norway
Example 6
All the villagers know and use two distinct kinds
of Norwegian: the local dialect which is called
Ranamal and then there is the standard dialect
or standard Norwegian, Bokmal .
Ranamal -- speak to their family, friends and
neighbors.
Bokmal at school, in church services and
sermons, the local government offices , official,
to strangers and visitors from outside. (Janet
Holmes, 2001: 5)
Sauris, Italy
Example 7
The adults were all trilingual: German, Friulian, Italian
Before 1866 the village had been part of the Austrian
empire, and its villagers all spoken German.
German dialect -- at the home, and to neighbours and
fellow villagers.
The regional language Friulian -- with people from the
surrounding area outside the village, and in the pub. It is
a language of friendship and solidarity.
Italian -- talking to those from beyond the region, and
reading and writing,at the church and the school. (Janet
Holmes, 2001: 6)
Different languages
Social dimensions
Participants:
solidarity-- social distance scale
status scale
Settingformality scale
Topic
Referential and affective function scales
Function
Subordinate
low status
e.g.
1. The use of sir, Mrs., to the lecturer by the
students
2. The [h]-dropping reflect someones lower
social group
InformalLow Formality
1. Useful in assessing the influence of social setting
or type of interaction on language choice.
2. Often degrees of formality are largely determined
by solidarity and status relationship. But not
always.
10 9 1-10
30-80
120-180
200
10-30
10
1-2
1
High information, low affective
low information, high affective
Conclusion
Linguistic variation occurs at the levels of
sounds, word-structure, grammar, dialects and
even language.
Our choice of linguistic variety depends on who
we are talking to, where we are talking, what we
are talking and why we are talking.
Language choices convey information about the
social relationships between people, social
status of people, setting of interaction, topic of
discussion and purpose of discussion.