SOCIOLINGUISTICS APPLIED LINGUISTICS / 3 rd YEAR

1. WHAT IS SL? “Time changes all things; there is no reason why language should escape this universal law.” Ferdinand de Saussure ( ) “Speech is not a personal possession but a social.” Willian Dwight Whitney ( )

1. WHAT IS SL? It sounds too ‘academic’ A clue: It must be related to society An Applied Linguistics branch dealing with the social factors which affect the use of language

1. WHAT IS SL? Language changes constantly at different levels and at diverse places and times (Bright, 1998)

Language is a symbolic indicator of behaviour = A person's background, character, and intentions are judged by the use of language (“Linguistics Program,” n.d.) 1. WHAT IS SL?

SL channels the interest in the entwining (connection) of language and society Two key concepts in SL: ― Variation : Language is likely to change ― Contact : Language changes spread through contact (Eble, 2005)

1. WHAT IS SL? Social factors bringing about change in language: Traditionally, class, ethnicity, age, and sex, together with educational level, growing up learning or religious beliefs = Attributes of the speaker But also, social attitudes, cultural differences, discriminatory language or language policies = Particular to a certain group of people

1. WHAT IS SL? SL studies both general issues, e.g. How do religious beliefs influence on language?, and more specific topics, e.g. What are the traces of French in Cajun Vernacular English?

2. THE ORIGINS OF SL Sociolinguistics → developed over the last 50 years = a relatively modern discipline Analysis of language and society in a systematic way = clear relationship between the two phenomena Three progenitors → Anthropology, Linguistics and Sociology (fields which somehow overlap) = interdisciplinarity of SL

2. THE ORIGINS OF SL Sociolinguistics → Fathers: William Labov (b. 1927) in the US, and Basil Bernstein (b. 1924) in the UK Other terms proposed → Sociolinguistics, Sociology of Language and Linguistic Anthropology SL first mentioned by English anthropologist Thomas Callan Hodson in 1939 (“The origin,” 1979)

2. THE ORIGINS OF SL Basic notion underlying SL → Language as a social instrument (more than words) It represents social behaviour (“Linguistics Program,” n.d.) SL → A prominent discipline today Two trends have characterized SL development: – a large number of specialized areas – results applied to social, educational and political problems

3. ISSUES SL DEALS WITH Pass the salt! Would you mind passing the salt? I think this food could use a little salt Mm, not a simple matter of sentence structure This is Sociolinguistics SL studies both general questions and particular problems

3. ISSUES SL DEALS WITH A. Gender-mixed vs. Non gender-mixed conversations Varieties of speech associated with a particular gender Men use less minimal responses ( mhm, yeah ) Men use questions for information; women for different purposes Men are more verbally aggressive in conversation Men’s language is less formal than women's

B. Telling jokes Individual variations: group, person, situation, gender, age, educational level. (Kuypers, 2006) Universal patterns: setting and characters a Dutchman, a German and a Belgian a man walks into a bar a married couple a dumb blonde a woman at the doctor's a fly in the soup 3. ISSUES SL DEALS WITH

C. Status of French and English in Canada Official languages since 1982 Mother tongue : 60% English vs. 24% French Canadian English : British and American elements Canadian French: Status worse than European French + Many Anglicisms: anyway, checker, cute, whatever, etc. Before : English as the language of prestige and business Now: Canadian French in both social and economic life

3. ISSUES SL DEALS WITH D. Status of English in the United States 82% English / 12% Spanish Several unsuccessful legislative proposals American English + Canadian English = North American English Spanglish: bilingual speakers in the U.S. Gloria: Open my gift! Jay: Here we have a phone…in the shape of a mouth! Gloria: You´re welcome! Very sexy! Jay: Don´t tell me. I mentioned a few times that I would like to have a saxophone and you give me this…I got it! Is this a sexy-phone? Gloria: Happy birthday!!! (Taken from Modern Family)

4. BRANCHES OF SL SL covers many sub-fields which are given several different names. Among the most known ones there are (Trudgill, 2003): Language Variation and Change Pidgin and Creole Languages Language Attitude Studies

4. BRANCHES OF SL Dialectology : The study of regional or social varieties of a language Social Dialectology: The study of a variety of speech associated with a particular group within a society Functional Variation (Register): The study of how language is used differently by individuals for a specific purpose or in a particular social context Language variation and change

4. BRANCHES OF SL Nigeria English Pidgin How bodi? ↓ How are you doing today? no structure no fixed rules Hawaian English Creole Ai neva du om ↓ I did not do it its own grammar invented by children Pidgin and Creole Languages (Or Language Contact Studies)

4. BRANCHES OF SL Study of how people evaluate others based on the language behaviour they observe Two major approaches: Behaviourist → attitudes are in people's responses to social situations Mentalist → attitudes as a reflection of an internal state Language Attitude Studies

4. BRANCHES OF SL A question open to debate: Does it make any sense to propose a classification on the basis of the aspect of language affected, that is, vocabulary, grammar and/or pronunciation?

4. BRANCHES OF SL Example: Vocabulary change Slang → words that are non standard in formal conversation Jargon → words that are used in specialised environments

5. CONCLUSIONS An AL branch dealing with the social factors which affect the use of language Traditionally, class, ethnicity, age, and sex (Attributes of the speaker). But also social attitudes, cultural differences, or language policies (Particular to a group of people) A relatively modern discipline / The term was used for the first time in 1939 Interdisciplinarity of SL steming from Anthropology, Linguistics and Sociology SL studies both general issues, e.g. How does humour work? and particular problems, e.g. Which is the status of French in Canada? Many sub-fields within SL: Language variation and change + Pidgin and Creole Languages + Language Attitude Studies, etc.

6. SOURCES Part 1. What is SL? Bright, W. (1998). Social factors in language change. In F. Coulmas (Ed.), The handbook of Sociolinguistics (pp ). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Downes, W. (1998). Language and Society. (2nd ed.). Cambridge: CUP. Eble, C. (2005). What is Sociolinguistics? Retrieved October 14, 2011, from Linguistics at NC State University. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2011, from Part 2. The origins of SL The origin of Sociolinguistics. (1979). In Language in society. Retrieved October 12, 2011 from Jaffe, A. (Ed.). (2009). Sociolinguistics perspectives. Oxford: OUP. Meyerhoff, M. (2006). Introducing Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Routledge. Part 3. Issues SL deals with Bilous, F. R., & Krauss, R. M. (1988). Dominance and accomodation in the conversational behaviours of same- and mixed-gender dyads. Language & Communication, 8, 3, Bond, K. (2001). French as a minority language in bilingual Canada. In Karen ‘s Linguistics Issues Web page. Retrieved October 26, Kuyper, G. (2006). Good humour, bad taste: A sociology of the joke. Berlín: Walter de Gruyter. Part 4. Branches of SL Ammon, U., Dittmar, N., & Mattheier, K. J. (2004). International handbook of the science of language and society. (2nd ed.). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Trudgill, P. (2003). A glossary of Sociolinguistics. Oxford: OUP.

Sociolinguistics: An invitation* They worked as a team : Beatriz Guillén Velasco María García Parra Mari Carmen García Sánchez José Jimeno Serrano We hope you have enjoyed the presentation Thanks for your attention