FAKULTI PENDIDIKAN DAN BAHASA

HBET1403
SOCIOLINGUISTIC IN LANGUAGE TEACHING

NAMA

NOR HASNI BT MOHAMED

NOMBOR MATRIK

730622035748001

NO KAD PENGENALAN

730622-03-5748

NOMBOR TELEFON

014-370 6689

E-MAIL

norhasni1973@oum.edu.my

PUSAT PEMBELAJARAN

: OUM CAWANGAN TAWAU

MEI 2015

NO
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
DIALECT

PAGES
3
4

The definition of Dialect

3.0

Why there are dialects in a language?

BELL 1976 7 CRITERIA THAT DIFFERENTIATE

5
5

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5.0
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LANGUAGE AND DIALECT

SOCIAL DIALECT
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES

7
8
9

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0

INTRODUCTION
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When two or more people communicate with each other in speech, we can call the system of
communication that they employ a code. In most cases that code will be something we may
also want to call a language. We should also note that two speakers who are bilingual, that is,
who have access to two codes, and who for one reason or another shift back and forth
between the two languages as they converse by code-switching are actually using a third
code, one which draws on those two languages.
In Malaysia, English is a second language and has been receiving recognition from various
domains and sectors. The importance of English and the need to learn and master the
language is always emphasized by the government. Thus, English has become a vital
language used in local speech and writing in many aspects of the daily life of a Malaysian.
Many locals use English widely in their everyday conversation especially in the urban areas.
The usage of English can be found extensively in the business sector, communication
domains and in the urban household domain. This language happens to be the communication
medium amongst its members. There are also various local radio stations and a few local
television programmes which use English as their primary language. In Malaysia, English
had a dominant status throughout the British administration; it was the language of the ruling
class, the Christian religion and the administration (Bhatha 1990). As a result, the varieties of
Malaysian English did not evolve much as they were not used much at all. Until 1965, a
common variety, Singapore/Malayan English, existed as both Malaysia and Singapore were
under British rule (Platt and Weber, 1980).
Malaysia is a multiracial and multicultural country. One of the issues that often arise in a
country like Malaysia where over a hundred languages and dialects are spoken daily by the
people is the choice of language (David, 2006). Decisions about language choice often
manifest itself in the daily interaction and social milieu of Malaysian youth. Thus, it is
inevitable that these adolescents are constantly faced with the option of making meaningful
language choices when they interact with family members and with those from different races
in their neighbourhood and in the school domain.
This assignment will go through a thoroughly discussion on what is dialect, 7 criteria that
differentiate language and dialect based on Bell 1976, and appropriate social dialect.

2.0

DIALECT
3

The definition of Dialect

A distinction must be made between language and dialect. Very often people see both as
similar. However, the difference between a dialect and a language is that a dialect is a
subordinate variety of a language (Holmes, 2008). When a particular language has varying
elements in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation, that particular element of language can
be classified as a dialect (Holmes, 2008; Collins, 1989). Adding to the confusion in
terminology, dialect and accent are sometimes understood and used interchangeably
(Chambers & Trudgill, 2002).
This is because accent refers to the way in which a speaker pronounces and therefore refers
to a variety which is phonetically and phonologically different from other varieties
(Chambers & Trudgill, 2002:5). Dialects are found the world over and the attitudes people
have towards dialects is sometimes not very encouraging (Holmes, 2008; Honey, 1998).
Several factors have contributed to their perception. One of the factors is that mass media and
learning institutions place a heavier emphasis on the standard variety of a language (Honey,
1998). Dialects, which are the non-standard variety of a language, are often associated with
substandard, low status, often rustic forms of language, generally associated with peasantry,
the working class, or other groups lacking in prestige (Chambers & Trudgill, 2002:3).
Nonetheless, dialects continue to be studied because dialects, especially in the context of
Malaysia, reflect a tension for Malaysians who are caught between modernity and retaining
traditions, i.e. between speaking the more standard form of the Malay language (or even
English) or speaking Malay in their dialects, either northern, southern or east coast.
Investigating dialects also serves to show how Malaysian speakers try to include themselves
with a particular group such as a politician campaigning to people within his or her locale or
even when a religious figure gives lectures or sermons in his or her dialect.
There are instances where some Malaysian speakers completely drop any hint of their dialect
so as to maintain their social status or even to exclude themselves from any so-called
stereotypes associated with a particular dialect. Regardless of the ideas Malaysians have
about dialects be it Malay, Chinese or Tamil or Hindi, dialects will continue to be part of
Malaysias linguistic scenery and will continue to reflect the vastness of Malaysias linguistic
diversity.
Why there are dialects in a language?
4

