Introduction to Sociolinguistics Topic One Introduction to Sociolinguistics

What do sociolinguistics study? The relationship between language and society How does society (who people are, what they do, who they are with) affect the ways people speak? What social factors can account for linguistic variation?

Examples of aspects of sociolinguistics we will study in this module: Why do you use English (or Cantonese) differently when you talk to me (your lecturer) from when you talk to a stranger or when you talk to another student? Why do you use English (or Cantonese) differently when you talk to your fellow student in class from when you talk to her in the hostel?

Why do you sometimes switch from Cantonese to English in the middle of a sentence? What are some of the differences between the ways men and women use language? Do people of different ages speak differently? What can a language tell about the social background of a person? Will a language die?

How do languages change over time? What languages should we use or teach in school?

What determines language use? Why do you use English (or Cantonese) differently when you talk to me (your lecturer) from when you talk to another student? Why do you use English (or Cantonese) differently when you talk to your fellow student in class from when you talk to her in the hostel?

Factors determining language use The participants The setting The topic The function (Holmes p.8) Social dimensions Solidarity – social distance scale Status scale Formality scale Function scale

What is a variety/code? Spolsky (1998) Sociolinguistics: ‘Variety’ is a term we use to include any identifiable kind of language Example: Hakka and Cantonese are two varieties of Chinese Holmes p.19: Indoubil – based on Swahili, drawing on French, English and Italian

Read the following extract and decide how you would call it: a language, variety or code? Gary: day dreaming, haha, just feel bored and can’t concentrate. Dunno why –haha Phil: why can concentrate ar? Have ‘heart problem’?? Work hard ar, u will have present on Friday wor, and have 4 midterms. Don’t daydream la i will support you mentally ar Gary: thx. U make me feel warm studying in UST –university of stress and tension yes, there r many ppl watch me thru icq. I can be lazy and let them down!

Hong Kong as a multilingual speech community Bilingual individuals (individual bilingualism) Bilingual society (societal bilingualism) A speech community

What is the meaning of bilingualism? The ability to use two languages e.g. English & Chinese

Are you a bilingual? one who possesses at least one of the language skills even to a minimal degree in the second language.” (Macnamara 1967) those who demonstrate complete mastery of two different languages without interference between the two linguistic processes.” (Oestreicher 1974)

Are you a bilingual? bilingualism is understood…to begin at the point where the speaker of one language can produce complete meaningful utterances in the other language.” (Baetens-Beardsmore, 1982).

What is individual bilingualism? Focus on the linguistic competence of individual persons What are your L1 and L2?

What is an L1? This term is used in different, overlapping ways, and can mean a) the first language learnt; b) the stronger language; c) the mother tongue; d) the language most used Encyclopedia of bilingualism and bilingual education, Colin Baker (1998)

What is an L2? This term is used in different, overlapping ways and can mean a) the second language; b) the weaker language; c) a language that is not the mother tongue; d) the less used language. Second language is sometimes used to cover 3rd or further languages.

What is societal bilingualism? Focus on the roles and functions of different languages in one society Is Hong Kong a bilingual society? Must societal bilingualism come with individual bilingualism?