A classroom lecture on sociolinguistics

1. Lecture No. 4-6
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Prof. Junaid Amjed

2. SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Languages are spoken by human beings who live in societies. The study of
anguage in relation to society is called 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 the
effects of language use on society. Sociolinguistics overlaps to a considerable degree with
pragmatics. It is historically closely related to linguistic anthropology.
The science that deals with the
origins, physical & cultural
development , social customs and
beliefs of mankind
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3. Let`s understand some basic concepts of sociolinguistics. First, do human language vary?
That is when we say “the English language” do we mean just one set of words in a single
pronunciation and a grammar which does not vary at all? If not , then what is English?
To answer the question we have to study the theory of language.
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4. VARITIES OF LANGUAGE
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What we call language are merely abstractions (concepts). Lets go back to our example of
English. Have you ever seen it? Does it really exist? Well, dictionaries exist so are the books,
the grammars exist. But as we know that the spoken medium came first and these written
products came much later. When it was a spoken language only, the speakers existed and
what they spoke could be called English. But while doing so the speakers ignored the minor
differences in the way other speaker pronounced words or used grammatical rules. We ignore
these minor differences and call them their personal style.

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• Thus every individual uses a different (however minor the differences are) form of a language
which we call his or her idiolect.
But sometimes we can understand that the other speaker is aware of these clear differences
in pronunciation, meanings and even in grammar These are called the varieties of the same
language.
The verities can be classified as below :

6. ACCORDING TO USE
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a) REGISTER:
In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a
particular purpose or in a particular social setting.
- For example the doctors use a different sort of language while
talking about a disease or medicine.
○Remember that the register is meant for a certain use. It is not used outside that particular
subject or profession.

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b) DIGLOSSIA:
Diglossia refers to the use by a language community of two languages or dialects, a
"high" or "H" variety restricted to certain formal situations, and a "low" or "L" variety for
everyday interaction – (Charles Ferguson-1964 ).
Charles made the point that the H variety is no one`s mother tongue nor it is used in
ordinary conversation by anybody. It is learnt in schools and used in class rooms, offices,
place of worships et cetera.
The H variety has got great prestige because it is the language of classical literature and
religious texts. Moreover, it unites the people at a formal written level. E.g. Quran _Books of
Hadees __ Bible etc.

8. ACCORDING TO USER
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a) IDIOLECT:
In linguistics, an idiolect is an individual's distinctive and unique use of language, including
speech. This unique usage includes vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Idiolect is the
variety of language unique to an individual.

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b) DIALECT:
A particular form of a language that is peculiar to a specific region or social group.
As described earlier that idiolect is a special variety of language used by an individual.
The dialect is the variety of language used by a geographical area. Thus, the Pushto of
South Waziristan is different from Peshawar's. And Urdu of Punjab is different from the
Urdu of Sindhi`s.
People of one dialect can understand the people who speak another dialect. It is, in fact,
a variety of same language.
•Dialect Non-native variety can be defined as the Punjabi language of migrants of India
in Sindh.

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A sociolect or social dialect is a variety of language associated with a social
group such as a socioeconomic class, an ethnic group (precisely termed ethnolect
or an age group, etc.
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. For example Student to Student talk will be different than student to teacher talk.
Individuals who study sociolects are called sociolinguists. Sociolinguists study language
variation. Sociolinguists define a sociolect by examining the social distribution of specific linguistic
terms.
c) SOCIOLECT:
To be continue