Malaysia, made up of Peninsular Malaysia (West Malaysia) and Sabah and Sarawak (East
Malaysia), is a nation of diverse ethnicity. This plural society of 23.27 million in 2000 consist
of the Malays and other indigenous people who form about 65.1% of the population of the
country; the Chinese, who constitute about 26.0%, form the second largest group; the Indians
who form about 7.7% is the third largest group in the composite population of Malaysia while
the minority groups like the Thais, Eurasians, Arabs and peoples of other descent are so small
in number that they are all designated under the term other (Census 2002, found at the
Department of Statistics, Malaysia website, David 2006; 3-4).
According to Asmah (1982), cited in Jariah Mohd Jan (2003), the social environment in
Malaysia is a situation where various languages are used in daily communication. It can be
said that communication between Malaysians, where inter and intra group encounters are a
common occurrence, is seldom a straightforward use of one language, be it Malay, Chinese,
Tamil or any vernacular languages (Asmah, 1982; Jamaliah Mohd. Ali, 1995; Le Vasan,
1996; David, 1999; Jariah Mohd. Jan, 2003).
It is common for Malaysians of the same linguistic background or Malaysians of different
ethnicities, educational background or social strata to pepper their conversation with
linguistic interference, interlingual code-mixing and code-switching. This scenario has often
surprised visitors to the country and prompted Tim Rome, a UK facilitator for the
International Placement of Headteachers (IPH) programme in Sabah and headteacher of
Lovelace Primary School in Surrey to say, It is also fascinating that teachers and students
can switch between languages so easily. Most UK teachers would find that a
challenge(Sunday Star, Education, 16 July 2006;9).
3.0

BELL 1976 7 CRITERIA THAT DIFFERENTIATE LANGUAGE AND

DIALECT
Most speakers can give a name to whatever it is they speak. On occasion, some of these
names may appear to be strange to those who take a scientific interest in languages, but we
should remember that human naming practices often have a large unscientific component to
them. Census-takers in India find themselves confronted with a wide array of language names
when they ask people what language or languages they speak. Names are not only ascribed
by region, which is what we might expect, but sometimes also by caste, religion, village, and
so on. Moreover, they can change from census to census as the political and social climate of
the country changes.
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While people do usually know what language they speak, they may not always lay claim to
be fully qualified speakers of that language. They may experience difficulty in deciding
whether what they speak should be called a language proper or merely a dialect of some
language. Such indecision is not surprising: exactly how do you decide what is a language
and what is a dialect of a language? What 28 Languages, Dialects, and Varieties criteria can
you possibly use to determine that, whereas variety X is a language, variety Y is only a
dialect of a language? What are the essential differences between a language and a dialect?
One such attempt (see Bell, 1976, pp. 14757) has listed seven criteria that may be useful in
discussing different kinds of languages. According to Bell, these criteria (standardization,
vitality, historicity, autonomy, reduction, mixture, and de facto norms) may be used to
distinguish certain languages from others. They also make it possible to speak of some
languages as being more developed in certain ways than others, thus addressing a key issue
in the languagedialect distinction, since speakers usually feel that languages are generally
better than dialects in some sense.
1. Standardization refers to the process by which a language has been codified in
some way.
2. Vitality refers to the existence of a living community of speakers.
3. Historicity refers to the fact that a particular group of people finds a sense of
identity through using a particular language: it belongs to them.
4. Autonomy is an interesting concept because it is really one of feeling. A language
must be felt by its speakers to be different from other languages.
5. Reduction refers to the fact that a particular variety may be regarded as a subvariety rather than as an independent entity.
6. Mixture refers to feelings speakers have about the purity of the variety they
speak.
7. De facto norms refers to the feeling that many speakers have that there are both
good speakers and poor speakers and that the good speakers represent the
norms of proper usage.
As a social norm, then, a dialect is a language that is excluded from polite society (pp. 924
5). It is often equivalent to nonstandard or even substandard, when such terms are applied to
language, and can connote various degrees of inferiority, with that connotation of inferiority
carried over to those who speak a dialect.
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SOCIAL DIALECT

