BIL3083

SOCIOLINGUISTICS IN
ESL CONTEXT
(Week 3)

DIALECT

A dialect is a variety of a
language used recognizably in a
specific region or (a social
dialect) by a specific social class
(Spolsky, 2006).

A dialect is a subordinate variety of a

language (Wardhaugh, 2010).
Exp. Texas English, Swiss German are
dialects of English and German.
The language name (i.e. English or
German) is the superordinate term
(Wardhaugh, 2010)

Every form of English (or any language)

is a dialect (Stockwell, 2002).

Dialect refers to the word choices,

syntactic ordering and all the other
grammatical choices a speaker could
make.

A language consists of one or many dialects,

all of which are more or less mutually
intelligible to other speakers of the language
(Stockwell, 2002).

Example:
The most prestigious dialect in Britain is UK
Standard English (UKSE), originally a southern
dialect of English which has become the form
used in most print media, law and education.

ACCENT

The term dialect should not be confused

with the term accent.

Standard English is spoken in a variety of

accents, often with clear regional and social
associations (Wardhaugh, 2010).

Exp. Accents associated with North America,

Singapore, India, Liverpool (Scouse), Boston,
New York, etc.

Many people who live in such places show

a remarkable uniformity to one another in
their grammar and vocabulary because
they speak Standard English

The differences are merely those of

accent, i.e., how they pronounce what
they say.

Exp. Received Pronunciation (RP) an accent

associated with a higher social or educational
background, with the BBC and the professions,
and is most commonly taught to students
learning English as a foreign language (Wakelin,
1977) (cited in Wardhaugh, 2010).

Exp. Other names for RP Queens English,

Oxford English, and BBC English a social
accent, rather than a regional one (Wardhaugh,
2010).

Dialect OR accent?

Edward Finegan (2004:363)

When we say that dialect refers to a
language variety, we mean a language
variety in its totality including vocabulary,
grammar, pronunciation, pragmatics, and
any other aspect of the linguistic systems.
We mean the same thing when we use the
terms language and variety. Those terms
refer to an entire linguistic system.

When people use the word accent, it

refers to pronunciation only. When we
discuss a Southern accent or a Boston
accent, we mean the pronunciation that
is characteristic of the Southern dialect
or the Boston dialect. (Finegan, 2004).
The term accent is used in reference to
varieties that differ only phonetically or
phonologically (William McGregor, 2009).

CODE

Code refers to the different varieties of

language (Stockwell, 2002)

An individual might choose to speak in a

particular language, or dialect, or
register, or accent, or style, (i.e code) on
different occasions and for different
purposes.

The choice of code can be used

to claim in-group identity with
other speakers.

Code-switching

Code-switching is the phenomenon,

common in bilingual speech
communities, in which speakers switch
from one language to another within the
same conversation (William McGregor,
2009).
Code switching (or code mixing) often
occurs even within the same utterance.

Example:
This morning I hantar my baby tu
dekat baby sitter tu lah.
This morning I took my baby to the
babysitter.

QuestionS
What is the situation in Malaysia
with respect to the codes?
Dialects?
Accents?

SOCIAL FACTORS

Social factors have important influences

on the use of a particular language (or
linguistic) variety (Holmes, 2001).

In any situation, linguistic choices will

generally reflect the influence of one or
more components (factors).

(1). The participants:

Who is (are) speaking?
Who are they speaking to?, etc.

(2). The setting (or social

context) of the interaction:
Where are they speaking?, etc.

(3). The topic:

What is being talked about?

(4). The function:

Why are they speaking?

Who?
Where?
What?
Why?

SOCIAL DIMENSIONS

There are several important dimensions

for analysis which relate to the social
factors (Holmes, 2001):

(i). Solidarity dimension

(ii). Status dimension
(iii). Formality dimension
(iv). Functional dimension

Solidarity
(1). A social distance scale concerned
with participant relationships (how well we
know someone).
(The solidarity social distance scale)
Intimate
Distant
---------------------------------------------------High solidarity
Low
solidarity

status

(2). A status scale concerned with

participant relationships (social status)
(The status scale)
Superior
High status
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Subordinate
Low status

formality
(3). A formality scale relating to the setting or
type of interaction (assessing the influence of social
setting or type of interaction on language choice)
(The formality scale)

Formal
High formality
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Informal
Low formality

Functional
(4). Two functional scales relating to the
purpose or topic of interaction (convey objective
information and expresses how someone is feeling)
(The referential and affective function scales)

Referential

High information
content

Low information
-------------------------------------

content

Affective

Low affective
content

High affective
--------------------------------------

content

Exercises

Here is the forecast for the Tanjung Malim

district until midnight Tuesday issued by
the meteorological service at 6 oclock on
Monday evening. It will be rather cloudy
overnight with some drizzle, becoming fine
again on Tuesday morning. The outlook for
Wednesday a few morning showers then
fine.
(i). What information does the utterance provide
about the relationship between the people
talking in the context of their talk?
(ii). What is the function of the utterances in the
context? Does it convey primarily affective or
referential information?

Good morning, little one. You had

a good big sleep, didnt you, pet?

(i). What information does the utterance

provide about the relationship between
the people talking in the context of their
talk?
(ii). What is the function of the utterance
in the context? Does it convey primarily
affective or referential information?

Excuse me, Mr. Wong. Ive finished

your letters, sir.

(i). What information does the utterance

provide about the relationship between
the people talking in the context of their
talk?
(ii). What is the function of the utterance
in the context? Does it convey primarily
affective or referential information?

Question
How do you relate these scales
with the situation in Malaysian
schools?
What about in the ESL
classroom, specifically?