1. Social variation in language
Sociolinguistics
• Social dialects
• Education and occupation
• Social markers
Speech style and style-shifting
• Prestige
Speech accommodation
• Convergence
• Divergence
Register
• Jargon
Slang
• Taboo terms
African American English
• Vernacular language
• The sounds of a vernacular
• The grammar of a vernacular
2. Sociolinguistics
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 can overlap with the sociology of language,
which focuses on the effect of language on society.
social dialect: In sociolinguistics, social dialect is a variety of speech associated with
a particular social class or occupational group within a society. Also known as
a sociolect, group idiolect, and class dialect.
Douglas Biber distinguishes two main kinds of dialects in linguistics:
"Geographic dialects are varieties associated with speakers living in a particular
location, while social dialects are varieties associated with speakers belonging to a
given demographic group (e.g., women versus men, or different social classes)"
(Dimensions of Register Variation, 1995).
3. • Education and occupation: Although the unique circumstances of every life
result in each of us having an individual way of speaking, a personal dialect
or idiolect, we generally tend to sound like others with whom we share similar
educational backgrounds and/or occupations. Among those who leave the
educational system at an early age, there is a general pattern of using certain
forms that are relatively infrequent in the speech of those who go on to
complete college. Expressions such as those contained in Them boys throwed
somethin’ or It wasn’t us what done it are generally associated with speakers
who have spent less time in education.
• Social markers: Social markers in language and speech are cues conveyed
through verbal and nonverbal means that serve to identify individuals to the
groups to which they belong.
Social markers can be linguistic, paralinguistic, or extralinguistic in form, and can
range from intentional and purposive (e.g., language selection or dialect
accentuation) to unintentional and uncontrollable (e.g., vocal features that mark
age or sex). They help to provide context for social organization.
4. Speech Style and Style-Shifting
Speech style is the way we use language depending on our social settings or context .
The most basic distinction in speech style is between formal and informal uses.
Formal usage is when we pay careful attention to how we are speaking.
Informal usage is when we pay less attention to how we are speaking.
Studies have confirmed that middle-class individuals have a tendency to overuse the a prestige
form of language associated with a higher-status group in a formal situation.
• Prestige: prestige is the level of regard normally accorded a specific language or dialect within
a speech community, relative to other languages or dialects. Prestige varieties are language or
dialect families which are generally considered by a society to be the most "correct" or otherwise
superior. n many cases, they are the standard form of the language, though there are
exceptions, particularly in situations of covert prestige (where a non-standard dialect is highly
valued). In addition to dialects and languages, prestige is also applied to smaller linguistic
features, such as the pronunciation or usage of words or grammatical constructs, which may not
be distinctive enough to constitute a separate dialect. The concept of prestige provides one
explanation for the phenomenon of variation in form among speakers of a language or
languages.
5. Speech Accommodation
Accommodation theory holds that speakers adjust their language style in relation to their
interlocutors. The basic forms of accommodation are convergence or divergence, where speakers
shift style to become either more or less like that of their addressees. The theory has expanded to
encompass a range of more complex relations of situational style shift. Sociolinguists have adopted
accommodation theory as an explanation of style, and also developed their own models, e.g.,
Bell's Audience Design framework. This holds that style is largely interactive and social, with speakers
designing their style in response to their audience. Speakers may also use language to take the
initiative in shaping the nature of a social situation through 'referee design.
• Convergense: Language convergence is a type of linguistic change in which languages come to
resemble one another structurally as a result of prolonged language contact and mutual
interference, regardless of whether those languages belong to the same language family, i.e. stem
from a common genealogical proto-language. In contrast to other contact-induced language
changes like creolization or the formation of mixed languages, convergence refers to a mutual
process that results in changes in all the languages involved. The term refers to changes in
systematic linguistic patterns of the languages in contact (phonology, prosody, syntax, morphology)
rather than alterations of individual lexical items.