A sociolect or social dialect is a variety of language (a register) associated with a social group
such as a socioeconomic class, an ethnic group (precisely termed ethnolect), an age group,
and so on. Sociolects involve both passive acquisition of particular communicative practices
through association with a local community, as well as active learning and choice among
speech or writing forms to demonstrate identification with particular groups.
Sociolect, defined by Peter Trudgill, a leading sociolinguist and philosopher, is a variety
which is thought of as being related to its speakers social background rather than
geographical background. This idea of sociolect began with the commencement of
Dialectology, the study of different dialects in relation to social society, which has been
established in countries such as England for many years, but only recently has the field
garnered more attention.
However, as opposed to dialect, the basic concept of a sociolect is that a person speaks in
accordance with their social group whether it is with regard to ones ethnicity, age, gender,
etc. As William Labov once said, the sociolinguistic viewis that we are programmed to
learn to speak in ways that fit the general pattern of our communities. Therefore, what we
are surrounded with in unison with our environment determines how we speak; hence, our
actions and associations.
Most purists and native speakers fear were based on their definition of a standard dialect.
What is a specific criterion for a dialect to achieve its Standard? The present situation in
Malaysia is marked by increasing efforts to elevate the status and standard of English
instruction at the school level but this is not felt necessary for societal needs in the home or in
work place.
A dialect becomes standard if the spoken and written language is clearly understood by its
users. The dialect becomes incomprehensible and later leads to major problems if the
acquisition of new varieties of English occurs in isolation from their cultural context (Foley:
1998). Therefore, it is important to use the dialect or Malaysian English in its own
sociolinguistic settings.
As gathered by Syed Hussein Al-Attas (1990), opposition to standardization in the use of
English will only promote backwardness especially among Malay Malaysian speakers.
However, a point to be considered here is what are we standardizing and to whose standard
are we prescribing to. As stated in the preface of Rebaczonok-Padulu (2001), Standard
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English deals with official language of the entire English-speaking world, and which is also
the language of the educated English-speaking people.
Indeed, such a universality binding term like the entire English-speaking world carries
connotations of colonial superiority that is unlikely of present emergence of New English
varieties such as the Malaysian (ME) and Singapore English (SE). It is also important to note
that the status of English in that particular country varies, whether it is the second language
(as in Malaysia) or the official language in Singapore.
As the Malays, Chinese, Indians have their own mother tongue language, the need for
acquiring English vary from the second language for the Malays and the third language for
the Chinese and Indians as Bahasa Malaysia is the official language. Hence, Malaysian
English arises to be the lingua-franca (used in an informal setting) to this multiracial society.
For example, a Malay speaker would speak Malaysian English with certain words, phrases,
particles understood by the Chinese and Indians. For instance, instead of speaking a proper
English for It should be done like that! the Malaysian English version would be Like that
one.
Thus, we have to differentiate the situation where we can have a conversation in our dialect
or when not to use it. For example, when having conversation in an interview, we might want
to use standard dialect or appropriate dialect so that the interviewer able to understand what
we want to convey to them. In addition, it is one of formality that should be followed.
05.

CONCLUSION

Variety is a language that has same sounds, words, grammatical features. A general term for
any distinctive form of a language or linguistic expression is Language varieties. Linguists
commonly use language variety, as a cover term for any of the overlapping subcategories of a
language, including dialect, idiolect, register, and social dialect.
Dialect refers to a variety of a language that can signal the speakers regional or social
background, dialects are subdivisions of language, the term of dialect refers to grammar and
vocabulary (or lexis). Dialect is divided into two, social dialect and regional dialect. Regional
dialect refers to a place, and social dialect refers to social groups and classes.
Language is many things; it can be a system of communication, a medium for thought,
vehicle for literary expression, a matter for political controversy, a catalyst for nation building
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(OGrady & Dobrovolsky, 1989: 1 in Imansyah, 2008: 1). The existence of language cant be
separated from human life. It can be seen from the fact that all activities related to interaction
among people necessitate a language.
Language is an important means of communication. Language reflects thinking; obviously
we cant say a sentence until we have first thought of it. Often our thinking gets mixed with
emotions and our reasons become loaded with desires, wishes, prejudices, and opinions. The
kind of thinking we do is our business until we try to persuade someone else to agree to our
point of view; then that thinking becomes anothers business (Meade, et.al, 1961: 94).
(2584 words)
06.

REFERENCES

Baugh, A.(2002). A History of the English Language. London: Routledge.

Clyne, M. G. (1992). Pluricentric Languages: Differing norms in Different Nations. Berlin:
Mouton de Gruyter.
Dudley-Evans, T. & M. St. John. (1998). Developments in English for Specific Purposes.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ellis, R. (1997). Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Foley, J.A, et al. (1998). English in New Cultural Contexts. Singapore: Oxford University
Press. Gill, Saran Kaur. (1994). Bangi: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Bell, R. T. (1976). Sociolinguistics: Goals, Approaches and Problems. London: Batsford.