Sociolinguistics is the scientific study of the interplay between language and society, focusing on how social factors influence linguistic variation and choices. It examines concepts such as idiolects, varieties, social identity, and the impact of extralinguistic factors like geography and social class. Key topics include dialects, accents, pidgins, and creoles, as well as the prestige of standard language varieties and their role in social identity and communication.

1. INTRODUCTION TO
SOCOLINGUISTICS

2. SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Sociolinguistics is the scientific study of the
relationship between language and society. The
primary concern of sociolinguistic research is to
investigate linguistic variation and the influence of
social factors on language use und language
structure. Sociolinguistics is a young and rapidly
evolving discipline that is characterised by diverse
research interests and increasing heterogeneity.

3. There are no two individuals in the world who speak exactly alike.
The language of the individual members of a speech community, i.e.
of people who can communicate with each other, may be more or less
similar. Each speaker’s language use shows its unique characteristics
and is referred to as her or his idiolect.
When we communicate, we consciously or unconsciously choose
between different forms of language known as varieties (or speech
varieties, or lects).
Sociolinguistics, as the scientific study of the relationship between
language and society, investigates the effects of extralinguistic
factors on the linguistic choices we make.
Extralinguistic factors: geography, social class,
profession, gender, religion, race, ideology…

4. These choices immediately convey information about the social and geographical
background of a speaker. Speakers who make similar choices are said to speak the
same variety. Similarity in linguistic choices is also one of the main elements
constituting group identity.
Listeners draw conclusions about the background of speakers on the basis of their
language, for example about their education, socioeconomic status or occupation.
As a result, speakers can even deliberately use language to signal that they are, or
would like to be, members of a certain group.

5. IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN SOCIOLINGUISTICs
-Variable: A linguistic form with different possible realizations (ex.:
phoneme). According to Downes, a linguistic variable is any given linguistic
feature which can be freely realized by two or more variants, which are the
values of the variable. If a variable can be correlated with a non-linguistic
variable of social context, such as class, style, sex or age, then it can be called
sociolinguistic variable.
- Variant: each of the realizations of the same linguistic form

6. - Variation: the phenomenon of language fluctuating. It
arises when speakers put the system to use. It is socially
conditioned. It is systematic, structured and inherent for
spoken languages.
Stylistic variation: A person’s choice of grammatical
structures and vocabulary will vary with the situation in
which they are speaking. In a relaxed atmosphere, people do
not feel constrained to speak carefully, or to plan what they
are going to say.
- Variety: the set of features associated with a particular
speech community at a particular time.

7. - Pidgin: It is a very simplified means of communication which arises
when speakers of two different languages encounter one another and
have a need for limited communications. It is just used as a contact
language. It incorporates words from both source languages and has a
simplified grammatical structure, just enough to allow some
communication. Often, it is based on a simplified version of one main
language, while borrowing vocabulary and grammar from other
language or languages
- Creole: It is a fully-functional language of its own which includes
elements of its parent languages. It is a native language to its speakers
(although they may also speak a mother language). They have their own
vocabulary which is distinct from their origin languages’ and a fully
developed system of grammar. They are derived from forms of pidgins –
they are simply pidgin languages that have been spoken across
generations and which have developed a community of native speakers. A
pidgin becomes a creole when it is learned as a first language of a new
generation

8. - Accent: An accent consists of a way of pronouncing a
variety. It is restricted to the description of aspects of
pronunciation that identify where an individual speaker is
from, regionally or socially. Whether we think we speak a
standard variety of English or not, we all speak with it. It is
a myth that some speakers have it while others do not. We
might feel that some speakers have very distinct or easily
recognized types while others may have subtler or less
noticeable ones, but every language-user speaks with it.
Accent is a characteristic pronunciation, especially: one
determined by the regional or social background of the
speaker / one determined by the phonetic habits of the
speaker's native language carried over to their use of
another language.

9. -Dialect: They generally develop without conscious
development by the people who speak them. It is used to
describe features of grammar and vocabulary. A dialect
varies from other dialects of the same language
simultaneously on at least three levels of organization:
pronunciation, grammar or syntax, and vocabulary. Thus,
educated speakers of American English and British
English can be regarded as using dialects of the same
language because differences of these three kinds exist
between them. In practice, however, speakers of the two
varieties share a common grammar and differ from each
other more in terms of vocabulary and pronunciation.

10. - Isogloss: A line that represents a boundary between
the areas with regard to one particular linguistic item.
- Standard: They are seen to have greater prestige than
a dialect. Part of this prestige is due to the fact that they
have a written code while a dialect does not. They are
the version found in printed English in newspapers and
books, widely used in the mass media and taught in
most schools. It is the variety we normally try to teach
to those who want to learn English as a second or
foreign language. It is clearly associated with education
and broadcasting in public contexts and is more easily
described in terms of the written language (i.e.
vocabulary, spelling, grammar) than the spoken
language.

11. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STANDARD VARIETy

12. -Codification: attempt to create a uniform norm of usage, to identify one variety a “really”
the language. It is a prerequisite to notions of correctness.
- Prestige: the standard has more prestige than other varieties.
- The standard serves the actual purpose of internal integration and external segregation
symbolically.
o The language serves as a symbol of the society, a representation of its identity and
unity.
o Reflects a sense of national identity.
- The standard is associated with a national elite, the most powerful and prestigious group
in the nation.
- It is characteristically used in the institutions of government.
- Language management: people within the society who are professionally involved with
the language assist in both the creation and preservation of the standard.

13. - The codification is implemented through dictionaries, grammars, and manuals of usage,
standards of correctness.
- It becomes the vehicle for the intellectual, administrative and political life of a society.
- Its prestige, its superordinate position is reinforced by the existance of a literary tradition.
- It is believed to have autonomy and historicity. (its relation to other languages is separate and
equal)
- The attitude of individuals to the group is encoded in their attitude to the language.
- It has a utilitarian value in allowing people to communicate with each other over the whole
extent of the state without the impediment of divergent dialects.
o It facilitates internal communication networks as well.
o This value is important in the process of nation-building, of unifying a state composed of many
diverse groups.
- The practical and the symbolic meet in the vitality of most standards, their use in the maximum
of situations.