Sociolinguistics: Language Variation

Sociolinguistics Basics

• Sociolinguistics studies synchronic variation, focusing on language variation at a single point in time.
• It does not focus on diachronic variation (language change over time).
• Non-standard language varieties are not inherently less clear or logical than standard varieties.
• Synchronic variation occurs when people who speak the same language pronounce words differently.
• An example of this is with a french word, where some speakers pronounce it in its European standard, and some use the Laurentian variation.
• Variation in language can also be grammatical, where words or phrasing interacts and has differences between different groups of speakers.
• Grammatical cases include closed category(functional words; pronouns, prepositions) and open category(lexical words)
• Lexical distinction involves different words for the same thing, like "char" in Laurentian French vs. "bagnole" in European French.
• Language variety assigns social values to languages.
• Double negatives can be interpreted as positive statements. (ex: "I didn't see nothing" means "I saw something")
• An accent is a phonetic variety of language.
• Glottophobia describes discrimination based on accent.
• Lexical variation is the use of different words, (ex: tourtière vs. pâté à la viande or chocolatine vs. pain au chocolat).
• Phonetic variation is different pronunciations of the same word, (ex: mangerai vs. mangerais).
• William Labov is a linguist known for studying how people really speak.

Language and Social Class

• Language is influenced by social class.
• Upper classes are more likely to use the [r] sound.
• Speakers may adjust their pronunciation to fit in with a social environment.
• New York accents can be r-less [ka] or r-ful [kar].
• The observer's paradox is when a linguistic observer influences the data, creating bias.
• People change the way they speak depending on their environment.
• Linguists face the issue that people alter their speech when they know they are being observed, affecting data accuracy.
• Descriptivism describes language as it is used without imposing value judgements or rules.
• Prescriptivism prescribes how language should be used, based on a perceived model of correctness.
• Prescriptivism is synonymous with being normative.
• Chomsky contributed the concept of language competence vs. performance.
• Language performance is full of errors, performance errors include sound reversals
• Variation in language occurs because of social context, register, and dialect.
• The object of study is language performance.
• Chomsky is a mentalist, Labov is an empiricist, relying on scientific experiences with senses.
• Variationist method focuses on which word is used more often and in what context.
• Variationist method studies words such as "somebody" vs. "someone" and their usage.
• According to Chomsky, variation is free.

Linguistic Research and Variation

• Researchers must be careful not to influence their research.
• Linguistic competency is studied to determine something.
• Variation in language can be free or conditioned and structured.
• Dialect is a variety of a language.
• All speakers use a dialect.
• A dialect can be referred to as a variety.
• Defining dialect is difficult.
• Accent is a phonological dimension of language, while dialect includes all dimensions.
• China has non-Chinese languages like Tibetan.
• Chinese languages include Mandarin and Cantonese, the most popular in media.
• Some consider Chinese languages dialects, differences between them vary greatly.
• The word "umbrella" is written differently in Cantonese vs. Mandarin.
• Norway and Sweden could be considered one language but are in 2 separate countries.
• Heuristic and algorithmic approaches contrast.
• Heuristic describes daily life as one overcomes small problems, reacts differently, and follows instinct.
• Heuristic can influence change of usage like sociolinguistics.
• Algorithms seek strict rules without ambiguity.
• Shibboleth is any aspect of behavior that reveals information about a subject.
• Saying "hello" when hanging up is generational.
• Saying "please" when giving something is also an example of a shibboleth.
• It is a linguistic identity marker.

Discursive Communities, Language Change, and Dialect Leveling

• Discursive community involves collectivist analysis of a homogenous group.
• Social networks connect people with friendship, knowledge, or activities, like studying linguistics.
• There are individual agencies within social networks.
• Communities of practice examine the intersection between connections and the environment.
• Implicit negotiation occurs as people adopt or reject slang lexical choices.
• French phonemics have long vowel trends in the West and short vowel trends in the East.
• A characteristic of Canadian English is Canadian raising.
• /aj/ becomes [əj] before a voiceless consonant.
• /aw/ becomes [ǝw] before a voiceless consonant.
• Shibboleth is a linguistic identity marker.
• The shocks of patois created Canadian French.
• Leveling involves equalizing different or unequal situations.
• Dialect leveling is the gradual reduction of dialectal differences caused by continuous contact.
• Modern times has increased mobility, and so has dialect leveling.
• Mobility of people can cause changes in dialect.

