Variation & Language VLC

Variation & Language Varieties
Amirali Mojtahedzadeh
Sociolinguistics and VLC
• Sociolinguistics involves analyzing the interaction of language, culture
and society; the more specific study of variation is concerned with the
impact of this interaction on the structures and processes of traditional
linguistics. Language Variation and Change (LVC) concentrates on the
details of linguistic structure in actual speech production and processing
(or writing), including contemporary or historical sources.
Linguistic Variable
• In all human languages, spoken and signed, we can find examples of
cases in which speakers have multiple ways of saying the same thing
• Speakers make choices when they speak and they alternate among
these choices
• A linguistic variable in its most basic definition is two or more ways of
saying the same thing.
• (a) car, automobile, vehicle, wheels
• (b) girl, lass, chick, sheila, babe, doll, skirt
Variation in the linguistic structure
• Variation in the linguistic structure can occur at any level
• Phonology
• Morphology
• Syntax
• Semantics
• Etc.
William Labov born December 4, 1927
an American linguist, widely regarded as the

founder of the discipline of variationist
sociolinguistics. He has been described as "an
enormously original and influential figure who
has created much of the methodology" of
sociolinguistics.
William Labov
• For his PhD dissertation, Labov carried out a study of dialect patterns on
the Lower East Side of New York City. Using a systematic, quantitative
methodology, he demonstrated that linguistic variation is socially
stratified, such that the use of pronunciation features (e.g., dropping of
post-vocalic /r/) correlates with social class, ethnicity, etc. in regular
patterns.
Languages can vary by:
• Region
• Ethnicity
• Age
• Gender
• Social Class
• Education
Isogloss
• A term used in dialectology to refer to an imaginary line dividing two
• geographical areas to indicate some linguistic discontinuity (e.g. with
respect to languages, dialects/accents, or one or more individual
linguistic features).
Social Class
• According to Labov (1972) “the social situation is the most powerful
determinant of verbal behaviour.”
• Certain variants are used more frequently by the highest status
classes and less frequently by the lowest status classes
- use of ain’t
- variable use of the copula, leveled past tense forms (e.g. I seen he come)
- genitive reflexives (e.g. hisself ),
Sex (or Gender)
“Of all the sociolinguistic principles, the clearest and most consistent one
is the contrast between women and men” (Labov 1990: 205)
- Females show more awareness of prestige norms in both their actual

speech and attitudes towards speech.
• Females show a greater sensitivity to socially evaluative linguistic forms
than do males. (Wolfram 1969: 78)
Style and Register
• Language variation and change is strongly linked to style or register.
• The pattern is that people tend to use higher prestige variants more
often in more formal styles and lower prestige variants more often in
informal styles.
• Which linguistic variables are used differently from one context to
another? How do they shift (frequency or constraints or both)? When
do they shift? With whom? Under what conditions?
Age
• Language use is intrinsically correlated with speaker age. Everyone
notices that older people
• and younger people do not sound the same.
• Synchronic
• Diachronic
Language Variables
• Phonological variables
• Morpho-syntactic Variables
• Discourse/Pragmatic Features
• Tense/Aspect Variables
• Other Variables
Phonological Variation
• Variationist sociolinguistics was built on the study of phonological
variation
• Neither
• Tomato
• envelope
Morpho-Syntactic Variables
• African American Vernacular English
• English Dialects
*They [only] comes there every so often.

*He [still] do all this bacon and eggs and stuff.
Discourse/Pragmatic Features
The case of quotative
• A new variant, quotative be like, entered the system and started
competing with the existing forms such as said, asked, thought, etc.
• (a) She’s like “Right, you know, we’re taking you out.”
• (b) I was like “Ah I don’t want to go out. Please no.”
• (c) And they ‘re like “Come on, go and get dressed.”
Discourse/Pragmatic Features
The case of General Extenders
(a) So then I asked for like, mango or something like that.
(b) (b) I’ll walk, or I’ll take the bus or something.
(c) I tried to cover it up by kicking a bunch of dirt and sawdust and things
like that.
(d) Then you’d do your scales and all that stuff.
(e) They used to grow tomatoes and stuff like that.
(f) Yeah, lots of towels, and sinks and stuff.
References
• Cameron, D. (2005). Language, gender, and sexuality: Current issues and
new directions. Applied linguistics, 26(4), 482-502.
• Hudson, R. A. (2001). Sociolinguistics. Cambridge University Press.
• Macaulay, R. (2006). Sociolect/social class. Elsevier
• Tagliamonte, S. (2012). Variationist sociolinguistics: Change,
observation, interpretation (Vol. 40). John Wiley & Sons.

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Variation & Language Varieties

an American linguist, widely regarded as the

- Females show more awareness of prestige norms in both their actual

*They [only] comes there every so often.

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