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ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY

ISLAMABAD

Name: Shaukat Hussain Afridi

Registration No:
Roll No:
Programme: PGD TEFL
Assignment / Subject: Sociolinguistics (5656)
Submitted by: Shaukat Hussain Afridi
Submitted to:
Date: 30TH October------------
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Q.1: How would you define Sociolinguistics? Explain in detail its

continuum as a subject of linguistics.
Ans:

Definition of Sociolinguistics:

 Sociolinguistics is the study of the relation between language and society--a branch of
both linguistics and sociology.
 American linguist William Labov has called sociolinguistics secular linguistics, "in
reaction to the contention among many linguists working in a broadly Chomskyan
framework that language can be dissociated from its social functions" (Key Thinkers
in Linguistics and the Philosophy of Language, 2005).
 "[T]he difference between sociolinguistics and the sociology of language is very
much one of emphasis," says R.A. Hudson. "There is a very large area of overlap
between the two" (Sociolinguistics, 2001). In An Introduction to
Sociolinguistics (2013), Rubén Chacón-Beltrán observes that in sociolinguistics "the
stress is placed on language and its role within communication. Sociology of
language, however, centers on the study of society and how we can understand it
through the study of language."
 Continuum as a subject of linguistics.
 Sociolinguistic is essentially a study of language used in society.
Certainly- language is a very significant and unique feature of the culture
of any society since it gives clear indication as to how people behave. The
relationship between a language and its users is both complicated and
informative. Society shapes and colours language. A society is represented
by its language. A Language in various forms and uses is t he prime
concern of the sociolinguistics. They study society to get better view and
understanding of the language to be better informed about the diverse
linguistic choices that speakers have to make sociolinguists argue that language exists
in context- dependent on the speaker who is using it and dependent on where it is
being used and why. Speakers mark their personal history a n d i d e n t i t y i n t h e i r
speech as well as their sociocultural- economic and geographical
coordinates in time and space. So taking a broad approach to the
s u b j e c t o f Sociolinguistics would mean to include in it everything from
considering who speaks what language- to whom- and when and to what
end- i.e. the social distribution of Linguistic items- to considering how a
linguistic variable might relate to the formulation of a specific grammatical
rule in a particular language or dialect and finally to the processes through which
languages change. (Wardhaugh EFF2). It is important to recognise that
much of the interest in sociolinguistics has come from people who have a practical
concern for language- rather than desire simply to understand better how languages
work. In particular it became possible in the US In the 1960s & 1970s to fund
relatively large scale research projects connected with the speech of
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underprivileged groups- on the ground that the findings would make

possible amore satisfactory educational policy.
 Relationships between language and society
 There is variety of possible relationships between language and society.
A. Social structure may either influence or determine linguistic structure such as children
speak differently from other children and in turn children speak differently from
mature adults. Variety of language may also reflect regional - social or ethnic
origin and possibly even gender of people.
B. A second possible relationship is directly opposed to the first linguistic structure
and/or behaviour may either influence or determine social structure. (The Whorfian
hypothesis e.g. Mernstein claims that languages rather than speakers o! these
languages can be sexist).
C. There is another view which states that there is no relationship at all
between linguistic structure and social structure and that each is
independent of the other. And it is thought that linguistics diffe rs from
sociolinguistics in taking account only of the structure of language to the exclusion of
the social contexts in which it is learnt and used.
D. The fourth one is that the influence is bidirectional language and soci ety
may influence each other. This influence is considered to be dialectical in
nature- i.e. that speech behaviour and social behaviour are in a state of constant
interaction and that material living conditions are an important factor in the
relationship (Ditmar 1976).
In fact- there are different ways that society can impinge on language which makes the
field of Sociolinguistic reference extremely broad. Studies of the various ways in
which social structure and linguistic structure come together include
personal- stylistic- social-sociocultural and sociological aspects. But
sociolinguistics should not be viewed as a mechanical amalgamation of standard
linguistics and standard sociology. Del Hymes has pointed out that specific points of
connection between language and society must be discovered and these must be
related within theories that throw light on how linguistic and social structures interact.
Or as "Gumperz (1971) has observed- sociolinguistics is an attempt to find
correlations between social structure and linguistic structure and to observe any
changes that occurs. Social structure itself may be measured by reference to
such factors as social class and educational background we can then attempt to
relate verbal behaviour and performance to these factors. The scope of sociolinguistic
research is extremely broad. To sum up- we can say that linguistics-sociology and
sociolinguistics are complementary. The teacher of any foreign language needs to
have both knowledge if the formal systems of that language (its grammar -
vocabulary and pronunciation) and an understanding of the social norms that govern
appropriate choices of such systems.
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References:
 Paulston, Christine Bratt and G. Richard Tucker, eds. Sociolinguistics: The Essential Readings.
Malden, Ma.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2003.
 T. C. Hodson and the Origins of British Socio-linguistics by John E. Joseph Sociolinguistics
Symposium 15, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, April 2004

Q.2: What are the social functions of language? In which ways code-
switching between Urdu and English is fulfilling the social functions of
language in Pakistan?

Ans: Functions Of Language In Linguistics

 Functions of Language has very important role in every type of Communication.