Language Preservation and Dialectal Factors

• An example of different generations from New Zealand is seen with language change such as preservation, mixing traits, and dialect leveling.
• The first generation preserves dialects.
• The second generation is a somewhat random choice between traits available.
• Choosing traits from multiple dialects are possible.
• The third generation sees a leveling of dialects.
• A new variety of English emerges with the generational changes in New Zealand.
• In 1776, there were three varieties of American English.
• The three varieties spread West.
• Loyalists went North and were attached to the British Crown, forming part of what would become English Canada.
• Sociolinguistics focus mainly on native speakers.
• They are particularly interested in the inner circle, the people who speak a certain dialect natively.
• There are three circles: inner (main language), outer (colonial language, for example english), and expanding (international language).
• Isolation is a dialectal differentiating factor that can influence language.
• Physical isolation is when a group and its speakers are separate, for example the population of Newfoundland is isolated on the island.
• Linguistic isolation is when a group is linguistically distinct, for instance Quebecois French is close to a border but is linguistically isolated.
• Social isolation is when lack of infrastructure isolates a community, like North Preston.
• Fischer (1958) researched g-dropping in New England.
• Fischer found instances where morning becomes mornin, and running becomes runnin.
• Monosyllabic words are an exception.
• Constraints are probabilistics, not categorical, where categorical means absolute.
• Probability is the likelihood of choosing a variant in a certain circumstance.

Linguistic and Social Constraints

• Linguistic constraints are the type of verb like formality of criticizing versus runnin'.
• Social constraints are genre, class, formality of the context(how the data is collected).
• Borrowed prestige employs a boutique employee who uses prestigious variation even though they are working class.
• The use of prestige is due to the demands of their professional environment.
• Aspirational refers to acting in order to join a social milieu
• Social mobility is seen when variants are associated with ambition to go to university in Newfoundland
• Variants were used if speakers either mentally projected their aspiration from going to university, if not variants were stigmatized.

Hypercorrection, Prestige, and Geographic Variation

• Hypercorrection is when those in the lower class overemphasize their social status.
• Hypercorrection is when people over generalize.
• Examples include children saying "My friend and me will go to the park" when it should be "My friend and I will go to the park"
• Consciously people in the middle class try to prove their high level by using the high class's speech
• As opposed to the first group, high level do not have to, and may use lower class speech.
• Explanations include linguistic insecurity and the linguistic market.
• Normative grammar is an arbitrary association between variants and high/low class.
• Examples include "I don't see anything" versus "I don't see nothing" and "Je ne sais pas" versus "Je sais pas"
• A more elevated language isn't always favorable and a lower level may work better to coease.
• Trudgill proposed manifest (overt) and latent(covert) prestige.
• Manifest prestige is being formal. (example: job interview), latent is street cred
• Overt prestige is a formal language in a formal context, like a job interview
• Language formal is a way to be judged by more formal speech with one's friends, latent prestige.
• With a higher social status comes less geographic variation.
• More educated people have less variation and converge to a shared norm.
• More unique and geographic variety is seen with those of a lower class.
• "Slay" has transitioned from an irregular verb to an adjective.
• The context has evolved, from referring to killing, to something else.
• With "slay" there is a metaphor between confronting your opponent (a knight) and accomplishing a task (animator).
• Diachronic change has a social dimension.
• Gradual is how all changes start, with variation.

Language Evolution and Change

• Apparent time hypothesis: Diachronic change is too slow to observe, but is observable as intergenerational differences, given people don't drastically change the way they talk, creating a synchronic contrast.
• The great vowel shift contrasts french orthography with IPA pronunciation.
• Vowels slide without changing the orthography.

Vowel Changes, Variation, and Language Contact

• Vowels are more susceptible to change because consonants are tactile and more concrete.
• Vowels have less physical contact and sensory experience.
• "Block" is pronounced "black"
• Variation can be permanent, or a change can be diachronic.
• Mobility causes changes.
• In Newfoundland, contact with other Canadians influenced the local English.
• Aspiration, related to one's self-identity, and railway development in England increased contacts.

Resistance to Language Change, Media Influence, and Diachronic Studies

• Resistance to change can be because a new community gives people the desire to stick to one's personal way of speaking.
• The media has a very low influence on contact, compared to contact between people
• There are two types of diachronic studies, which re-examine data over an extended period.
• A panel study contacts the same people.
• A trend study contacts the same generation, but not necessarily the same individuals.

Ethnic Groups, Code Switching, and Ethnolects

• Ethnic group is a group.
• Code switching can occur between two varieties, AAE and standard english.
• Nonstandard varieties have rules.
• They are systemic and ordered, like other standard language varieties.
• One can switch an order in a sentence.
• Ethonolect is most traits are places or of social class, sometimes traits follow ethnic lines.
• Some communities develop an accent via ethnic hypercorrection.
• They are trying to fill the void between the ancestral language and local language.

