SOCIOLINGUSTICS

1. Definition of Sociolinguistics

Sociolingusitics means the study of language in relation to social factors, including

differences of regional, class, and occupational dialect, gender differences, and bilingualism.

Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any and all aspects of society,
including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and
society’s effect on language. It differs from sociology of language, which focuses on the
effect of language on society.

It also studies how language varieties differ between groups separated by certain social
variables (ethnicity, religion, status, gender, level of education, age, etc) and how creation and
adherence to these rules is used to categorize individuals in social or socioeconomic classes.

Sociolinguistics is the study of language and how it is affected by the social setting in
which language is used. It has a broad scope in its examination of the many and diverse ways
that language and society intersect. Sociolinguistics includes not only the study of language
and social setting but also psychology and anthropology.

2. The Scope of Socioliguistics

The scope of Sociolinguistics is to determine who says what to whom, when, where,
how, and why. Through studying the scope of Sociolinguistics , one can ever determine a
person’s social position, education, background, setting, sex, age, and much more. The scope
of Sociolinguistics is very broad but has an incredible impact on language and the different
varieties we have.

3. Definition of Register and Diglossia

a. Register
Register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social
setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting, and English speaker may be
more likely to use features of prescribed grammar than in an informal setting:
 such as pronouncing words ending in –ing with a velar nasal instead of an alveolar
nasal:
Example: “walking”, not “walkin’ “
 choosing more formal words:
Example: father vs dad, child vs kid, etc.
 refraining from using words consideres nonstandard, such as ain’t.
b. Diglossia
Diglossia literally means “two tongues”. This definition gives the impression that
diglossia and bilingualism are the same thing. However, diglossia is a distinct from of
bilingualism in that the use of the two languages are determined by the function.
A diglossia consists of a high and low language. The high language is used for specific
purposes such as business transactions, ceremonies, and religious rites. The low
languages is used for everyday conversation. You would never hear a person use the low
language for normal conversation.
The context in which the high and low languages are used are called domains. There
are many different domains such as family, work, school, church, etc. each of these
domains calls for either the high or low language. For example, the high language may be
used when speaking of politics while the low language may be used for speaking about
sports.
Example:
Me, telling my child I want to depart: Hey, kiddo, c’mon, we’re outta here.
Me, telling my husband I want to depart: I wanna get goin’, you mind?
Me, telling my mother I want to depart: would it be okay if I left now?
Me, telling a highly esteemed official I want to depart: May I go now?

REFERENCES
https://www.academia.edu/22371224/Definition_and_Scopes_of_Sociolinguistics
https://pbingfkipunlam.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/sociolinguistics-and-its-scope/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociolinguistics