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7/29/2019 3abrham lincon

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Sociolinguistics 3

Classification: social groups,

languages and dialects


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The story so far

General knowledge includes knowledge of

language (I-language) as well as of

society (I-society). (I = internal)

General knowledge is an inheritance

network so we store general prototypes

for people and for language.

E.g. American, Student, Woman

English, London English, Casual English


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Language and knowledge

Our knowledge is influenced by:

external reality, including E-language and E-

society

Our language. Language can distort reality, e.g. it is digital, so

doesnt always fit the analog world. E.g:

Shingle or pebbles?

Drizzle or rain?

Classical music or jazz or pop?


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What about languages and

dialects?

We all think about language (mass) in

terms oflanguages (count) and dialects.

How accurate are these concepts?

Are they based on fact or on the terms

language and dialect?

Can we use them in sociolinguistics for

saying who uses what kind of language?


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Some terminology for language

varieties

A variety is a distinct language system,

with grammar, vocabulary, etc.

A language is a variety which is

incomprehensible to speakers of other

languages.

A language may include sub-varieties.


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Sub-varieties of a language

A dialect is a sub-variety based on social

groups, e.g. geography, social class.

An accent is a way of pronouncing a dialect

e.g. RP.

A registeris a sub-variety based on social

situations, e.g. chat, essay, prayer

A standard dialect/register is a sub-variety

with high social status.


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Varieties of language variety

language variety

language dialect register

accent standard

partpart


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What are varieties good for?

Crude explicit comment about the socialdistribution of language items.

Language variety X is used by social type

Y. English is spoken by Brits, Americans,

Londoners speak Cockney.

The language of Egypt is Arabic, notEgyptian.

Better than nothing


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The social distribution of

languages.Languagecount

English French .....

Brit American French-person ...

Person

speaker speaker


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What language is this?


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and this


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and this


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So what? (1)

We organise our knowledge about

language (mass) in terms of languages.

But is that how the world organises them?


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Now what language is this?


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Transcription

And so couldnt gather their own supper

and another of the fairies said er ???

supper ???


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and this

Holide Karent Affairs:

Thursday January 15, 2004

= Holiday current affairs


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continued

long despela program....I luk olsem PapuaNew Guinea bai mari mari long ol "illegalimmigrants" -- pipal bilong narapela kantri

husat i bin burukim loa na go stap longPNG

= About this programme It shows thatPNG will ?? because of people ofanother country who have broken the lawto live in PNG


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and this?

Ws dis ealond geo gewurad mid am

elestrum ceastrum, twega wana

rittigum, a e wron

Was this island once made-splendid with

the noblest castles, two less-than thirty,

that there were.


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So what? (2)

Intelligibility is a matter of degree.

Intelligibility depends on prior experience.

Varieties can vary continuously in Space

Time

New varieties such as pidgins and creolesare especially hard to classify.

So languages are fictions, not fact.


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Are dialects any more real?

We think and talk about divisions within a

language in terms of dialects and

registers.

E.g. London dialect

Standard English

Academic English

But are dialect boundaries fact or fiction?


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Which dialect is this


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and this?


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So what? (3)

All native speakers of a language

recognise some dialects.

But these are learned from experience, so

we recognise different dialects.

The more experience we have, the more

distinctions we make.

So how do these mental distinctions

compare with reality?


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Dialect geography

Dialectologists traditionally recorded the

words and pronunciations of elderly

speakers in remote villages.

They showed their findings on maps, with

a different map for each feature.

They drew lines separating different areas

of use: isoglosses.


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ARM = [:m] or [:rm]?


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SUN = [sn] or [sn]?


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LAST = [last], [la:st] or [l:st]?


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HOUSE = [haus] or [aus]?


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So what? (4)

Every isogloss follows a different path.

Every variable linguistic feature has a

different social distribution.

Dialect boundaries cant be defined by

bundles of isoglosses.

Dialects are fictions, not facts.

But they have some value in thinking and

talking about language variation.


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And standard dialect?

This is at least as real as any other variety.

Standard English is defined by publishers.

Its the language of education especially at

university level.

In some countries the standard variety is a

register, used only in public.

Called diglossia, e.g. German Switzerland


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So what?

Folk sociolinguistics recognises global

categories as related to each other:

varieties of language

social categories (people, situations)

But these are fictions rather than facts.

The facts show much more complex

relations between linguistic items and

social characteristics.


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Coming shortly

Week 4: How we look after each others

faces.

Week 5: Power and solidarity.

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