Being a linguist student you must aware the role of these functions. Language is a
system of speech sounds which is used to communicate by public users. Language
itself serves as a means of communication and as a means of sharing ideas and
feelings. It is a tool that is often used in day-to-day communication. Through
language, humans can transfer variety of messages, either for himself or for another
person. Basically, the language has certain functions that are used based on one’s
needs. These functions are, may be as a means of self-expression, as a communication
tool, as a means of social cultural relation, and as a means of social control.
 The function of language in general:

 The main function of language is a communication for to convey information

 It has much wider functions are as follows:
 For practical purposes: establishing relations in daily life.
 For artistic purposes: human process and use language as beautiful-beautifully to the
satisfaction of human aesthetic taste.
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 As the key is to learn other knowledge-

 Learn manuscripts to investigate the background of human history for culture and
customs.
 Language as a means of communication:
 It serves as a means of communication between members of the public. The function
is used in a variety of environments, levels and interests are diverse, for example:
scientific communication, business communication, workplace communication, and
social communication, and cultural communication.
 Language as a means adaptation:
 It is the means of adaptation, and people can express their views together. For
example: the reliability of the work in an institution, the integrity of the employees in
a department, family honour, the integrity of cooperation in the field of business, the
integrity of the nation and state.
 You Must Know Secret behind the Functions of Language
1. Language as a means of social control
 Language is a social control so that people involved in the communication can
understand each other. Every gestures and symbols indicates the direction of
communication in society. This control language can be realized in the form: rules,
statutes, laws – laws and others – others.
2. Language as a means to understand oneself
 In building the character of a person, he should be able to understand his weakness,
strength, talent, intelligence, intellectual ability, willingness and so forth. A person
can know himself and other if he understands himself. By understanding of him,
someone will be able to build character learn positive image to create new vision.
3. Language as a means to understand the other person
 For effectiveness of communication, one needs to understand another person, such as
in understanding him. With the understanding of a person use of language, he can
recognize various things include the condition of his own: the potential biological,
intellectual, emotional, intelligence, character, paradigms, the underlying thought,
motivate the development itself, and others – others.
4. Language as a means of observing the environment around
 Language is a tool to observe the problem and give real life solutions. For example
what is the background for observation, how solving the problem, identify the object
being observed, explain how (method) to observe, what the purpose of observing how
the observations, and what conclusions.
5. Language as a tool for Self-Expression
 We use language to express the feelings, emotion and passion. As adults we use
language both to express them and to communicate. So we can write to express
ourselves. For a book called diary. As I write something in the diary we do not think
about who the readers. We just loved our hearts and feelings without whether it is
writing to understand other people or not. At the time of using language as a tool to
express ourselves, we need not consider or care who the listener or reader. We use
language only for private purposes. As a means to express self-expression. It tells
everything that is hidden in our hearts and minds. With language, humans can learn
everything they want it about social and natural science.
 References:
 Alexander, J (1985). Neo-functionalism, Beverly Hills: Sage
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 Aristotle, De Anima Book 111 (1985) in Jordan Bames (Ed), The complete works of
Aristotle, Princeton University Press
 Chris K, Kennedy M, Hartford, J (2000). The evolutionary emergence of language: Social
function and origin of linguistic form, Cambridge University press.
 Cropper, C (2003) Preparation Manual for the Texas Examination of Educator Standards,
www.texasstudy.com

Q.3: Why do some countries have an essential need for a language policy? Enlist the
options open to the Government of Pakistan with respect to its language policy. Discuss
the merits and demerits of each of these options.

Ans: Language Policy:

 LANGUAGE plays a central role in the process of learning and the achievement of
educational pursuits. Besides being an instrument of communication and of access to
education, language is also the marker of identity at the personal and societal levels.
 This role of language was quite evident during the Pakistan movement when different
languages were used as distinguishing identity markers for the various populations of
united India. Urdu was associated with Muslims while Hindi and Punjabi were tagged
with Hindus and Sikhs respectively. After partition Pakistan, with its colonial past,
had the choice of either adopting the language of its erstwhile masters; English, as its
state language or the language of the majority, Bangla. The choice made, however,
was Urdu because of an emotional association with it as well as for other reasons.
 This declaration of Urdu as the state language disappointed the majority of the
population, the citizens of East Pakistan whose mother tongue was Bangla. They
overwhelmingly demanded that Bangla be declared the state language in addition to
Urdu. The Bengali language movement was accompanied by violent protests resulting
in Bangla being finally declared the second language of the state. The movement
underlines the significance of language as a symbol of identity.
 The other local languages spoken in the provinces, including Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushto
and Balochi, were unfortunately either ignored or relegated to an inferior status. This
attitude was manifested in the lack of institutional support offered to these languages.
A case in point is Punjabi it is the mother tongue of about 50 per cent of the citizens
of Pakistan but is not taught as a subject at school level. Thus the children of Punjabi
families cannot read or write in their mother tongue and are literally cut off from the
rich literary heritage of their language. To a lesser extent this is true of other Pakistani
languages as well.
 Interestingly, the declaration of Urdu as the state language had no adverse impact on
the English language, which continued to be the most powerful language in offices,
courts and the corridors of power, including the bureaucracy, army and the judiciary.
The major role played by English as the language of power had multiple effects on
Pakistan's educational domain. A number of the country's leaders — Ayub Khan,
Yahya Khan and Ziaul Haq — issued political statements in favour of Urdu but did
not take the concrete step of introducing it within the domains of power.
 With this meaningless lip service to Urdu, we saw the emergence of some scholars
who vehemently opposed the English language and English-medium schools in
Pakistan. Although this opposition could be based on good intentions, it ignored the
global role played by English in terms of jobs, higher studies, trade, etc. Since 1947,
we have witnessed tension between adherence to the national linguistic heritage and a
compelling desire to reach out.
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 The two competing schools of thought tend to totally reject the other in Pakistan. The
school of thought that is in favour of Urdu or the local languages does not see any role
for English. The other school of thought, which favours English, considers native
languages insignificant. Since the latter is in power, local languages are either ignored
or their potential underestimated. No institutional support is provided to them and
they are being subjected to a slow death. The painful fact is that many students who
are being educated in English-medium schools find it difficult to read a book written
in their mother tongue. Many do not know how to count in Urdu or in their mother
tongue. The reason is obvious they are exposed to English primers before any other
reading material. They start learning the English alphabet before any other.
 As stated before, English is an important contemporary language and to oppose it
would amount to depriving the people of a passport to enhanced opportunities for
success in life. Pakistanis must learn English but not at the cost of rejecting local
languages. In fact, we should be striving for a balance between English and the local
languages. Such a balance can only be achieved if our local languages are given
respect and validation through institutional support. This would mean introducing
them in primary classes as a subject.
 The significance of exposing students to their native languages lies not just in
providing them with additional linguistic tools for communication but also in helping
them associate with their cultural roots, of which language is an important
manifestation.
 We have seen a number of educational policies instituted by different governments
but never has there been a comprehensive document on language policy. Excerpts
from different documents refer to certain claimed objectives but they were not
bolstered by institutional support. There is a serious need to carve out a policy that is
realistic in nature and that makes the attempt to preserve local languages and cultures.
 The writer is a professor & director of the Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences
at the Lahore School of Economics and author of Rethinking Education in Pakistan.
Refrences:
 Kaplan B., Robert, and Richard B. Baldauf Jr. Language Planning from Practice to Theory.
Clevedon: Multilingual Matters ltd., 1997
 Cobarrubias, Juan. "Ethical Issues in Status Planning." Progress in Language Planning:
International Perspectives. Eds. Juan Cobarrubias and Joshua Fishman. New York: Mouton
Publishers, 1983.
 Language: An Introduction, Lehmann, W.P., 1983, Random House

