Sociolinguistics Section A09 LIN 001Y – Winter 2017 Friday March 10, 2017 TA – Jeff Moran

Check yo’ self Before Section After Section Agree Disagree Sociolinguists map language variation to social conditions. Monolingual people use a single-style speech in their daily encounters. Only educated individuals use variety in their daily speech. Our speech can indicate different aspects of our social identity. The observer’s paradox doesn’t apply in sociolinguistic research Recording/collecting sociolinguistic data secretly is part of sociolinguistic interview

What is sociolinguistics? Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and society Sociolinguists assume that human society is made up of related patterns and behaviors, some of which are linguistic. Sociolinguists believe that language is used to establish and maintain social relationships. Discussion Question Think of an example of language that is used to “maintain social relationships.” How are the language and social function related?

What is sociolinguistics? Sociolinguistics encompasses a broad range of concerns, including bilingualism, pidgin, and creole languages, and other ways that language use is influenced by contact among people of different language communities. The social stigma or prestige associated with these variation makes language a source of social and political power. Sociolinguists are interested in explaining why we speak differently in different social situation.

What is sociolinguistics? For sociolinguist, the most important verity is that a language is full of systematic variation This variation that can only be accounted for by socially relevant forces and facts. Sociolinguists’ primary task is to map linguistic variation to social conditions To sociolinguists, there is never a single-style or single- variety speaker. Consider…

Why/when/how do we speak differently? Ray: Hey mom, what’s up? Mom: Hi. You’re late for dinner. Ray: Yeah, that douche chill TA kept us hella late again. I fuc- Mom: Ray! Your grandmother is here. Ray: Oh shi- I mean, okay, cool. Where is she?

Why/when/how do we speak differently? This dialogue shows that the way people’s talk is influenced by the social context in which they are talking. It matters who can hear us and where we are talking, as well as how we are feeling. The same message may be expressed very differently to different people. For example…

Why/when/how do we speak differently? Work with a partner to “rewrite” the scene and imagine that Ray meets their grandmother when they walk in: Grandma: Oh hello Ray, honey. Ray: Grandma: You’re late for dinner dear. What happened? Grandma: Well I’m sorry to hear that.

Why/when/how do we speak differently? We also indicate aspects of our social identity through the way we talk. Our speech provides clues to others about: How we self-identify Where we have lived/been What we have been through Who we have interacted with Discussion Question Would this include intelligence? Why or why not? Discuss what it means to be “articulate” and then consider the following video…

What do sociolinguists study? Sociolinguists are also interested in the different types of linguistic variation used to express and reflect social factors, including: Vocabulary/word choice Sounds Word structure/morphology Grammar/syntax Styles Dialects Discussion Question What unique phonetic features do you hear in the following video?

Micro-sociolinguistic Macro-sociolinguistics Micro- vs. Macro-Sociolinguistic Inquiry Micro-sociolinguistic Connecting individual language phenomena to larger communities Creoles Pidgins Cultural/Racial Gendered Speech Age Language Choice Macro-sociolinguistics Studies the whole of a language or variety Language Loss Language Planning Language Shift Language Ideologies

Scope of Sociolinguistic Inquiry Sociology of Language Areas of Investigation Code-Switching and Code-Mixing Diglossia and Bilingualism Language Spread Language Loss Language Maintenance Language and Social Identity Language Planning Language Standardization

Data Collection Methods Clandestine Recording It refers to collecting sociolinguistic data secretly,without the knowledge of the participants in a conversation Sociolinguistic Interview The sociolinguist talks to the subject and elicits examples of various kinds of speech. Non-Intrusive Responses The researcher engages a person in real conversation situation and writes down his/her finding immediately after the interaction. A linguistic variable is usually identified in this case.

Data Collection Methods Ethnographic Observation Refers to recording a conversation either at the same time with a tape-recorder or recording it on paper immediately after the interaction/event. Questionnaires Using a prepared list of questions to elicit data. A sample collected this way is more open to statistical analysis.

The Observer’s Paradox Observer’s paradox refers to the situation where an observer/researcher inherently influences how people speak with each other. Language use is always sensitive to the social relations among participants in a speech event. Our speech patterns regularly change when another person enters the conversation.

Check yo’ self… again X X X X X X Before Section After Section Agree Disagree Sociolinguists map language variation to social conditions. Monolingual people use a single-style speech in their daily encounters. Only educated individuals use variety in their daily speech. Our speech can indicate different aspects of our social identity. The observer’s paradox doesn’t apply in sociolinguistic research Recording/collecting sociolinguistic data secretly is part of sociolinguistic interview X X X X X X