what is Sociolinguistic ?

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Name : Radha B. Ghevariya 

Std. : M.A. SEM-3

Sub : ELT

Roll no : 22 

Topic : what  is  Sociolinguistic ?

Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English 

what  is  Sociolinguistic ?

 Introduction( The University of Sheffield)

          The word ‘sociolinguistics’ it means the ‘sociolinguistic is context of speech ability’. the linguistic it means the science of language. we all know that we learn to sociolinguistic in the context of L2. what is sociolinguistics ? An MLC-er Weighs in :

“The study of how people use language in their everyday lives sociolinguistics looks at how identities are manifested through the words we use and how, through language we create, maintain and disrupt relationship with others”

                    Sociolinguistic is the study of the relationship between Language and Society. The term sociolinguistics can help us understand why we speak differently in various social context and also help uncover the social relationship in a community.

“Sociolinguistics examines the relationship between language use and social world how language operates  within and create social structure in society”

  For Example:

             we all know that in our routine life we all speak free form the all the think and whenever speak in different languages. but we probably would not speak same to your boss at work as you would your friend or we speak to stranger as you would to your family.

             we studies in sociolinguistic common place observations that everyone does not speak a language in the same way our speech to accommodate our audience. and that we recognize members and non our communities via speech.

            sociolinguistic may also wonder whether women and men  speak the same as  each other. but I have question that why do people the same age or from the same social class or same ethnicity use similar language ? but at that time in my mind one idea about the term sociolinguistics. it is ultimately although it means SOCIOLINGUISTICS IS EVERYWHERE !!!!!!!

               Sociolinguistics studies have looked at speech communities based on social categories such as age, class ethnicity, gender, geography, profession and sexual identity. to be sure such categories are fluid: they exist only in context  and rather than standing independent of speech are generally produced through it. in short, these categories exist largely as a matter of social perception.

“sociolinguistics is concerned with language in social and cultural context, especially how people with different social identities(e.g. gender, race, class etc..) speak and how their speech change in different situations”

          To all these questions there are two different approaches of sociolinguistics:

1) Micro-sociolinguistics

2) macro-sociolinguistics

         Now let us discuss about the approaches of sociolinguistics.

1)Micro-sociolinguistics

          Micro-sociolinguistics as a linguistics dimension of society. micro-sociolinguistics refers to research with a linguistic slant, often focusing on dialect and stylistic \ register variation. the micro it means the deeper sociolinguistic study. also they both Quantitative and Qualitative  research methods have been employed to explore such linguistic phenomena as Phonological differences between dialect or discourses between male and female speaker column refers to micro-sociolinguistics as ‘social dimensions of language’.

2)Macro-sociolinguistics

            Macro-sociolinguistics looks at the behavior of entire speech communities exploring issue such as why immigrant  communities retain their native language ages in some social contexts but note in others, or how social identity can effect language choice.

           The coming together of micro-sociolinguistics in a narrow sense and macro-sociolinguistics of language , we have tools and questions of particular interest to second language (L2) practitioner. the all these questions there are many different micro and macro approaches of sociolinguistics such as :

-         Interactional sociolinguistics

-         Variations sociolinguistics

-         Historical sociolinguistics

-         Discourse Analysis

-         Conversation Analysis

-         Language planning and policy

                             Research sociolinguistic  describe three subcategories.

1)     Language Variation

2)     Language  Relativity

3)     Language in Contact

1) language Variation- ( (Ronald Carter)

               The language variation if the speaker speak the English language and the ten mistake if the language variation. some speaker are the rules our speak the english language like the copy for other also language as a process of coding every language has code   language code is important for the conveyed the idea.

- Pidginisation Process

         Pidginisation process is a process that result from contact of two or more language in a context where language need can or must be satisfied through use of a simplified code.

For Example:

             Include trading contexts or the interactions between colonized people and a conqueror. when social dominance comes into play. the language (s) of the subordinated group have most of their effect on the grammar. while the socially dominant language contributes more of the vocabulary.

- Creolisation Process

              speaker develops an elaborated code that can  accommodate the full range of life’s functions.

For Example :

         “Da Vinci Code”

         the novel reflect the secret and life of Jesus Christ. to learn language has a particular code.

- Decreolization Process

         A gradual Decreolization process can occur as speakers incorporate features from a dominant languages.

           Creolisation models in general have been complicated some what to acknowledge multidirectional linguistic influences and the dynamic virtuosity of learners  language use.

           A learner’s simplified Interlanguage a concept developed by Corder (1967) and Selinker (1972) as learners restructure their Interlanguage and move towards an L2 help L2 (Positive Transfer).

        Language Variation research has focused increasingly on issues of social context departing from early interpretations which tended to see meaning inhering in linguistic features themselves.