Q.4: The following factors play a great role in determining the character of
a language. Write about some specific influences that these factors have on
a language.
– Geographical situation
– Social environment

Ans: Geographical influence on a language:

 Language is basic to social interactions, affecting them and being affected by

them. Connie Eble of the University of North Carolina explains how the field of
sociolinguistics analyses the many ways in which language and society intersect.
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 Sociolinguistics is the study of how language serves and is shaped by the social nature
of human beings. In its broadest conception, sociolinguistics analyses the many and
diverse ways in which language and society entwine. This vast field of inquiry
requires and combines insights from a number of disciplines, including linguistics,
sociology, psychology and anthropology.
 Sociolinguistics examines the interplay of language and society, with language as the
starting point. Variation is the key concept, applied to language itself and to its use.
The basic premise of sociolinguistics is that language is variable and changing. As a
result, language is not homogeneous — not for the individual user and not within or
among groups of speakers who use the same language.
 By studying written records, sociolinguists also examine how language and society
have interacted in the past. For example, they have tabulated the frequency of the
singular pronoun thou and its replacement you in dated hand-written or printed
documents and correlated changes in frequency with changes in class structure in
16th and 17th century England. This is historical sociolinguistics: the study of
relationship between changes in society and changes in language over a period of
time.
 What is dialect?
 Sociolinguists also study dialect — any regional, social or ethnic variety of a
language. By that definition, the English taught in school as correct and used in non-
personal writing is only one dialect of contemporary American English. Usually
called Standard American English or Edited American English, it is the dialect used in
this essay.
 Scholars are currently using a sociolinguistic perspective to answer some intriguing
questions about language in the United States, including these:
 Which speakers in urban areas of the North are changing the pronunciation of vowels
in a systematic way? For instance, some speakers in Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and
Chicago pronounce bat so that it sounds like bet and betso that it sounds
like but. Linguists call these patterned alterations the Northern Cities Vowel Shift.
 Which features of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) grammar are used
by middle-class white teen-agers who admire contemporary African-American music,
entertainment and clothing? For instance, white adolescents might speak approvingly
of the style of a peer by saying she money or he be jammin’ — sentence structures
associated with African Americans.
 Which stereotypical local pronunciations are exaggerated to show local allegiance?
Such language behavior has been pointed out recently for Pittsburgh, New Orleans
and the barrier islands off North Carolina known as the Outer Banks. At the end of the
20th century, connections between the isolated Outer Banks and the greater world
increased. This changed the local seafood industry and made the Outer Banks a
destination for a growing number of tourists. Using the typical way that the natives
pronounce the vowel in the words high and tide, these North Carolinians are
called Hoi Toiders. They continue to use this distinctive vowel even though in other
ways their dialect is becoming more like other American dialects.
 What will be the linguistic impact of the impending loss of monolingual French
speakers in the Acadian, or Cajun, region of southern Louisiana? What are the traces
of French in Cajun Vernacular English, the dialect of monolingual speakers of
English who consider themselves Cajun? Will these French features be sustained?
 What slang terms do students use to show affiliation with subgroups of their peers and
to distinguish themselves from their parents’ generation? In 2002, for example,
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university students in North Carolina described things that were great, pleasing or
favorable as cool, hype, money, phat, tight or sweet — but definitely not swell.
 Variation in language is not helter-skelter. It is systematic. For instance, a speaker
may sometimes pronounce the word mind to sound just like minethrough a process
called consonant cluster reduction. Pronunciation of the final–nd consonant cluster as
–n tends to occur before consonants; i.e., the speaker’s choice of saying mine instead
of mind is conditioned by a feature of the language itself (whether or not a consonant
sound follows the word).For instance, a speaker is likely to say ―I wouldn’t mind
owning a BMW‖ (with both n and d pronounced before o), but ―I wouldn’t mine
borrowing your BMW‖ (with nd reduced to n before b).
 Variation also correlates with social factors outside of language. For example,
Appalachian working-class speakers reduce consonant clusters more often than
northern Anglo-American working class speakers and working-class African
Americans, regardless of their region, reduce consonant clusters more frequently than
do other working-class speakers. Thus, the occurrence of final consonant cluster
reduction is conditioned internally by its position in the speech stream and externally
by the social factors of socioeconomic class and ethnicity.
 Another example of an internal linguistic variable is the pronunciation of the words
spelled pen, ten and Ben so that they sound as if they were spelled pin,
tin and bin. This variable correlates with being Southern, regardless of age, gender,
socio-economic class or ethnicity. However, among Southerners, the pronunciation
of ask as if it were spelled ax correlates with ethnicity, because the pronunciation is
used most often (but not exclusively) by African Americans.
 Another pronunciation variant that correlates with a social category is heard in New
Orleans. In working-class neighbourhoods, words spelled with oi are often
pronounced as if spelled er. For these speakers, then, the word point rhymes
with weren’t. Age is another social variable. In North Carolina, elderly speakers often
pronounce duke, stupid and newspaper with a y-sound before the vowel. Instead of
the common pronunciations dook, stoopid, and nooz for these words, they say dyuke,
styupid, and nyuz. (This is basically the difference all English speakers make between
the words food and feud; feud has a y-sound before the vowel.) Speakers born after
World War II seldom use this pronunciation.
 Sociolinguists: Subjects and Leaders
 Sociolinguists study many other issues, among them the values that hearers place on
variations in language, the regulation of linguistic behavior, language standardization,
and educational and governmental policies concerning language.
 The term sociolinguistics is associated with William Labov and his quantitative
methodology. Around the world, many linguists study the intersection of language
and social factors from other perspectives. The most prominent is M. A. K. Halliday,
whose approach is called systemic-functionalist linguistics. Some other prominent
sociolinguists are Guy Bailey, John Baugh, Jack Chambers, Penelope Eckert, Lesley
Milroy, John Rickford, Suzanne Romaine, Roger Shuy, Deborah Tannen, Peter
Trudgill, and Walt Wolfram.
References:
Trudgill, P. (1974). Linguistic change and diffusion: description and explanation in
sociolinguistic dialect geography. Language in Society 3:2, 215-46.
Trudgill, P. (1983). On dialect: social and geographical perspectives. Oxford: Basil
Blackwell; New York: New York University Press.
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Trudgill, P. (1975). Linguistic geography and geographical linguistics. Progress in Geography

