32 Sociolinguistics

Dr. Neeru Tandon

Learning outcome

This module offers a consolidated view on Sociolinguistics as a branch of Linguistics. It is significant to note that ‘sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context in which the language is used’ and the effect of language use on society as well.

Learner will be able to demonstrate understanding of the concepts, theories, and methodologies used by linguists in qualitative and quantitative analyses of linguistic structure, and patterns of language use. They will be in the position to demonstrate understanding of processes of language change and variation, the role of language in reflecting and constructing social identities, and the distinctive properties of sociolinguistics. It assumes very little previous knowledge of linguistics, anthropology, or sociology, and so should prove to be most useful in a first-level course. It may also be used as a supplementary text in a higher-level course that deals with a narrow range of topics but in which the instructor wants students to become familiar with topics not treated in that course. The material in these sections is designed to encourage further discussion and research; it may also lead to  assignments of various kinds.

Understanding Sociolinguistics: William Labov is often regarded as the founder of the study of sociolinguistics. He is especially known for introducing the quantitative study of language variation and change, making the sociology of language into a scientific discipline. Viewed as the founder of variationist sociolinguistics, Labov established modern methodologies for collecting and analyzing data from language in use and was a leader in applying sociolinguistic research to address educational challenges.

Sociolinguistics is that branch of linguistics, which studies just those properties of languages that require reference to social, including contextual factors in their explanation. The study of sociolinguistics constitutes a vast and complex topic that has yielded an extensive and multifaceted body of scholarship. Language is fundamentally at work in how we operate as individuals, as members of various communities, and within cultures and societies. As speakers, we learn not only the structure of a given language; we also learn cultural and social norms about how to use language and what content to communicate.

Sociolinguistics is continental and British in origin. It broadens our knowledge of language function in actual use. It tells us that there are no one- to -one correspondences between forms and its meanings. Language variation depends on linguistics forms as well as social factors. In simple words we can say that Sociolinguistics aims to study the effects of language use within and upon societies and the reciprocal effects of social organization and social contexts on language use. In contemporary theoretical perspectives, sociolinguists view language and society as being mutually constitutive: each influences the other in ways that are inseparable and complex. Language is imbued with and carries social, cultural, and personal meaning. Through the use of linguistic markers, speakers symbolically define self and society.

Sociolinguistics vs Sociology of language -Micro Sociolinguistics vs. Macro Sociolinguistics: Sociolinguistics differ from sociology of language. The focus of sociolinguistics is on effect of the society on language, while the focus of sociology of language is on the language’s effect on the society. It is directly related with Applied Linguistics. The subfield of linguistics studies how language is socially embedded, paying attention to the social background and intentions of speakers, issues pertaining to their social characteristics and identities, as well as to the social context of speaking. This context incorporates matters like who is authorized to speak, what counts as appropriate language in different circumstances, and how speakers from different backgrounds may have different cultural assumptions and norms whilst ostensibly using ‘the same language’. The main focus of enquiry is thus not the structure of a language for its own sake, or the acquisition of language by individuals, which is primarily the domain of psycholinguistics; or the abstract mental capacity underlying all languages, which falls under the jurisdiction of cognitive and generative linguistics. Rather, the main focus in Sociolinguistics falls on language use within a speech community. Sociolinguistics is generally characterized by close attention to the actual speech of representative sections of a community, rather than the somewhat static and idealized patterns.

Some investigators have found it appropriate to try to introduce a distinction between sociolinguistics or micro-sociolinguistics and the sociology of language or macro- sociolinguistics. In this distinction, sociolinguistics is concerned with investigating  the relationships between language and society with the goal being a better understanding of the structure of language and of how languages function in communication; the equivalent goal in the sociology of language is trying to discover how social structure can be better understood through the study of language. Hudson (1996, p. 4) has described the difference as follows: Sociolinguistics is ‘the study of language in relation to society,’ whereas the sociology of language is ‘the study of society in relation to language.’ In other words, in sociolinguistics we study language and society in order to find out as much as we can about what kind of thing language is, and in the sociology of language we reverse the direction of our interest.’

Coulmas (1997, p. 2) says that ‘micro-sociolinguistics investigates how social structure influences the way people talk and how language varieties and patterns of use correlate with social attributes such as class, sex, and age. Macro- sociolinguistics, on the other hand, studies what societies do with their languages, that is, attitudes and attachments that account for the functional distribution of speech forms in society, language shift, maintenance, and replacement, the delimitation and interaction of speech communities.’