For Example:

       The observations of Lakoff (1975) were often interpreted to suggest that women’s use of tag questions and hedges per se rendered them linguistically less powerful.

           In the area of social class, debate central on Bernstein’s (1971) suggestion that the less ‘elaborated’ so-called ‘restricted’ code of he reported for working class students implied a conative deficit. later thinking suggests a more dynamic process in which context and category reproduce each other through speech.

         one of the most important findings of contemporary sociolinguistic research is the extent to which social categories interest.

For Example:

          Examples are studies of the commonly held stereotypes that woman speak more grammatically and are more polite than the men.

      Freeman and McElhinny(1996:251) survey the interaction of culture and gender with respect to politeness :

“ In societies where politeness is normatively valued or seen as a skill, or where acquisition of politeness is not an automatic part of language learning but requires additional training , men tend to be understood as more polite, and women are understood as impolite or too polite”

          Freeman and McElhinny note that these commonsense understanding of politeness tell us more about the working of ideology  than the actual use of language.

              A wide variety of ways in which language and society intersect in which we find social stratification of linguistic variables from phonology  and syntax to discourse and narrative conventions is documented in sociolinguistic research on:

-         Age

-         Ethnicity

-         Gender

-         Geography

-         Profession

-         Sexual Identity

-         Social Class

2) Linguistic Relativity

            The Linguistic Relativity research talk about the different culture people and their language. Thomas (1983) distinguishes between what she calls Pragma linguistics and Sociolinguistics failure. in the former speakers fail to convey their meaning because the message’s pragmatic force is misunderstood. a speaker might translate something from an L1 into a target language without the knowledge that the communicative conventions of the target language are quite different.

For Example:

          the formulaic expression ‘How are you!’ in english generally means title more than ‘ Hello’.

              Sociopragmatic failure occurs when one does not know what to say to whom a situation that can lead to violating local politeness norms.

           Hymens(1962[1981]) coined the term Ethnography of speaking it means ethic study of something background study systematic study of culture also describe the task of the researcher who is ‘concerned with the situations and uses , the patterns and functions, of speaking’ as he says, ‘it is a question of what a foreigner must learn about a group’s verbal behavior in order to participate appropriately and effectively in its activities’.

           The of the researcher becomes the description of what Hymes termed Communicative Competence.

           Canale and Swain (1980)theorized four components:

-         Communicative Competence

-         Grammatical Competence

-         Discourse Competence

-         Strategic  Competence

        The last involves appropriate language use based on knowledge  of sociocultural conventions and social context. sociolinguistic knowledge involves sensitivity to issues of context and topic as well as social parameters such as gender, age and social status.

          Scollon and Socollon’s interdiscourse communication refers to

“ The entire range of communication across boundaries of groups or discourse system”

            They remind us that ‘Effective communication requires study of cultural and discourse differences on the one hand but also requires a recognition of one’s own limitations’ in crossing discourse boundaries.

3)Language in Contact

             When speakers live in a linguistically diverse environment , several alternatives to monolingualism are available to them in a diglossic situation.

            In a diglossic situation two language exist side by side essentially in complementary distribution. One is used for formal situation and other informal contexts.

Formal situation = it is high-prestige variety.(H)

     For example: Education

                             Religion

Informal situation = frequently the vernacular and native language / variety , is considered low.(L)

               Another contact phenomenon is code-switching, which occurs when bilingual  speakers switch from one language to another in the same discourse , sometimes within the same utterance. Teacher of english  in multilingual context are faced with complex sociolinguistic and cultural phenomena.

·      Applications of Sociolinguistics(Wikipedia)

             A sociolinguistic might determine through study of social attitude that a particular vernacular would note be considered appropriate language use in a business or professional setting.

          Sociolinguistics might also study of grammar, phonetics, vocabulary and other much aspects of this sociolect much as dialectologists would study the same  for a regional dialect.

         The study of language variation is concerned with social constraints determining language in its contextual environment. Code-switching is the is the term given to the use of different varieties of language in different social situations.

              William Labov is often regarded as the founder of the study of sociolinguistics. He is especially noted for introducing the quantitative  study of language variation and change, making the sociology language into a scientific discipline.

· Conclusion

             To conclude that, sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the  effect of any and all aspect of society, including cultural norms, expectation and context on the way language is used and the effect of language use on society.

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Works Cited

Ronald Carter, David Nunan. "Sociolinguistics." Ronald Carter, David Nunan. The Cambridge Guide to teaching english to spekers of other language. Cambridge university: Ronald Carter, David Nunan, 2001. 100-106.

Information extracted from Holmes, J., (2001). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics.

Wikipedia contributors. "Sociolinguistics." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 26 Oct. 2015. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.