7, 227-52
 Social environmental influences on language
 The environment a child develops in has influences on language development. The
environment provides language input for the child to process. Speech by adults to
children help provide the child with correct language usage repetitively.
Environmental influences on language development are explored in the tradition of
social interactionist theory by such researchers as Jerome Bruner, Alison Gopnik,
Andrew Meltzoff, Anat Ninio, Roy Pea, Catherine Snow, Ernest Moerk and Michael
Tomasello. Jerome Bruner who laid the foundations of this approach in the 1970s,
emphasized that adult "scaffolding" of the child's attempts to master linguistic
communication is an important factor in the developmental process.
 One component of the young child's linguistic environment is child-directed speech
(also known as baby talk or motherese), which is language spoken in a higher pitch
than normal with simple words and sentences. Although the importance of its role in
developing language has been debated, many linguists think that it may aid in
capturing the infant's attention and maintaining communication. When children begin
to communicate with adults, this motherese speech allows the child the ability to
discern the patterns in language and to experiment with language.
 Throughout research done, it is concluded that children exposed to extensive
vocabulary and complex grammatical structures more quickly develop language and
also have a more accurate syntax than children raised in environments without
complex grammar exposed to them. With motherese, the mother talks to the child and
responds back to the child, whether it be a babble the child made or a short sentence.
While doing this, the adult prompts the child to continue communicating, which may
help a child develop language sooner than children raised in environments where
communication is not fostered.
 Child-directed speech concentrates on small core vocabulary, here and now topics,
exaggerated facial expressions and gestures, frequent questioning, paralinguistic
changes, and verbal rituals. An infant is least likely to produce vocalizations when
changed, fed, or rocked. The infant is more likely to produce vocalizations in response
to a nonverbal behavior such as touching or smiling.]
 Child-directed speech also catches the child's attention, and in situations where words
for new objects are being expressed to the child, this form of speech may help the
child recognize the speech cues and the new information provided. Data shows that
children raised in highly verbal families had higher language scores than those
children raised in low verbal families. Continuously hearing complicated sentences
throughout language development increases the child's ability to understand these
sentences and then to use complicated sentences as they develop. Studies have shown
that students enrolled in high language classrooms have two times the growth in
complex sentences usage than students in classrooms where teachers do not
frequently use complex sentences.
 Adults use strategies other than child-directed speech like recasting, expanding, and
labelling:

 Recasting is rephrasing something the child has said, perhaps turning it into a
question or restating the child's immature utterance in the form of a fully grammatical
sentence. For example, a child saying "cookie now" a parent may respond with
"Would you like a cookie now?"
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 Expanding is restating, in a linguistically sophisticated form, what a child has said.

For example, a child may say "car move road" and the parent may respond "A car
drives on the road."]
 Labeling is identifying the names of objects. If a child points to an object such as a
couch the mother may say "couch" in response. Labeling can also be characterized as
referencing.
 Some language development experts have characterized child directed speech in
stages. Primarily, the parents use repetition and also variation to maintain the infant's
attention. Secondly, the parent simplifies speech to help in language learning. Third,
any speech modifications maintain the responsiveness of the child. These
modifications develop into a conversation that provides context for the development.
 Cultural and socioeconomic effects
 While most children throughout the world develop language at similar rates and
without difficulty, cultural and socioeconomic differences have been shown to
influence development. An example of cultural differences in language development
can be seen when comparing the interactions of mothers in the United States with
their infants with mothers in Japan. Mothers in the United States use more questions,
are more information-oriented, and use more grammatically correct utterances with
their 3-month-olds. Mothers in Japan, on the other hand, use more physical contact
with their infants, and more emotion-oriented, nonsense, and environmental sounds,
as well as baby talk, with their infants. These differences in interaction techniques
reflect differences in "each society's assumptions about infants and adult-to-adult
cultural styles of talking."
 Specifically in North American culture, maternal race, education, and socioeconomic
class influence parent-child interactions in the early linguistic environment. When
speaking to their infants, mothers from middle class "incorporate language goals more
frequently in their play with their infants," and in turn, their infants produce twice as
many vocalizations as lower class infants. Mothers from higher social classes who are
better educated also tend to be more verbal, and have more time to spend engaging
with their infants in language. Additionally, lower class infants may receive more
language input from their siblings and peers than from their mothers.
 Social preconditions
 It is crucial that children are allowed to socially interact with other people who can
vocalize and respond to questions. For language acquisition to develop successfully,
children must be in an environment that allows them to communicate socially in that
language. Children who have learnt sound, meaning and grammatical system of
language that can produce clear sentence may still not have the ability to use language
effectively in various social circumstance. Social interaction is the footing stone of
language.
 There are a few different theories as to why and how children develop language. The
most popular—and yet heavily debated—explanation is that language is acquired
through imitation. The two most accepted theories in language development are
psychological and functional.] Psychological explanations focus on the mental
processes involved in childhood language learning. Functional explanations look at
the social processes involved in learning the first language.
 Different aspects

