Speech Provides clues Regional accent Dialect Contains features which are unrelated to regional variations Two people growing up in the same geographical area, may speak differently Is a form of social identity and is used to indicate membership of Different social groups Different speech communities Group of people who share a set of norms, rules and expectations regarding the use of language Investigating language from this perpective is known as SOCIOLINGUISTICS

Sociolinguistics Deals with the inter-relationships between Language Society Anthropology Sociology Social psychology Investigation of language and culture Crucial role that language plays in the organization of social groups and institutions Attitudes and perceptions are expresed and how in-group and out-group behaviors are identified

Social dialects Varieties of language used by groups defined according to: Class Education Age Sex Other social parameters Social valuesLanguage use Prestige Over prestige Covert prestige Generally recognized “better” or positively valued ways of speaking in social communities Often attached to non-standard forms and expressions by certain sub-groups

Social class and education People leaving the educational system at an early age, use forms which are infrequent in speech People who spend a long time going through college or university will tend to have a spoken language features which derive from time spent working with the written language Higher socioeconomic status Lower socioeconomic status More [r] sounds Fewer [r] sounds

Age and gender Age Grand-parent – Grandchild time span Gender Prestigious form Coloquial form Discuss personal feelings Give advices and solutions

Ethnic background Differences in speech African-Americans Black English Vernacular (BEV) It is a widespread social dialect Is considered bad speech

Style The personal dialect of each individual speaker Idiolect Fomal speech Informal speech

Register Variation of speech in contexts Jargon Technical vocabulary associated with a special activity or group.