Divergense: Divergence in linguistics refers to one of the five principles by
which grammaticalization can be detected while it is taking place. The other four
are: layering, specialisation, persistence, and de-categorialisation. Divergence names a state of
affairs subsequent to some change, namely the result of the process called “split” by Heine and
Reh. “When a lexical form undergoes grammaticalization to a clitic or affix, the original form may
remain as an autonomous lexical element and undergo the same changes as ordinary lexical
items.” A possible formal distinction between divergence and split would be that the latter seems to
be confined to cases where one and the same source has several targets, whereas the former
merely refers to the drifting apart of previously more similar items. The form of a lexical item may
undergo different changes from its grammaticalised counterpart.
6. Register
a register is a variety of language used for a particular purpose or in a particular
communicative situation. For example, when speaking officially or in a public setting,
an English speaker may be more likely to follow prescriptive norms for
formal usage than in a casual setting, for example, by pronouncing words ending in -
ing with a velar nasal instead of an alveolar nasal (e.g., "walking" rather than
"walkin'"), choosing words that are considered more "formal" (such
as father vs. dad or child vs. kid), and refraining from using words
considered nonstandard, such as ain't and y'all.
• Jargon: Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or
area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular communicative
context and may not be well understood outside that context. The context is usually
a particular occupation (that is, a certain trade, profession, vernacular or academic
field), but any ingroup can have jargon. The main trait that distinguishes jargon from
the rest of a language is special vocabulary—including some words specific to it and
often different senses or meanings of words, that outgroups would tend to take in
another sense—therefore misunderstanding that communication attempt. Jargon is
sometimes understood as a form of technical slang and then distinguished from the
official terminology used in a particular field of activity.
7. Slang
Slang is vocabulary that is used between people who belong to the same
social group and who know each other well. Slang is very informal
language. It can offend people if it is used about other people or outside a
group of people who know each other well. We usually use slang in
speaking rather than writing. Slang normally refers to particular words and
meanings but can include longer expressions and idioms.
• Tablo terms: the use of slang can vary within the younger social group, as
illustrated by the use of obscenities or taboo terms. Taboo terms are words
and phrases that people avoid for reasons related to religion, politeness
and prohibited behavior. They are often swear words, typically “bleeped”
in public broadcasting (What the bleep are you doing, you little bleep!) or
“starred” in print (S**t! You stupid f***ing a**hole!).
8. African American English
African-American English is the set of English sociolects spoken by most Black
people in the United States and many in Canada; most commonly, it refers to a
dialect continuum ranging from African-American Vernacular English to a
more standard American English. Like other widely spoken languages, African-
American English shows variation stylistically, generationally, geographically
(that is, features specific to singular cities or regions only), in rural versus urban
characteristics, in vernacular versus standard registers, etc. There has been a
significant body of African-American literature and oral tradition for centuries.
• Vernacular language: A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a
"standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by
people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is
typically the native language, normally spoken informally rather than written,
and seen as of lower status than more codified forms. It may vary from
more prestigious speech varieties in different ways, in that the vernacular can
be a distinct stylistic register, a regional dialect, a sociolect, or an independent
language. Vernacular is a term for a type of speech variety, generally used to
refer to a local language or dialect, as distinct from what is seen as a standard
language.
9. • The sounds of a vernacular: There are some regular sound changes often
observed in AAVE, in particular, something called metathesis. Metathesis
involves switching around sounds within words. For example, “ask” could be
pronounced “aks,” or “library” pronounced “libary.” TH-fronting is also a
prominent feature of African American Vernacular English. For example,
“those” and “doze” can sound nearly identical. Another common sound
change involves dropping the R when it’s not followed by a vowel, which
makes AAVE one of many non-rhotic dialects spoken in the USA.
• The grammar of a vernacular: It is typically in aspects of grammar that
AAVE and other vernaculars are most stigmatized as being “illogical” or
“sloppy.” One frequently criticized element is the double negative
construction, as in He don’t know nothin or I ain’t afraid of no ghosts.
Because the negative is expressed twice, these structures have been
condemned as “illogical” (since one negative supposedly cancels the
other). Yet this feature of AAVE can be found in many other English dialects
and in other languages such as French: il ne sait rien (literally, “he not knows
nothing”). It was also common in Old English: Ic naht singan ne cu∂e
(literally, “I not sing not could”).
