1. Social-Class Dialect Differences
Grammatical differences (Syntax)
Vocabulary differences (Lexical)
 Phonetic/phonological differences
(Social-Class Accents)
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2. Differences in Sociolinguistic Rules
What do you call people when you meet them for the first time?
 What do you say to get off the crowded bus?
 Acceptable / Unacceptable small talk topics?
 How to respond to compliments?
 How to respond to invitations to eat sth at
sb’s house?
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3. Social Class Differences between Two Speakers
Speaker A Speaker B
I done it yesterday. I did it yesterday.
He ain’t got it He hasn’t got it.
It was her what said it. It was her that said it.
Trudgill, Peter Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 23.
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4. Speech Community  Share at least one language
 Consider yourself part of the “same” group
 Share sociolinguistic rules (Hymes)
Trudgill, Peter Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 23.
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5. Regional and Caste Differences in Kanarese1
SOCIAL: Brahmin2 (High) non-Brahmin (Low)
REGION: Dharwar3 Bangalore3 Dharwar Bangalore
it is d ide ayti ayti
inside olage alli -`ga `ga
inf. affix likke k -`k `k
part. affix ` `
sit k[t k[t- kunt kunt-
reflexive k k8 kont kont-
1 A Dravidian language of south India.
2 Highest caste.
3 These two cities are 250 miles apart.
Trudgill, Peter Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 26.
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6. What do we study? Idiolect  Dialect  Language MOST MOST
Idiolect  Dialect  Language
MOST MOST
CONCRETE ABSTRACT  
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7. Traditional Dialect Studies
YES: Rural folks NO: City folks
YES: Old people NO: Young people
YES: Un-/Less-educated NO: Educated
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8. Enhanced Dialect Studies
 ADDED: Social factor (Level of Education)
(Ling Atlas of US & Canada, 1930s)
 STARTED: Urban studies too (after WWII)
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9. What Sociolinguistics Can and Cannot Tell You
"Viewed against the background of the speech community as a whole, the variation was not random but determined by extra-linguistic factors in a quite predictable way. That is, you could not predict on any one occasion whether individuals would say cah or car, but it could be shown that, if speakers were of a certain social class, age, and sex, they would use one or other variant approximately x per cent of the time, on average, in a given situation."
Trudgill, Peter Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 29.
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10. Verbs without –s for the Third Person Singular Present Form
Norwich Detroit
MMC % UMC 1%
LMC LMC 10
UWC UWC 57
MWC LWC 71
LWC She like him very much.
He don’t know a lot, do he?
It go ever so fast.
Trudgill, Peter Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 34.
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11. Variations on Expressing Negative
I can eat anything.
I can't eat anything.
I can eat nothing.
I can't eat nothing.
Trudgill, Peter Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 35.
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12. Non-RP Forms for Three Consonants in Norwich
Form used -n  NOTHING
Instead of - t h-
MMC 31% 41% 6%
LMC
UWC
MWC
LWC
Trudgill, Peter Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 37.
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13. Trudgill's Department Store Study
Post Vocalic /r/
Store NO /r/ YES /r/
High 38% 61%
Mid 49% 51%
Low 83% 17%
Trudgill's Department Store Study
Trudgill's Department Store Study
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14. Attitudes towards and use of non-prevocalic /r/ : Upper middle class in New York City
% r-positive % /r/
age informants used
Trudgill, Peter Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 11.
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15. Goals of Sociolinguistic Research
1. It makes explicit what people may implicitly use to identify a person's social status by the way the person talks.
2. It tells us something about the social structure of the community studied.
3. It reveals the systematic pattern that groups show even when individuals appear to be speaking in random way.
4. It tells us what social dialects are like (and not like).
5. It gives us insight into linguistic change.
Trudgill, Peter Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, pp
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16. Attitudes towards and use of non-prevocalic /r/ : Upper middle class in New York City
% r-positive % /r/
age attitudes only1 used
1 Positive attitude (but as can be seen, some of them do not USE it)
Trudgill, Peter Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 11.
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17. Representing Dialects in Literature 1a Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
SCENE: Huck Finn runs into Jim, an escaped slave. Jim thinks he has seen a ghost because Huck was supposedly dead. Huck is telling the story.
He [Jim] bounced up and stared at me [Huck] wild. Then he drops down on his knees, and puts his hands together and says:
“Doan’ hurt me—don’t! I hain’t ever done no harm to a ghos’. I awluz liked dead people, en done all I could for ‘em. You go en git in de river agin whah you b’longs, en doan’ do nuffn to Ole Jim, ‘at ‘us awluz yo’ fren’.”
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Mark Twain. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 67.

18. Representing Dialects in Literature 1b Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Well, I warn’t long making him understand I warn’t dead. I was ever so glad to see Jim. I warn’t lonesome, now. I told him I warn’t afraid of him telling the people where I was. I talked along, but he only set there and looked at me; never said nothing. Then I says:
“It’s good daylight. Le’s get breakfast. Make up your camp fire good.”
“What’s de use er makin’ up de camp fire to cook strawbries en sich truck? But you a gun, hain’t you? Den we kin git sumfn better den strawbries.”
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Mark Twain. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 67.

19. Representing Dialects in Literature 1c Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
“Strawberries and such truck,” I says. “Is that what you live on?”
“I couldn’t git nuffn else,” he says.
“Why, how long you been on the island, Jim?”
“I come heah de night arter you’s killed.”
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Mark Twain. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 67.

20. Representing Dialects in Literature 2
SCENE: 大陸一個口音很重的縣長到村里作報告
兔子們，蝦米們，豬尾巴！不要醬瓜，鹹菜太貴啦！」
(翻譯：同志們，鄉民們，注意吧！不要講話，現在開會啦！)
縣長講完以後，主持人說：「鹹菜請香腸醬瓜！」
(翻譯：現在請鄉長講話！)
鄉長說：「兔子們，今天的飯狗吃了，大家都是大王八！」
(翻譯：同志們，今天的飯夠吃了，大家都是大碗吧！）
不要醬瓜，我撿個狗屎給你們舔舔．．．
(翻譯：不要講話，我講個故事給你們聽聽．．．）
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