 Phonology involves the rules about the structure and sequence of speech sounds.
 Semantics consists of vocabulary and how concepts are expressed through words.
 Grammar involves two parts.
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 The first, syntax, is the rules in which words are arranged into sentences.
 The second, morphology, is the use of grammatical markers (indicating tense, active
or passive voice etc.).

 Pragmatics involves the rules for appropriate and effective communication.

Pragmatics involves three skills:
 using language for greeting, demanding etc.,
 changing language for talking differently depending on who it is you are talking to;
 Following rules such as turn taking, staying on topic. Each component has its own
appropriate developmental periods.
References:
Chomsky N. A Review of Verbal Behavior by B.F. Skinner. Language 1959;35:26-58.
Pinker S. Language learnability and language development. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University
Press; 1984.
Elman JL, Bates EA, Johnson MH, Karmiloff-Smith A, Parisi D, Plunkett K. Rethinking innateness: A
connectionist perspective on development. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press; 1996.
Rescorla L. The language development survey: A screening tool for delayed language in toddlers.
Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders 1989;54(4):587-599.

Q.5: What do you understand by the term local forms of English explain with suitable
examples. Also state as to which form of English should be learnt in our country. Debate
your opinion in detail.

Q.6: Write short notes on the following and give suitable examples.
a. Isogloss
b. Register
c. Style
Ans: A. ISOGLOSS
 Definition
 An isogloss is a geographical boundary line marking the area in which a distinctive
linguistic feature commonly occurs. Adjective: isoglossal or isoglossic. Also known
as heterogloss.
 This linguistic feature may be phonological (e.g., the pronunciation of a vowel),
lexical (the use of a word), or some other aspect of language.
 Major divisions between dialects are marked by bundles of isoglosses.
 Etymology
 From the Greek, "similar" or "equal" + "tongue"
 Examples and Observations
 "[S]peakers in southern Pennsylvania say bucket, and those in the north part of the
state say pail. [The line of demarcation between the two] is called an isogloss. Dialect
areas are determined by large 'bundles' of such isoglosses.
 "Several noteworthy projects have been devoted to mapping the features and
distribution of dialects across the United States, including Frederic Cassidy's
Dictionary of American Regional English [DARE] (begun in the 1960s and
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[completed in 2013]), and William Labov, Sharon Ash, and Charles Boberg's The
Atlas of North American English (ANAE), published in 2005."
(Kristin Denham and Anne Lobeck, Linguistics for Everyone: An Introduction.
Wadsworth, 2010)
 Regional Dialects
 "English is made up of a number of regional dialects. Linguists can identify the main
characteristics of different regions, and the isoglosses establish boundaries which
group together non-standard dialect forms with similar distinctive linguistic features.
Inevitably, there are some overlaps--although non-standard lexis tends to be located in
specific regions, non-standard grammatical features are similar across boundaries."
 (Sara Thorne, Mastering Advanced English Language, 2nd ed. Palgrave Macmillan,
2008)
 Drawing an Optimal Isogloss
 "The task of drawing an optimal isogloss has five stages:
1. Selecting a linguistic feature that will be used to classify and define a regional
dialect.
2. Specifying a binary division of that feature or a combination of binary features.
3. Drawing an isogloss for that division of the feature, using the procedures
described below.
4. Measuring the consistency and homogeneity of the isogloss by the measures to be
described below.
5. Recycling through steps 1-4 to find the definition of the feature that maximizes
consistency or homogeneity."
o (William Labov, Sharon Ash, and Charles Boberg, The Atlas of North
American English: Phonetics, Phonology, and Sound Change. Mouton de
Gruyter, 2005)
 Focal Areas and Relic Areas
 "Isoglosses can also show that a particular set of linguistic features appears to be
spreading from one location, a focal area, into neighbouring locations. In the 1930s
and 1940s Boston and Charleston were the two focal areas for the temporary spread of
r-lessens in the eastern United States. Alternatively, a particular area, a relic area,
may show characteristics of being unaffected by changes spreading out from one or
more neighbouring areas. Places like London and Boston are obviously focal areas;
places like Martha's Vineyard--it remained r-pronouncing in the 1930s and 1940s
even as Boston dropped the pronunciation--in New England and Devon in the extreme
southwest of England are relic areas."
 (Ronald Wardhaugh, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 6th ed. Wiley-Blackwell,
2010)
 Kinds of Linguistic Features
 "Further distinctions can be made in terms of the kind of linguistic feature being
isolated: an isophone is a line drawn to mark the limits of a phonological feature; an
isomorph marks the limits of a morphological feature; an isolex marks the limits of a
lexical item; an isoseme marks the limits of a semantic feature (as when lexical items
of the same phonological form take on different meanings in different areas)."
 (David Crystal, A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, 4th ed. Blackwell, 1997)
The Canadian Shift Isogloss
 "A given region may have optimal conditions for a given sound change, which may
affect almost all speakers. This is the case with the Canadian Shift, involving a
retraction of /e/ and /ae/ . . .; it is especially favoured in Canada because the low back
merger that triggers the shift takes place well to the back of the vowel space for
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almost everyone. Homogeneity for the Canadian Shift isogloss, which stops at the
Canadian border, is .84 (21 of the 25 speakers within the isogloss). But the same
process takes place occasionally throughout other areas of low back merger in the
U.S., so that consistency for the Canadian isogloss is only .34. Outside of Canada, the
instances of this phenomenon are scattered throughout a much larger population, and
leakage is only .10. Homogeneity is the crucial measure for the dynamics of the
Canadian vowel system."
Reference:
(William Labov, Sharon Ash, and Charles Boberg, The Atlas of North American
English: Phonetics, Phonology, and Sound Change. Mouton de Gruyter, 2005)
B. REGISTER:
 In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a
particular social setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting contrary to
an informal setting, an English speaker may be more likely to use features of
prescribed grammar—such as pronouncing words ending in -ing with a velar nasal
instead of an alveolar nasal (e.g. "walking", not "walkin'"), choosing more formal
words (e.g. father vs. dad, child vs. kid, etc.), and refraining from using words
considered nonstandard, such as ain't.
 As with other types of language variation, there tends to be a spectrum of registers
rather than a discrete set of obviously distinct varieties – numerous registers could be
identified, with no clear boundaries between them. Discourse categorisation is a
complex problem, and even in the general definition of "register" given above
(language variation defined by use not user), there are cases where other kinds of
language variation, such as regional or age dialect, overlap. Consequent to this
complexity, scholarly consensus has not been reached for the definitions of terms
including "register", "field" or "tenor"; different scholars' definitions of these terms
are often in direct contradiction of each other. Additional terms including diatype,
genre, text types, style, acrolect, mesolect and basilect, among many others, may be
used to cover the same or similar ground. Some prefer to restrict the domain of the
term "register" to a specific vocabulary (Wardhaugh, 1986) (which one might
commonly call jargon), while others[who?] argue against the use of the term altogether.
These various approaches with their own "register", or set of terms and meanings, fall
under disciplines including sociolinguistics, stylistics, pragmatics or systemic
functional grammar.
 History and use
 The term register was first used by the linguist Thomas Bertram Reid in 1956, and
brought into general currency in the 1960s by a group of linguists who wanted to
distinguish among variations in language according to the user (defined by variables
such as social background, geography, sex and age), and variations according to use,
"in the sense that each speaker has a range of varieties and choices between them at
different times" (Halliday et al., 1964). The focus is on the way language is used in
particular situations, such as legalese or motherese, the language of a biology research
lab, of a news report, or of the bedroom.
 M. A. K. Halliday and R. Hasan (1976) interpret register to be "the linguistic features
which are typically associated with a configuration of situational features – with
particular values of the field, mode and tenor...". Field for them is "the total event, in
which the text is functioning, together with the purposive activity of the speaker or
writer; includes subject-matter as one of the elements". Mode is "the function of the
text in the event, including both the channel taken by language – spoken or written,
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extempore or prepared – and its genre, rhetorical mode, as narrative, didactic,

