2. Sociolinguistics is
the field that studies the relation between
LANGUAGE and SOCIETY
3. Primary task of Linguistics
To map linguistic variation on to social
conditions
it helps to understand
Synchronic variation Diachronic variation
(variation at a point of time) (variation over time)
4. Scholars What they pursue…
Formal Linguist An autonomous system or
significant elements that explain
the design and structure of the
human brain.
Psycholinguist How the system works and how it
can be learned or lost.
Sociolinguist How the system is used in a living
and complex speech community.
Applied Linguist How to help people learn language
and how to use it effectively to
deal with problems of practical
daily life.
5. Sociolinguistics
micro end of SL macro end of SL
(explores the ways in which (focuses more on
society influences a specific society as a whole, in
language of a person) relation to language)
6. Some scholars divide the field into two
parts
Sociolinguistics Sociology of Language
the social influences the role of Language in
on language society
7. In Sociolinguistics
is
The observer’s paradox (Labov’s)
it means
How can we observe the way people speak when
they are nor being observed?
8. What do Sociolinguistics look for? :
Sociolinguistics is looking for evidence of socially
accepted rules accounting for variations in
speech.
in part
the characteristics of the speaker
The speech variation the nature of the speech
encounter
9. Different techniques to obtain data
Clandestine
recording : abandoned for ethical and practical reasons.
Now the subjects are asked for permission.
Sociolinguistic
interview : developed by William Lovob. Here the
Sociolinguist elicits examples of various
kinds of speech.
10. Non-intrusive
responses
: simple questions for studying large
population.
: likely to prove of social significance.
Variable
: the most common “tool” for gathering data
Questionnaires
