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1. SOCIOLINGUISTICS: An
Introduction
Definition:Fishman(1965) definedthefocusofthe
disciplineof Sociolinguisticsas“who speaks what,to
whom, andtowhatend.” “Who“isthespeakerwithallof
thesocialcharacteristics,“what”isthedialector
languagetheychooseoutof theirrepertoire;“towhom”is
theinterlocutor,withsocialcharacteristics,“when”isthe
speechsituationinwhich theinterlocutorsarespeaking
and“towhatend”isthepurposeof interaction.

2. DEFINATION:
• Thestudyoflanguageandlinguisticbehavioras
influencedbysocialandculturefactors.
• Languageisoneofthemostpowerfulemblemsofsocial.In
thenormaltransferofinformation throughlanguage,we
uselanguagetosendvitalsocialmessagesaboutwhowe
are,wherewecomefrom,andwhoweassociatewith. Itis
oftenshockingtorealizehowextensivelywemayjudgea
person’sbackground, character,andintentionsbased
simplyupontheperson’slanguage,dialect,orinsome
instances,eventhechoiceof asingleword.

3. IT DISCUSSES
1. Howrace,power,socialclass,socioeconomicsstatusisjudgedbymerely
judgingthewordusage,dialect,accentandpronunciation.
2. Italsoobservesthebilingualism,multilingualism,andlanguagepower.
3. Itstudiessentencesstructurenotingrammaticalperspectivebutasasocial
activityhavingcertaingoalinthemindof speaker.
4. Itstudiesdialects,languagechangeovertime,powerpossessedbylanguage
use, relationofspeakerandlistener.
5. Itdiscusseslanguageasasocialrealitytostudyhowpeoplerelatedto
differentgenders,socialclass,andethnicgroup
6. Itexamstheprocessoflanguagestandardization,andlanguagedeathis
alsoencompassedbythisarea.
7. Italsostudieslanguageevaluation,anddevelopmentsofpidginandcreole.

4. SOCIOLINGUISTICS
COMPETENCE
• Sociolinguistics Competence allows speakers to
makeaclear andappropriatedifference between
thepossibilities. Forexample, lexical variantslike
‘sir’,‘excuse me’or‘hey’.Using ‘hey’forelderly
peopleis quiteconsidered asinappropriateattitude
orusing‘sir’foran11-yearboycanbeunsuitable
(DrummondandSchleef,2016).

5. EXAMPLES
• Bringmeaglassofwater.
• Canyoubringaglassofwater?
• Wouldyoulike tobringmeaglass ofwater?
• Givemeaclass ofwaterplease!

6. LANGUGE TOPICS
• Sociolinguistics isnotlimited todiscuss different
accents dialects, orotherlanguagecomponents
usage,italso discusses topicchoices among
different genders, age,groupsandsocialclasses.
• WOMEN’S TOPICS:
• MEN’STOPICS:

7. KEY FEATURES
1. Speech Communities (speech habit,useof
languageforpower)
2. LowPrestigeandHighPrestige(statusofthe
language)
3. SocialNetwork(onthebasisofchangelanguage
howapersonconnectwithothersnwatsocial
changesoccurtotheperson)

8. THANKS
BY Ms. LAILA ARIDI
M.Phil (Eng)