BIL3083 SOCIOLINGUISTICS

IN ESL CONTEXT
(Week 2)(a)

What

is sociolinguistics?

Who

are sociolinguists?

LANGUAGE VARIATION
Languages

provide a variety of ways

of saying the same thing
addressing and greeting others,
describing things, paying
compliments, etc. (Holmes, 2001)

 The

choice of one linguistic form

rather than another is a useful clue
to non-linguistic information.
Linguistic variation can provide
social information (i.e status,
ethnicity, culture, gender, etc.)

 Exercises

1:
In most languages, there are many different ways
of addressing people. What are the reasons for
choosing a particular form?
Make

a list of all the names you are called by

people who know you. Do some people call you by
more than one name?

What

are the reasons why people choose one

name rather than another for you.

VARIETY
A

term used to denote any

identifiable kind of language
(Spolsky, 2006).

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT WAYS

WE SAY THINGS?
Example 1:
Holmes (2001)
Sam: You seen our enrys new ouse yet? Its in
alton you know.
Jim: I have indeed. I could hardly miss it Sam.
Your Henry now owns the biggest house in
Halton.

 Example

2:
(a). Refuse should be deposited in the receptacle
provided.
(b). Put your rubbish in the bin, Jilly.
(c ). Please tender exact fare and state
destination.
(d). Give me the right money and tell me where
youre going.
(What non-linguistic and social factors are likely
to account for the different ways of saying the
same thing?)

LANGUAGE CHOICE

There is a range of social influences on language

choice (Holmes, 2001).
Sociolinguists are interested in the different
types of linguistic variation used to express and
reflect social factors.

These linguistic variation may occur at different

levels word choice or vocabulary (exp. That
bastard Sootbucket vs my teacher Mr. Sutton),
sounds or pronunciation, word-structure (or
morphology), and grammar (or syntax) (Holmes,
2001)
Within each of these linguistic levels, there is
variation which offers the speaker a choice of
ways of expression.

LINGUISTIC STYLE
Language

choice provides us with

different linguistic styles for use in
different social contexts.

STYLE
A

variety of language used by an

individual appropriate to a level
of formality (Spolsky, 2006).

DIALECT
Language

choices may even involve

different dialects of a language, or
even quite different languages
(Holmes, 2001).

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

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.

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).

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.

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).

The participants:
Who is (are) speaking?
Who are they speaking to?, etc.
(1).

The setting (or social

context) of the interaction:
Where are they speaking?, etc.
(2).

The topic:
What is being talked about?
(3).

The function:
Why are they speaking?
(4).

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
A social distance scale concerned
with participant relationships (how well
we know someone).

(1).

(The solidarity social distance scale)

Intimate
Distant
---------------------------------------------------High solidarity
Low solidarity

STATUS
A status scale concerned with
participant relationships (social status)

(2).

(The status scale)

Superior

Subordinate

|
|
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High status

Low status

FORMALITY
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
(3).

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?