Sociolinguistic variables: Language is a social product with rich variation along individual, community, cultural, and societal lines. For this reason, context matters a lot in sociolinguistic research. Social categories such as gender, race/ethnicity, social class, nationality, etc., are socially constructed, with considerable variation within and among categories. Sociolinguistic research thus aims to explore social and linguistic diversity in order to better understand how we, as speakers, use language to occupy and exchange our many personal, cultural, and social identities and roles. Labov specifies the ideal sociolinguistic variable to-

• Be high in frequency
• Have a certain immunity from conscious suppression
• Be an integral part of larger structures, and
• Be easily quantified on a linear scale.

Sociocultural linguistics: It incorporates a comprehensive variety of theories and methods for the study of language in its sociocultural context. According to Wikipedia, ‘’The scope of sociocultural linguistics, as described by researchers such as Kira Hall and Mary Bucholtz, is potentially vast, though often includes work drawing from disciplines such as sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, discourse analysis, and sociology of language, as well as certain  streams  of social  psychology, folklore   studies, media    studies, social and literary    theory,    and    the philosophy of language.’’

Interactional Sociolinguistics: Interactional sociolinguistics is concerned with how orators signal and interpret meaning in social interaction. John Gumperz merged insights and tools from anthropology, linguistics, pragmatics, and conversation analysis into an interpretive framework for analyzing such meanings. Interactional sociolinguistics tries to bridge the gulf between empirical communicative forms, for example words, prosody, register shifts and what speakers and listeners take themselves to be doing with these forms.

The field of Sociolinguistics:

In the 21st century, due to disciplinary and methodological distinctions, sociolinguistics has crystallized into its own field (Shuy, 2003; Spolsky, 2010).

Sociolinguistics is still allied with anthropology but has less in common with sociology now than it once did, and today most sociolinguists receive training primarily in linguistics. (Shuy, 2003).

Koerner (1991) primarily positions sociolinguistics within the discipline of linguistics; he narrates sociolinguistics as a diverse field of study that appeared out of previous traditions in historical linguistics, dialect geography, and the study of bilingualism and multilingualism. Ferdinand de Saussure established a theory of semiotics and structuralism that induced the course of modern linguistic theory and modern sociolinguistic thought. He declared the arbitrary nature of the sign that is attached to the signified as well as the significance of considering how time and geographical diversity affect linguistic change. Hazen regarded the famous linguist William Labov as the scholar who has had the greatest influence on sociolinguistics in the contemporary era.

Cognition and Language Change: A primary aim of sociolinguistics is to consider language variation and change in relation to social factors and effects. A foundational text is Weinreich, Labov, & Herzog (1968), which puts forward the concept of structured heterogeneity that motivates variationist sociolinguists. The authors challenge prior linguistic theories that had rested on assumptions of homogeneity. Instead, they propose that, “a reasonable account of change will depend upon the possibility of describing orderly differentiation within language”.

Since that time, language variation and change has emerged as a major area of sociolinguistic study, particularly due to the pioneering research of William Labov. The trilogy of Labov (1992), Labov (2001), and Labov (2010) is a major source on language variation and change. The first volume (Labov, 1992) explores internal factors: “the study of apparent time and real time; principles governing chain shifts; mergers, splits, and near-mergers; the regularity of sound change; functional effects on linguistic change”.

The second volume (Labov, 2001) investigates social factors: “the social location of the innovators of change; the role of socioeconomic class, neighborhood, ethnicity, and gender; the leaders of linguistic change; transmission, incrimination, and continuation of change” .

The third volume (Labov, 2010) centers on cultural and cognitive factors, examining the origins and consequences of the “steadily increasing regional divergence in North American English”  and the forces driving this change.

Sociolinguists are increasingly becoming interested in the relationship between language and cognition, as represented in the growth of two areas of research: the study of language ideologies and the study of the relationship between speech production and speech perception. These areas overlap, in that language ideologies often influence speakers’ perceptions of language variation, and they also contribute to the (re)production of stereotypes and discriminatory discourses that sustain power dynamics in societies.