persuasive, 'phatic communion', etc." The tenor refers to "the type of role interaction,
the set of relevant social relations, permanent and temporary, among the participants
involved". These three values – field, mode and tenor – are thus the determining
factors for the linguistic features of the text. "The register is the set of meanings, the
configuration of semantic patterns, that are typically drawn upon under the specified
conditions, along with the words and structures that are used in the realization of these
meanings." Register, in the view of M. A. K. Halliday and R. Hasan, is one of the two
defining concepts of text. "A text is a passage of discourse which is coherent in these
two regards: it is coherent with respect to the context of situation, and therefore
consistent in register; and it is coherent with respect to itself, and therefore cohesive."
 Register being formality scale
 One of the most analyzed areas where the use of language is determined by the
situation is the formality scale. Especially in language teaching, the term "register"
often forms a shorthand for formal/informal style, although this is an aging definition.
Linguistics textbooks may use the term "tenor" instead (Halliday 1978), but
increasingly prefer the term "style" – "we characterise styles as varieties of language
viewed from the point of view of formality" (Trudgill, 1992) – while defining
"registers" more narrowly as specialist language use related to a particular activity,
such as academic jargon. There is very little agreement as to how the spectrum of
formality should be divided.
 In one prominent model, Martin Joos (1961) describes five styles in spoken English:
 Frozen: Also referred to as static register. Printed unchanging language, such as
Biblical quotations, often contains archaisms. Examples are the Pledge of Allegiance
of the United States of America and other "static" vocalizations that are recited in a
ritualistic monotone. The wording is exactly the same every time it is spoken.
 Formal: One-way participation; no interruption; technical vocabulary or exact
definitions are important; includes presentations or introductions between strangers.
 Consultative: Two-way participation; background information is provided – prior
knowledge is not assumed. "Back-channel behavior" such as "uh huh", "I see", etc. is
common. Interruptions are allowed. Examples include teacher/student, doctor/patient,
expert/apprentice, etc.
 Casual: In-group friends and acquaintances; no background information provided;
ellipsis and slang common; interruptions common. This is common among friends in
a social setting.
 Intimate: Non-public; intonation more important than wording or grammar; private
vocabulary. Also includes non-verbal messages. This is most common among family
members and close friends.
 References
 ISO 12620 Data Category: register

 Gregory, M. (1967), "Aspects of Varieties Differentiation", Journal of Linguistics 3:

177–197.
 Halliday, M. A. K. and R. Hasan (1976), Cohesion in English, London: Longman.

