Introduction to

Sociolinguistics
Chapter One: Overview: What is
sociolinguistics?
What do sociolinguists study?


Defining sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics is the study of
the complex relationship
between language and society
It is concerned with describing
how people use language in
social contexts
It is based on real-life data of
language use
Research in sociolinguistics
often tries to address social
problems such as
miscommunication, bias,
oppression, success and
failure, effectiveness, conflicts,
professional training.



No single or dominant theory or method of
analysis in sociolinguistics: diverse and eclectic
field
Broad field of study, looking at language-in-use,
based on analyses of naturally-occurring, real-
life empirical data materials (recordings,
surveys, questionnaires, etc.)
Defining sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics and the sociology of language
(see Hudson, p. 12)
Macro- and micro-sociolinguistics (see
Coulmas, p. 13)
Wardhaughs position on the relationship (p. 13)
Discussion p. 15, esp 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6

Relation between language and
society
Society: a fuzzy notion in
sociolinguistics.
It can mean the national group (i.e.
the conventional definition), but can
also be more loosely defined as
community, group or network.
This collectivity may vary in size and
be formed by such things as age,
interest, family, gender, ethnicity,
occupation, geography, social
position, etc.


language and society
connections ...
Several possible connections, or relationships:
1. Social structure (e.g., age, region, education,
class, religion, occupation) determines linguistic
structure
2. Linguistic structure (a specific language)
determines social structure (this is known as
The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis)
3. Dialectical relationship between language
and society: state of flux
4. No relationship (e.g. Chomskian view) worth
studying

Knowledge of language use
A major theme in sociolinguistics is
being able to discover, and describe,
what it entails to use and understand
language appropriately - within the
group
Appropriacy is centrally concerned
with the choices the people make: of
codes, topics, turn-taking styles,
registers, jargon, politeness markers,
swear words, etc. (Holmes, p. 11)
Cultural knowledge
Cultural knowledge is therefore all-important
Cultural knowledge entails knowing how groups (family,
friends, colleagues, fellow citizens, etc.) behave (or are
likely to behave), what is normal (and abnormal)
behaviour (remember that using language is a form of
behaviour!), what is expected in a multiplicity of social
settings.


Norms, values, attitudes (which are all cultural
products and thus culturally constructed in
different communities) are reflexively related to
language; that is, they are all displayed through
language, but also sustained, or changed,
challenged and modified through language.
These are dynamic and collectively defined
Discussion, p. 12

One of the most influential
linguists of the 20th century
Interested in grammaticality:
how humans use a finite set of
structures and rules to produce
an infinite number of
grammatically correct
sentences
We are hard wired to learn
abstract deep structures; this
ability is innate to humans
Noam Chomsky
Chomsky
Knowledge of language: competence and performance
But linguistics should concern itself with the former, rather than
the latter, argued Chomsky (see p. 3)
Study of linguistics should focus on Ideal speaker-listener,
homogeneous speech community, possessing perfect
knowledge of language

Dell Hymes: Challenges
Chomsky ideas on language ..
Dissatisfied with Chomskys
definition of competence: too
narrow, too abstract, too sterile,
and most importantly: too asocial
Hymes broadened the
competence notion to include
knowledge of appropriate
language use in the social and
cultural context (i.e. not only
syntactic correctness, which
Chomsky emphasized)
Hymes views (contd)
Knowing a language: not only grammar but also
knowing about use in contexts, hence communicative
competence (major influence on foreign language
teaching in 1970s and 1980s)
Hymes: We need to merge ethnography (the study of
humans in social and cultural groups) and linguistics
(the study of language), to produce an ethnography of
speaking - the forerunner of sociolinguistics
A good deal of sociolinguistic research has adopted
Hymes ethnography of speaking approach

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-
1913)
Chomskys competence-
performance distinction was
taken from Ferdinand de
Saussures distinction between
langue (group knowledge) and
parole (individual knowledge)
de Saussure: the father of
modern linguistics, saw the study
of language in new ways
Language is organic, (not
atomistic) and should be studied
as such
Diachronic and synchronic
Paradigmatic and syntagmatic

Major topics in sociolinguistic
research (since the mid 1960s)
Like linguistics, sociolinguistics is a broad and eclectic field:
Although sociolinguists are united by their interest in the social use
of language, their fundamental belief in empirical data collections,
and insist on focusing on how people USE language in the social
contexts
there is nevertheless no single dominant analytic method or
theory, no specific goal or leader figure in the field, no one
dominant research topic


There is a cluster of major topics. These include:
Dialects and regional variation: What? Where? Why? Social
significance?
Describing styles of talking (amongst certain groups in various
contexts): informal, friendly chat, job interviews, doctor-patient
consultations, teaching, etc.
Bilingualism and multilingualism: How learned? How used? Social
meaning of using more than one language?
Networks and language use within the network: How are new
members acculturated, sanctioned, what are the rules of the
network, etc.

Major research areas, continued
Culture and language: how the two interrelate, and why (Sapir-Whorf
Hypothesis)
Intercultural communication: problems and solutions
Politeness: How? Mapping and explaining gradations of politeness
Child language, sub-group discourse (elderly, teenagers, hiphoppers,
truckers, gays, etc.)
Language and identity (how identity is accomplished via language)
Talk and conversation - how talk works: topics, beginnings, turns, ends ..
Gender and language - men and women interacting: differences?
Racism, sexism, ageism, and disadvantage - how language plays a role,
and how it can alleviate problems
Language planning - for educators, teacher trainers, schools, nation states,
regions, etc (What should be taught and what not? How? Why?)

Principles for sociolinguistic
investigation (p. 18)
The cumulative principle
The uniformation principle
Principle of convergence
Subordinate shift
Styleshifting
Attention
Vernacular
Formality