1. Varieties of English
Sociolinguistics

2. Sociolinguistics
Study of accent and dialect is part of sociolinguistics
Mostly so far we have looked purely descriptively at accents/dialects
Clearly just below the surface is the fact that varieties of language are connected in some way to sociological issues
We will look at these issues for the next few sessions

3. Language and dialect We prefer to think
Languages have various dialects.
There are actually a range of varieties that people consider to be standard.
What is considered standard is associated with prestige, a non-linguistic factor.
From a linguistic standpoint, what is considered standard has NOTHING to do with correctness or superiority.
From a linguistic standpoint, ALL DIALECTS are equally correct, equally expressive, equally complex, equally logical and so forth. That is, the term non-standard dialect means just that, not the standard dialect. It DOES NOT MEAN inferior or sub-standard.
Non-standard dialects are not simply offshoots from the standard. In fact, often the opposite is true

4. Language and dialect Some common misconceptions
A language is composed of a "standard" dialect from which all of the other non-standard dialects emerge.
The standard dialect is the "correct" way to speak the language.
The other dialects represent erroneous or inferior ways of speaking the language.
The standard language is more complex, more logical, more expressive than the non-standard dialects.
Non-standard dialects are a product of "lazy" speech.

5. Factors in classifying dialects
Geography
Dialectology
Effects still surprisingly strong despite global communications and mobility
Ethnicity
Often closely tied to geography
Various features associated with certain ethnic groups cut across geographical boundaries
Self identity often an important effect here
Social class
Socio-economic factors
Class consciousness, identity and aspirations

6. History of Sociolinguistics
Usually said to start with Labov (1966), but actually dates back to 1900s
Saussure’s langue~parole distinction reflects difference between abstract and “language in use”
Dialect geographers of the 1930s commented on social aspects of dialect differences
At the same time, anthropological linguists couldn’t help but note socially conditioned aspects of “exotic” languages
Also, researches interested in bilingualism (1930s) noted a sociological aspect

7. History of Sociolinguistics
1960s/1970s saw much work in
Language and social context (Hymes, Fishman)
Language and class (Labov, Bernstein)
Language and gender (Lakoff)
Issue of dialect vs language (status)
Pidgins and creoles
Bilingualism, code shifting

8. History of Sociolinguistics
Focus in late 1970s/1980s reflects contemporary social issues
Studies of Black English (Ebonics, and other names)
emphasize linguistic integrity of nonstandard forms
link between language and identity
similarities across regions, plus certain features suggest it may be a creole rather than a (number of) dialect(s)
Language and gender
How language reveals, embodies and sustains attitudes to gender.
How language users speak or write in (different and distinctive) ways that reflect their sex
Latterly, including gay and lesbian issues
Language and politics
All of the above, plus: How language reveals, embodies and sustains attitudes to political positions (eg marxist, colonialist, …)

9. Fundamental concepts Speech community Prestige
Internal vs external language
Class
Age
Gender

10. Speech community
Group of people who share some identifiable aspect of their linguistic communication
More importantly: there should be some self identification as a community …
and there may be some degree of deliberate exclusion of outsiders
Speech communities can be defined by geography, ethnicity, socio-economic class, but also occupation, gender, religion, etc.
It follows that individuals can identify with multiple speech communities …
… and can adjust their language according to the circumstances, so as to identify in the most appropriate way

11. Prestige
Dialects are often classified according to the prestige associated with them
Within vs outside the speech community
Conforming to the speech habits of one’s peer group may accord prestige and acceptance
Some speech habits are viewed as prestigious by outsiders, who then aspire to those speech habits
Prestige may be measured on a scale rather than fixed points (more~less rather than high~low)

12. Internal vs external language
Chomskyan distinction
I-language: abstraction of language as mentally represented knowledge in a native speaker
E-language: language in social contexts
Related to competence~performance distinction
Assumption that all native speakers are quite homogeneous in how they process and perceive language; E-language explains why this is assumption appears to be contradicted by actual use
Many sociolinguists reject this as a false distinction

13. Class
Socio-economic class now more prevalent than geography in dialect studies (since 1960s)
Undisputable (but still controversial) link between lower classes and less standard language – think about why this is, though!
Labov (1966) first showed that social aspirations influence speech patterns
Highly controversial theory (Bernstein 1971) that elaborated vs restricted codes reflect fundamentally different mental organization of language
We’ll look at these studies in more detail

14. Age
Language change often traceable by studying differences in language use according to age of speaker
Speech communities (cf above), as defined by age, are a factor (issues of identity, exclusion)
Slang comes and goes …
But more significantly, changes are often more prevalent in speech of younger people
Phonetic changes: Vowel shifts, intonation patterns
Changes in meanings of words
Grammatical changes

15. Gender
It has long been acknowledged that there may be differences in language usage between men and women: quite extreme in languages other than English
Lakoff (1975) identified extensive differences not just in grammar and lexis, but in aspects of style, register, and (especially in dialogues) dynamic roles
Studies have adapted to the broader social agenda: early theories relating to power relationships between sexes (Lakoff) now giving way to view that there is a cultural difference (Tannen)
We’ll look at this issue in more detail later

16. Coming up in the next few sessions
We’ll look in more detail at the work of
Labov
Bernstein
Language change
Language and gender
etc