C. STYLE:

 There is a widely held view that style is the correspondence between thought and
expression. The notion is based on the assumption; that of the two functions of
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language, (language is said to have two functions: it serves as a means of

communication and also as a means of shaping one's thoughts). The first function is
called communicative, the second - expressive, the latter finds its proper
materialization in strings of sentences especially arranged to convey the ideas and
also to get the desired response.
 Indeed, every sentence uttered may be characterized from two sides: whether or not
the string of language forms expressed is something well-known and therefore easily
understood and to some extent predictable; whether or not the string of language
forms is built anew; is, as it were, an innovation made on the part of the listener to get
at the meaning of the utterance and is therefore unpredictable.
 Many great minds have made valuable observations on the interrelation between
thought and expression. The main trend in most of these observations may be
summarized as follows the linguistic form of the idea expressed always reflects the
peculiarities of the thought. And vice versa, the character of the thought will always
in a greater or lesser degree manifest itself in the language forms chosen for the
expression of the idea.
 Another commonly accepted connotation of the term style is embellishment of
language. This concept is popular and is upheld in some of the scientific papers on
literary criticism. Language and style are regarded as separate bodies, language can
easily dispense with style, which is likened to the trimming on a dress. Moreover,
style as an embellishment of language is viewed as something that hinders
understanding. In its extreme, style may dress the thought in such fancy attire that one
can hardly get at the idea hidden behind the elaborate design of tricky stylistic
devices.
 This notion presupposes the use of bare language forms deprived of any stylistic
devices of any expressive means deliberately employed. Perhaps it is due to this
notion that the word "style" itself still bears a somewhat derogatory meaning. It is
associated with the idea of something pompous, showy artificial, something that is set
against simplicity, truthfulness, the natural. Shakespeare was a determined enemy of
all kinds of embellishments of language.
 A very popular notion among practical linguists, teachers of language, is that style is
technique of expression. In this sense style is generally defined as the ability to write
clearly, correctly and in a manner calculated to the interest of the reader. Style in this
utilitarian sense should be taught, but it belongs to the realm of grammar, and not to
stylistics. It sets up a number of rules as to how to speak and write and discards all
kinds of deviations as being violations of the norm. The norm itself becomes rigid,
self-sustained and to a very great extent inflexible.
 The term style also signifies a literary genre. Thus we speak of classical style or the
style of classicism; realistic style; the style of romanticism and so on. On the other
hand, the term is widely used in literature, being applied to the various kinds of
literary work, the fable, novel, ballad, story etc. Thus we speak of a story being
written in the style of a fable or we speak of the characteristic features of the
epistolary style or the essay and so on.
 Finally there is one more important application of the term style. We speak of the
different styles of language. A style of Language is a system of interrelated language
means which serves a definite aim in communication. The peculiar choice of
language means is primarily dependent on the aim of communication.
 Thus we may distinguish the following styles within the English literary language: 1)
the belles- letters style; 2) the publicistic style; 3) the newspaper style; 4} the
scientific prose style; 5) the style of official documents and presumably some others.
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The classification presented here is not arbitrary; the work is still in the observational
stage. The classification is not proof against criticism, though no one will deny that
the five groups of styles exist in the English literary language.
Reference:
Labov, William.. Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,
1972.
Eckert, Penelope. Variation and the indexical field. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 2008, 12: 453–
476

Q.7: Distinguish between:

A. Standard language and dialect
B. Dialect and idiolect
Ans:
 A: Standard language and dialect
 Difference between Language and Dialect in Sociolinguistics
 To understand the difference between dialect and standard language in
sociolinguistics, we will have to understand the concept of language variation and
change first.
 Language Variation
 Language is not a static phenomenon. Language as a whole and even its subparts
(vocabulary, morphology, syntax, etc.) keep changing with time. There are many
reasons behind language change. Language change can be synchronic (in the same
time) or diachronic (historically).
 Language change is governed by the users of language or the language speakers.
Depending upon the age, gender, education level, region, etc. of a language speaker,
language shows variation. For example, the gendered language variation arises as
women speak a language differently than men. Similarly, one same language, for
instance, English, is spoken differently by speakers living in Washington (American
English) and in London (UK English). Interestingly, even within a country or state,
language shows change.
 One of the major causes of language variation is ―multilingualism‖ or competency in
more than one language. A speaker of a language like Hindi who has been well read
in a foreign language like English, inevitably, will use Hindi differently than one who
has never been exposed to another such foreign language as, with many other things,
there will be cases of code mixing, code switching, etc.
 Note that institutions and formal bodies like universities, publishing houses, and some
other governmental bodies try to prevent language from changing, but, of course, with
limited success. All languages find a way to change and mix with other language
(unless we talk about a completely isolated tribal population using their own language
in strict terms). We can comfortably say that there can never be a pure, uncorrupted,
unmixed language.
 These many variations in the language, with time and distance, result into different
dialects of that language. Dialects of the same language would have differences, but
these differences won’t be striking enough to generate incomprehension. Speakers of
different dialects of a language will be able to comprehend each other, may be, even
with minor difficulties in some cases.
 What is the difference between standard language and dialect?
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 One language can have many dialects. Linguistically speaking, the difference between
standard language and dialect is merely the formal process of ―standardisation‖
(selection, codification, elaboration and acceptance) that the standard language
undergoes and the dialect doesn’t. Dialect in linguistics is, thus, the non standard
variety of language. When we talk in terms of sociology and politics of language,
however, we have to address the issue of prestige and power. Standard language is
most often considered as the language of power, prestige and high status, whereas the
many other dialects of language are considered inferior and low in status.
 It is important to know that the dialect of language is no way linguistically incomplete
or deficient form of language. But for official and formal purposes, only one language
can be chosen to become the standard variety. If we get into the intricacies of it, we
will appreciate the fact that this selection of one random non-standard variety of
language for standardisation is not that random. In fact, this selection is governed by
politics or power, i.e. by those seated at high positions in the society. The variety of
language used by a low status community would rarely be chosen for the
standardisation process.
 The issue gets even more complication when the speakers of the standard variety
consider themselves as superior to the speakers of the non-standard variety or dialect
of language. To raise oneself higher in the society stratum, often, then, the speakers
abandon their language variety and try to learn the standard variety. Language
becomes the marker of a community. Language becomes identity. Language reflects
power. There have been incidents where language speakers fight and protest against
official bodies and force them to give their dialect the status of a standard language.
Many a time, this even leads to violence. The case of language and dialect in India has
often resulted into this scenario.
 The New York variety of English and the Massachusetts variety of English are
usually considered highly prestigious or the standard language varieties. An example
of dialect of English language that is considered inferior is cockney English. It is
interesting to know that the famous English dramatist Bernard Shaw made use of this
in his classic play Pygmalion. Similarly, eastern Hindi and western Hindi are two of
the many dialects of Hindi language.

