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Questions and Answers
What is the primary focus of sociolinguistics?
According to William Labov, what is the importance of a relatively trivial feature of accent?
What is the term used to describe the variation of language based on geographical and social distance and barriers?
What is the term used to describe the language used by a particular social class or group?
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What is the term used to describe the ability of speakers to switch between different languages or varieties of language in a single conversation?
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What is the process called when differences between regional dialects disappear over time?
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What is the result of a process of koineization?
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What occurs when a group of people are separated from their native language community and become exposed to a new language?
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What is the most common product of language contact?
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What is a language that has no native speakers and is used as a means of communication between people who do not have a language in common?
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Study Notes
Sociolinguistics
- Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used.
- It studies the relationship between language and society, considering language variation as a normal or natural thing.
- William Labov is regarded as the founder of the study of sociolinguistics.
Language Variation
- Language variation is the result of either geographical or social distance and barriers.
- It can occur in all aspects of language structure, including phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicology, and semantics.
- Varieties of language are often referred to as dialects.
Dialects
- A dialect is a kind of language that is distinguishable from other kinds of the same language in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.
- Dialect differences include all aspects of linguistic analysis.
- Idiolect is an individual's unique way of speaking.
- Accent is used to describe pronunciation differences only.
Language and Dialect Continuum
- A language continuum is a chain of mutually intelligible dialects of a language.
- No part of the continuum can be distinguished from neighboring parts except by arbitrary division.
- Mutual Intelligibility Criterion: if two speakers can understand each other, they are speaking dialects of the same language.
- Mutual Unintelligibility Criterion: if they cannot understand each other, they are speaking different languages.
Standard Variety
- A standard variety is the most formal and widely used variety of a language.
- It is usually used in print, taught in schools, and spoken by educated people.
- Superposed variety of language is a standard variety.
- There is nothing inherent in nonstandard varieties that makes them inferior.
Diglossia
- Diglossia is a particular kind of language standardization where two distinct varieties of a language exist side by side throughout the speech community.
- Arabic language is diglossic.
- Standard English is a dialect of English, but it is not linguistically better than any other variety of English.
Sociolects
- Sociolect is the language usage that varies among social classes or groups.
- Sociolect may include phonological, grammatical, lexical, and phonetic accent differences.
- Sociolects are not particularly easy to study and describe the social class dialects.
Linguistic Anthropology
- Linguistic anthropology is the interdisciplinary study of how language influences social rule-governed linguistic systems.
- All dialects of a language are diglossia, which means there are two levels of the language: high and low.
Code-Switching
- Code-Switching is a subconscious linguistic behavior that enables speakers to signal two identities at the same time.
- It makes the conversation more intimate and/or confidential.
Language Planning
- Language planning is the activities of governments having to do with language.
- Status planning decides which role is to be played by which language.
- Corpus planning focuses on the linguistic characteristics of languages or varieties undergoing planning.
Lingua Franca
- A lingua franca is a language used as a means of communication among people who have no native language in common.
- English is considered the most widely used lingua franca of the world.
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Description
Test your knowledge of sociolinguistics, the study of language in its social context, including cultural norms, expectations, and context.
