9

Prof. S.A. Zhabotynska

General Linguistics

(5Th year)

Lecture 6

Sociolinguistics

Contents

1. Sociolinguistics: definition.

Speech community: monolingual and bilingual.

2. The use of one language.

   1. National language and standard language.

   2. Geographical variations. Accents and dialects.

   3. Social variations.

• Phonological variations.

• Lexical variations. Jargons.

• Social networks.

• Language and gender.

1. Stylistic variations.

• High and low styles.

• Change in language styles.

• Speech versus writing.

• The topic under discussion.

• Manipulative power of language.

3. The use of several languages.

   1. Bilingualism and diglossia.

   2. Language planning and language politics.

   3. Language contact.

   4. Auxiliary languages

• Lingua franca

• Artificial languages

Artificial languages

Language planning Lingua franca

B ilingualism and diglossia Language contact Auxiliary languages

The use of several languages

Sociolinguistics Speech community: monoligual and bilingual

The use of one language

National language

Standard language

Geographical variations Social variations Stylistic variations

Accents Phonological variations High and low styles

Dialects Lexical variations: jargons Change in language styles

Social networks Speech vs. writing

Language and gender Topic under discussion

Manipulative power of language

1. Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics, as a branch of linguistics, studies the ways in which languages are integrated with human society (specifically, with reference to such notions as race, ethnicity, class, gender, and social institutions). (See Aitchison, p. 103). Sociolinguistics borders on sociohistirical linguistics which studies the forms and uses of language in society, and how particular linguistic functions and types of variation develop over time within specific languages, speech communities, social groups and individuals.

In sociolonguistics, the notion of ‘a language’ cannot be defined on the basis of geography, or ethnicity, or mutual intelligibility of its speakers. E.g. a geographical definition of a language would separate British, American, and Australian English, which is obviously unsatisfactory; numerous people who live in Ukraine regard themselves as ethnic Ukrainians, yet speak Russian; Ukrainian and Russian or Dutch and German are not only mutually intelligible, they are also structurally more alike than some dialects of Chinese. Faced with this dilemma, sociolinguists prefer the term ‘a speech community’ to the term ‘a language’. Speech community is any group of people who consider that they speak the same language or language variety. Such a group can vary in size from a tiny cluster of speakers to whole nations or supranational groups (such as the Russian-using speech community in Asia). Speech communities using a single language are called monolingual. However, the majority of world’s speakers are bilingual, i.e. they are in command of two and more languages. The use of a particular language in a monolingual and bilingual speech communities is primarily associated with a national language.