B: Dialect and idiolect:

 Dialect
 The term dialect (from Latin dialectus, dialectos, from the ancient Greek word
διάλεκτος diálektos, "discourse", from διά diá, "through" and λέγω legō, "I speak") is
used in two distinct ways to refer to two different types of linguistic phenomena.
 One usage—the more common among linguists—refers to a variety of a language that
is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. Despite their
differences, these varieties known as dialects are closely related and most often
mutually intelligible, especially if close to one another on the dialect continuum. The
term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be
defined by other factors, such as social class or ethnicity. A dialect that is associated
with a particular social class can be termed a sociolect, a dialect that is associated with
a particular ethnic group can be termed as ethnolect, and a regional dialect may be
termed a regiolect.
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 According to this definition, any variety of a given language constitutes "a dialect",
including any standard varieties. In this case, the distinction between the "standard
language," or the "standard" dialect of a particular language, and the "nonstandard"
dialects of the same language is often arbitrary and based on social, political, cultural,
or historical considerations. In a similar way, the definition of the terms "language"
and "dialect" may also overlap and are often subject to debate, with the differentiation
between the two classifications often grounded in arbitrary and/or sociopolitical
motives.
 The other usage of the term "dialect", often deployed in colloquial or sociolinguistic
settings, refers to a language that is socially subordinated to a regional or national
standard language, often historically cognate or genetically related to the standard
language, but not actually derived from the standard language. In other words, it is not
an actual variety of the "standard language" or dominant language, but rather a
separate, independently evolved but often distantly related language. In this sense,
unlike in the first usage, the standard language would not itself be considered a
"dialect," as it is the dominant language in a particular state or region, whether in
terms of linguistic prestige, social or political status, official status, predominance or
prevalence, or all of the above. Meanwhile, under this usage, the "dialects"
subordinate to the standard language are generally not variations on the standard
language but rather separate (but often distantly related) languages in and of
themselves.
 Thus, these "dialects" are not dialects or varieties of a particular language in the same
sense as in the first usage; though they may share roots in the same family or
subfamily as the standard language and may even, to varying degrees, share some
mutual intelligibility with the standard language, they often did not evolve closely
with the standard language or within the same linguistic subgroup or speech
community as the standard language and instead may better fit the criteria of a
separate language.
 For example, most of the various regional Romance languages of Italy, often
colloquially referred to as Italian "dialects," are, in fact, not actually derived from
modern standard Italian, but rather evolved from Vulgar Latin separately and
individually from one another and independently of standard Italian, long prior to the
diffusion of a national standardized language throughout what is now Italy. These
various Latin-derived regional languages are therefore, in a linguistic sense, not truly
"dialects" of the standard Italian language, but are instead better defined as their own
separate languages. Conversely, with the spread of standard Italian throughout Italy in
the 20th century and the increase in dialect leveling, various regional versions or
varieties of standard Italian developed, generally as a mix of the national standard
Italian with local regional languages and local accents. These variations on standard
Italian, known as regional Italian, would more appropriately be called "dialects" in
accordance with the first linguistic definition of "dialect," as they are in fact derived
partially or mostly from standard Italian.
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 A dialect is distinguished by its vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation (phonology,

including prosody). Where a distinction can be made only in terms of pronunciation
(including prosody, or just prosody itself), the term accent may be preferred over
dialect. Other types of speech varieties include jargons, which are characterized by
differences in lexicon (vocabulary); slang; patois; pidgins; and argots. The particular
speech patterns used by an individual are termed an idiolect.
 Idiolect
 Idiolect is an individual's distinctive and unique use of language, including speech.
This unique usage encompasses vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.
 Idiolect is the variety of language unique to an individual. This differs from a dialect,
a common set of linguistic characteristics shared among some group of people.
 Idiolect and language
 The notion of language is used as an abstract description of the language use, and of
the abilities of individual speakers and listeners. According to this view, a language is
an "ensemble of idiolects . . . rather than an entity per se. "Linguists study particular
languages, such as English or Xhosa, by examining the utterances produced by the
people who speak the language.
 This contrasts with a view among non-linguists, at least in the United States, that
languages as ideal systems exist outside the actual practice of language users. Based
on work done in the US, Nancy Niedzielski and Dennis Preston describe a language
ideology that appears to be common among American English speakers. According to
Niedzielski and Preston, many of their subjects believe that there is one "correct"
pattern of grammar and vocabulary that underlies Standard English, and that
individual usage derives from this external system.
 Linguists who understand particular languages as a composite of unique, individual
idiolects must nonetheless account for the fact that members of large speech
communities, and even speakers of different dialects of the same language, can
understand one another. All human beings seem to produce language in essentially the
same way. This has led to searches for universal grammar, as well as attempts to
further define the nature of particular languages.
 The scope of forensic linguistics includes attempts to identify whether a certain
person did or did not produce a given text by comparing the style of the text with the
idiolect of the individual. The forensic linguist may conclude that the text is consistent
with the individual, rule out the individual as the author, or deem the comparison
inconclusive.
References:
Wolfram, Walt and Schilling, Natalie. 2016. American English: Dialects and Variation. West Sussex:
John Wiley & Sons, p. 184.
Chao, Yuen Ren (1968). Language and Symbolic Systems. CUP archive.
Lyons, John (1981). Language and Linguistics. Cambridge University Press.
Johnson, David. How Myths about Language Affect Education: What Every Teacher Should Know