Sections on Language Contact cover how factors such as geography, mobility, and age interconnect and affect language variation, diachronically and synchronically. Studies of Multiculturalism, Multilingualism, and Globalization and of Endangered Languages and Language Varieties, including efforts in preservation and revitalization, are also leading themes in contemporary sociolinguistic research.

Language Variation, Social correlation and Social Identities

Sociolinguistics being the study of the social uses of language is multidimensional in orientation. Generally speaking there is a wide range of functions to which language can be put, the primary one being ‘referential’ i.e. to exchange facts and opinions. Another one is the ’emotive’ or ‘expressive’ function of language i.e. use of language to give an outlet to sudden emotions (like the words ‘ouch’, ‘wow’, ‘my’, ‘what a pity!’ etc).

Yet another function of language is to establish rapport or signal friendship between people, otherwise called as phatic communion. But ordinarily it goes unnoticed by many that even a brief conversation provides much scope for a serious linguistic study. People reveal a lot about themselves, their background, and their characters while they are engaged in verbal exchange.

People gather a lot of information about other people engaged in conversation; this becomes all the more interesting when they are strangers. In such a case the hearer is not constrained by any pre-suppositions; but after listening to a few sentences he gains a lot of information about the stranger.

J. K. Chambers classifies the kinds of inferences in to five categories as 1) personal,

2) stylistic, 3) social 4) socio-cultural and 5) sociological

The relationship between social and stylistic factors and language variation has been a long-standing focus of sociolinguistic research. In one strand of research, scholars represent race, ethnicity, social class, gender, and age as social variables in statistical models that explore associations with linguistic variables. Another element pursues to investigate, often by integrating qualitative methods, how gender, race/ethnicity, social class, and similar factors are locally co-constructed in interaction.

Fundamental Concepts in Sociolinguistics

There are a few fundamental concepts on which many sociolinguistic researches depend on. Speech Community, Prestige Dialect, Social Network, Internal vs External Language, Social Language Codes, Restricted Codes, Elaborated Codes, Deviation from standard Language varieties, Covert Prestige, Linguistic forms according to age variation are to name a few.

We also study Langue, Parole, Grammatical system, Product of social agreement etc.

Linguistic Diversity: Language and Dialect

Sociolinguists use the terms social dialects or sociolects to refer to differences in speech based on social class, sex, age, and religion. Because of one or more of these factors, a speaker may be more similar in language to people from the same social grouping in a different area than to people from a different social group in the same area. Hudson (1996, p. 22) defines a variety of language as ‘a set of linguistic items with similar distribution,’ a definition that allows us to say that all of the following  are varieties: Canadian English, London English, the English of football commentaries, and so on. According to Hudson, this definition also allows us ‘to treat all the languages of some multilingual speaker, or community, as a single variety, since all the linguistic items concerned have a similar social distribution.’

The Hindi–Urdu situation that Gumperz mentions is an interesting one. Hindi and Urdu are the same language, but one in which certain differences are becoming more and more magnified for political and religious reasons. Hindi is written left to right in the Devanagari script, whereas Urdu is written right to left in the Arabic–Persian script. Whereas Hindi draws on Sanskrit for its borrowings, Urdu draws on Arabic and Persian sources. Large religious and political differences make much of small linguistic differences. The written forms of the two varieties, particularly those favored by the elites, also emphasize these differences. Gumperz (1971, pp. 56–7) points out that everyday living in parts of India, particularly in the large cities and among educated segments of those communities, requires some complex choices involving the distinction between Hindi and Urdu.

Idiolect

An individual member of a given dialect is said to have his own speech habits that distinguish him from fellow members of the group to which he belongs. The totality of the speech habits of an individual is called an idiolect. So it can be said that a dialect is a collection of similar idiolects and collection of dialects constitute a language.

Verbal Repertoire: Dialect vs. Register

Sociolinguists use the word verbal repertoire to refer to the totality of linguistic varieties used by a particular community of speakers. Social factors determine the variety to be used from this verbal repertoire. When people talk to others they work with, about their work, they generally use a particular variety of language, which they do not use at home. Such a language variety is called as register. While dialects are user oriented, registers are use oriented. Variation between speakers gives rise to dialect and variation based on occasion gives rise to registers. Trudgill defines a register as follows: Linguistic varieties that are linked in this way to occupations, professions, or topics have been termed registers. The register of law, for example, is different from the register of medicine, which in turn is different from the language of engineering – and so on. Registers are usually characterized solely by vocabulary differences: either by the use of particular words, or by the use of words in a particular sense.

