Sociolinguistics (1) PDF

Sociolinguistics (1) Dr Thorsten Brato Department of English and American Studies VL Introduction to English Linguistic: English in Use Week Date  Recap Text: Any passage, spoken or written, of whatever length, that forms a unified whole. Coherence: Means of provi...

Sociolinguistics (1) Dr Thorsten Brato Department of English and American Studies VL Introduction to English Linguistic: English in Use Week Date  Recap Text: Any passage, spoken or written, of whatever length, that forms a unified whole. Coherence: Means of providing a well-structured text based on context and word knowledge Cohesion: The grammatical and lexical links on the text surface, through which a semantic connection within the text is signalled. Theme and rheme: The context and ‘new’ information Thematic progression Organisation and sequencing of thematic elements in discourse, where information is introduced, developed, and linked together to create a coherent flow of ideas. 2  What to expect of the next three lectures Multilingualism, World Englishes Concepts in sociolinguistics and Pidgins and Creoles 1 3 2 Variation in the UK and the US 5  Today's lecture 1 Introducing sociolinguistics 4 Stereotypes, indicators, markers 2 Variation in language 5 The Labovian revolution 3 Norms and standards 6  1 Introducing sociolinguistics A definition  Anyone who has ever noticed an accent, or puzzled over a dialect phrase, or wondered why road signs are in several languages; anyone who adjusts their speech or writing in different situations, or cannot imitate the way that older people or younger people talk, or feels excluded by the way another group speaks; anyone who has ever tried to create an impression of themselves in an interview or e-mail, anyone who has ever made a snap decision on the basis of someone’s voice, anyone who has ever been in an argument – in all these situations, you have been involved in the field of sociolinguistics. (Llamas et al. 2007: xv) 7  1 Introducing sociolinguistics How do sociolinguists study sociolinguistics? Empirical Methods Evidence-Based Observational Studies Sociolinguists rely on Research findings are Sociolinguists often observe systematic and observable supported by strong language usage in natural data collection techniques. empirical evidence. social contexts. Experimental Research Documentation Verifiable & Falsifiable Controlled experiments help Rigorous documentation Sociolinguistic findings can uncover linguistic patterns ensures transparency and be confirmed or refuted and social influences. replicability in research. through subsequent studies. 8  1 Introducing sociolinguistics How do sociolinguists study sociolinguistics? Quantitative Qualitative  Inferring evidence for a theory through  Extrapolating evidence for a theory from measurements of variables that produce what people say or write numeric outcomes. Field et al. 2012: 924) Field et al. 2012: 924) Count data What is the purpose of using a particular Descriptive statistics linguistic feature? Inferential statistics Participant observation What does a typical police interview look like? How do you signal in-group solidarity? 9  2 Variation in language Variables and variants British English American English 100 100 90 90 80 80 70 70 60 60 50 50 40 40 30 30 20 20 10 10 0 0 [ˈdeɪtə] [ˈdaːtə] [ˈdætə] [ˈdeɪt̬ ə] [ˈdæt̬ ə] [ˈdɑːt̬ ə] [ˈdeɪtə] [ˈdaːtə] [ˈdætə] [ˈdeɪt̬ ə] [ˈdæt̬ ə] [ˈdɑːt̬ ə] 14  2 Variation in language Types of linguistic variables Phonetic-phonological variables Realisation of (as above) Realisation of /t/ in as [t], [ʔ] or [t̬ ] Morphosyntactic variables was/were levelling,.e.g. there was ten of us Negation with ain‘t Lexical variables Referring to a soft drink as soda, pop or coke in the US Referring to a piece of living room furniture as couch or sofa Pragmatic variables Politess strategies Terms of address 15  2 Variation in language Internal and external factors Internal (linguistic) factors External (non-linguistic) factors Distribution of variants of a variable Factors not related to linguistics determine determined by linguistic elements the variation Is the subject of a sentence a pronoun or full Does the speaker come from the UK or from NP? India? Does /l/ occur in the onset [l] or coda [ɫ] of a Who are the interlocutors? syllable? Is the writer a first-language or foreign- Which sound precedes the plural morpheme {- s}? language speaker? Which is the collective noun for describing a Is the situation rather formal or informal? unit of animals? … … 16  3 Norms and standards Non-standard variation The map shows the distribution of regional variants of this sentence in England  isoglosses ‘Give it to me’ seems to be restricted to London and the ‘Home counties’, large parts of the southwest and pockets in Essex and Norfolk In most other parts it is either ‘Give me it’ or ‘Give it me’ British National Corpus (BNC) 80 tokens for ‘Give it to me’ (32 spoken, 42 fiction) 22 tokens for ‘Give it me’ (9 spoken, 9 fiction) 26 tokens for ‘Give me it’ (24 spoken, 1 fiction) (Upton & Widdowson 2006: 52) 18  3 Norms and standards Definitions Standard Norm Often associated with education and may  The variety of a language (usually a historically significant dialect), which function as social gatekeepers has been officially elevated to prestige Smakman (2012) on ‘standard language’ in status and is preferred in official document, media, public and formal seven countries speech. Only agreement: The standard language is (Llamas et al. 2007: 230) something you can use to easily communicate with anybody Poland: Standard = correct England, Netherlands: not regionally marked Japan: associated with the media 19  3 Norms and standards More terminology Standard English often only refers to grammar and vocabulary (e.g. Trudgill & Hannah 2002) Argument: Standard English can be spoken in many different local accents Received Pronunciation (RP) as the accent(!) counterpart in England(!) Spoken by about 2-5% of