Sociolinguistic: Language Variation and Style

• In sociolinguistics, "style" refers to language variation within a single person, depending on circumstances.
• Two people expressing themselves in different styles is something which is not described this way, the way that someone adopts to a certain situation is instead talked about.
• The style depends on if the person changes language based on time. _ The simplest parameter to measure style is the degree of formality.
• Labov's early style studies looked at the formal/informal dimension related to attention to discourse.
• Researchers looked at the most "natural" part of a recording by looking at the most familiar parts and finding paralinguistic indicators (rhythm, tone, volume, respiration, laughter) to determine the moments of inattention where the speaker reflected as they did, not in terms of how they spoke.
• It was concluded that more formal groups speak like higher socio-economic statuses do.
• Linguists do not want the attention to be on the language

Sociolinguistic Techniques in Style

• Techniques used by socio-linguistics depend on the level of familiarity and formality:
• An interview and conversation is useful between participant and researcher
• Optimizing the result can occur if the interview is being done in one's place instead of a formal environment.
• Having a passage or text being read to the participant.
• Listing words is useful in terms of pronouncing single units opposed to full passages.

Sociolinguistics: Minimizing Listener Awareness

• To limit attention given by possible listeners, unrelated words (70%) can be said.
• With minimal pairs, a variety of words can be seen by seeing if there's a pull towards phonology.
• Sociolinguistical techniques allow to determine if the locutors/speakers are conscious of the social weight that the speaker is using.
• If some speaker modifies certain traits like /g/ dropping, it is a marker(speaker is aware), where a trait is a indicator if they are not as formal/aware.
• If a mod is made, it can be stigmatized.
• Because some speakers may be unpredictable to a high level. Audience design is the factor of altering speech to be more accomodating.
• Convergence can be used to strengthen a solid relationship.
• Through this one can adapt to their language.
• Divergences happens to maintain distance.
• Used to signal not wanting to adapt to other languages/speakings

Audience Design and Linguistic Performance

• Plus the public is closer, plus convergent from level of style in terms of the model by Bell.
• Address is meant to speak with those who are there
• Audiences are in groups who do not speak, the intention is not there
• Eavesdropper means that they are not listening in a proper manner, and its meant to be different.
• Dragging or is a performance exaggerating identity, commonly seen with woman who will say "I love it"
• Passing shows the ability to express oneself towards an audience that can be viewed as authentic and of genuine character.
• Examples include things such as colour of skin and gender can show how much authenticity is there.

National Policies on Multilingualism

• A singular language is a nation with the idea that a national language defines a country
• Multilingualism horizontally states that more than one language exists.
• Switzerland has never forced the need to assimilate to using one language
• Canada does not have a language that can define "Canada-ness" compared another.
• Belgique has a language that has dominated(French)
• South Africa has 11 languages counting ones such as english
• Paraguay speaks both spanish and guarani.
• Certain countries will recognize minority languages, but not grant equality.
• Although Spain has castillian, the language is not same in terms of status. Those who speak catalon are known to spain, but Spain has a national language that's shown more.
• A bank note is printed with BCP, but others arent known to have those languages to that capacity.

Language Politics

• Multi-lingualism in terms of reality is recognition in one's personal ways, such as Ireland and Kazakhstan
• Ireland has a language that dominates one over english due to the official status granted.
• Like luxembourg, one of the languages is granted the status amongst German and other ones there.
• Minor languages which speak kazakh get more spotlight, while they speak russian in meetings, kazakh is known by national status.
• Policies can be classified as multi or unilingual. The state can be a mix however, such as Canada
• Most states have an official language
• Provinces are labelled as one language based , while new Brunswick has a dual classification.
• States such as luxembourg have a multi-lingual classifications.

Diglossia and Language Choices

• Diglossia is formality depending on context
• Depending on the context, the user must shift between languages.
• Dialectal Diglossia is dependent on status and the context -Depending if the content is casual, the user will be able to use the language at a lower status.
• Langagier Diglossia is dependent on if the the country changes.
• Luxembourg is able to elevate french for an upper audience. Written content can show the separation, spanish is influenced, Guarni the status.

Convergence, Divergence, and Language Policies

• Convergence consists of converging in the one language, divergence relies on answering with a different tongue that is directed to the speaker.
• Such as the speaker addressing In french, but responding in English.
• Actions can depend against judging as a way to show others know this specific language.

Bilingualism Policies

• School policies and Academics influence a languages future.
• Although schools that arent bilingual exist such as some in Canada.
• Conflicts between identities in spain occurs when someone cannot speak a different language.
• The videos shows others unable to address in a common manner without losing what's there.
• Universities carry basque content, but they are displayed in different languages
• Netherlands also speaks frisian