the English population Historically based on the language at court General American (GA) is the accent(!) counterpart in the US Majority accent Little or no clue about a speaker’s geographical background Used mainly by TV and radio hosts 20  4 Stereotypes, markers and indicators Stereotypes  A [stereotype is a] linguistic feature that is widely recognised and is very often the subject of (not always accurate!) dialect performances and impersonations. (Meyerhoff 2019: 27) Southern US Everyone speaks with a drawl and uses y’all and ain’t German is harsh, Italian is beautiful, Spanish is fast 21  4 Stereotypes, markers and indicators Markers and indicators  A [marker is a] variable that  An [indicator is a] linguistic variable speakers are less aware of than a which shows limited style-shifting. stereotype, but which shows Stratified principally between groups. (Meyerhoff 2019: 28) consistent style effects. (Meyerhoff 2019: 28) Speakers are aware of a linguistic feature – Speakers use one variant consistently and although often only subconsciously – and are not even aware subconsciously that this vary their speech depending on social variant may not be well understood by situations other speakers e.g. using a dialect feature when speaking to a local, but a supraregional feature when talking to strangers Reading suggestion: Aitken (1984) on Scots and Scottish English 22  4 Stereotypes, markers and indicators Markers and indicators Sociolinguistics is all about describing and uncovering variation patterns, but also much more Always ask yourself Why does something vary? Why now? Who does it? For what reason? What could influence the variation patterns? Motivations: (i) A desire to show how you fit in with some people and are differently from others; (ii) A desire to do things that have value in the community (and associate yourself with that value); (iii) A desire not to do things are looked down on in the community (and have others look down at you); (iv) A desire to work out how others are orienting themselves to the concerns in (i) to (iii) (Meyerhoff 2019: 29) 23  4 The Labovian revolution Introduction William Labov’s (1963) The social motivation of a sound change is considered the founding piece of modern sociolinguistics Conducted in 1961 on Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts Broke with traditional dialectology in many respects Traditional dialectology is the forerunner of sociolinguistics or ‘social dialectology’ Goes back to the 19th century – Atlas Linguistique de la France (ALF) It was mainly interested in the ‘real dialect’, i.e. As spoken in the villages by men, who preferably Were old Had lived in the village all their lives Had worked in the main industry of that village NORMs – Non-mobile older rural males 24  4 The Labovian revolution Why was Labov’s approach so different? Dialectologists at the time Labov Language change is chaotic  Variation Variation is not chaotic  patterns of is ‘noise’ variation are the key to understand Competition between traditional and linguistic change innovative forms Large sample Change determined only after it happened Different social backgrounds Small sample The ‘sociolinguistic interview’ NORMs Short questions – short answers 25  4 The Labovian revolution The sociolinguistic interview Not an interview! Ideal data: conversation between friends in a relaxed setting But: Observer’s paradox, particularly with tape recorder and microphone present  The double bind researchers find themselves in when what they are interested in knowing is how people behave when they are not being observed, but the only way to find out how they behave, is to observe them. (Meyerhoff 2019: 44) A set of tasks on different formality levels Reading out word lists Reading out a story Shifting to more informal conversation Important: Let the interviewee take the lead (see Labov 1984 for a discussion of the sociolinguistic interview) 26   Keywords Dialectology Qualitative Empirical Quantitative External (non-linguistic) factors Received Pronunciation (RP) General American (GA) Sociolinguistics Indicator Standard Internal (linguistic) factors Standard English Isogloss Stereotype Language change Variable Marker Variant Norm William Labov NORMs Observer’s Paradox 30  ÿ References Aitken, A.J. 1984. “Scots and English in Scotland”. In Peter Trudgill (ed.), Language in the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 517–532. Gordon, Matthew J. 2013. Labov: A guide for the perplexed. London: Bloomsbury. Kiesling, Scott F. 2011. Linguistic variation and change. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Labov, William. 1984. “Field methods of the project on linguistic change and variation”. In John Baugh & Joel Sherzer (eds.), Language in use: Readings in sociolinguistics. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 28–53. Llamas, Carmen, Peter Stockwell & Louise Mullany (eds.). 2007. The Routledge companion to sociolinguistics. London: Routledge. Meyerhoff, Miriam. 2019. Introducing sociolinguistics (3rd edn.). London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. One of the best introductions to sociolinguistics out there. Written by an absolute expert in a clear style and with lots of useful tips. Smakman, Dick. 2012. “The definition of the standard language: a survey in seven countries”. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2012, 25–58. The Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow. Retrieved April 2020, from http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/document/?documentid=798. Trudgill, Peter & Jean Hannah. 2002. International English: A guide to varieties of Standard English (4th edn.). London: Hodder Arnold. Upton, Clive & Widdowson, J. D. A. 2006. An atlas of English dialects (2nd edn.). London: Routledge. Wells, John C. 1982. Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wells, John C. 2009. Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd edn.). Harlow: Pearson/Longman. 31