Pidgin and creole

A pidgin may be defined as a combination of linguistic features of two or more languages and it is a result of social and economic dealings between two groups or more speaking different languages. Of the many languages that come in to contact the socially superior one undergoes a process of restriction and simplification originating pidgin. This process is known as pidginization. A pidgin is no one’s native language. When it becomes the native language of a speech community, it comes to be called a creole. As the pidgin gets nativized, it undergoes extension and elaboration. The greater functional and structural complexity and stability in usage distinguishes a creole from a pidgin. By the time a pidgin becomes a creole, it will have acquired all the functions and characteristics of a full natural language.

In a multilingual contact situation there are a number of language choices and the pidgin is only one such choice. Some times the native language of one of the groups in contact may be used, as is the case of English in Australia. Sometimes a stable multilingual situation continues to persist without the origin of a pidgin.

Pidgins grow out of economic necessity. Economic relations of trade or enforced labour make it essential for the different groups to resort to a common language. The language of the superior group is not easily available to the lower groups and so it cannot function as the contact language. Similarly, a language from the subordinate.

groups is also never allowed to function in this role as it has association with the inferiors. The non- availability of the superstrate language to others may be because its speakers are very small in number compared to that of the substrate speakers.

Another reason is that the superstrate speakers do not want others to learn their language; they treat it as a badge of their distinctive cultural identity and hide it from the outsiders in front of whom they speak a different variety specialized for use in contact situations with speakers of other languages.

A pidgin is said to have creolized only when it is able to perform all such linguistic functions. A pidgin may develop and become structurally elaborated but still it cannot be called as a creole as long as its social role has expanded from being a mere contact language in to one with higher functions.

Diglossia-

The term ‘diglossia’ was introduced by Charles Fergusson (1959). In these places people resort to two varieties, distinct enough to be called as separate languages, one on formal and public occasions and the other in daily everyday circumstances. These two varieties are normally called ‘high’ and ‘low’ or ‘standard’ and ‘vernacular’. Fergusson defines diglossia thus: Diglossia is a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary dialects of the language (which may include a standard or regional standard), there is a very divergent, highly codified (often grammatically more complex) superposed variety, the vehicle of a large and respected body of written literature, either of an earlier period or in another speech community, which is learned largely by formal education and is used for most written and formal spoken purposes but is not used by any sector of the community for ordinary conversation.

Even in India we find that such diglossic situation exists when the highly educated and the least educated speakers use the same variety of language at home; but on formal occasions it is a variety much different from the vernacular that is being used and this can be learned at schools only.

Code switching in Sociolinguistics

‘’Code switching can be defined as the use of more than one language, variety, or style by a speaker within an utterance or discourse, or between different interlocutors or situations (Romaine, 1992:110).’’

In many situations, a  speaker  may  shift  from  one code  to  another,  intentionally  or unintentionally. This shift may be from one language to another, from one dialect to another, or from one style to another for many different reasons. A bilingual teacher in class may switch his or her language in order to elaborate a certain point they are explaining. Sociolinguists refer to this shift as ‘code-switching’. Joan Swann and Indra Sinka say that ‘definitions of code switching vary’ (Swann & Sinka, 2007). It must be noted that any person who is capable of switching codes must be a competent bilingual or multilingual. Another approach to defining code-switching was set by sociolinguist Kathryn Woolard. She defines code-switching as ‘the investigation of an individual’s use of two or more language varieties in the same speech event or exchange’ (Woolard, 2004). Thus, as I have previously discussed in the introduction, code-switching occurs within the same single utterance. Janet Holmes mentions in her book Introduction to Sociolinguistics that, ‘a speaker may.

.switch to another language as a signal of group membership and shared ethnicity within an addressee’ (Holmes, 2000). Code-switching can be used to express solidarity between people from different or the same ethnic groups.

Sociolinguistics affecting various theorists: Saussure also influenced Vygotsky (1987), a major psychologist. Vygotsky’s theories suggests that cognition and consciousness are formed through social interactions in which children learn cultural and linguistic habits that influence their construction of social and symbolic knowledge. Philosophers of language, such as John Austin, the originator of speech act theory (1975) and one of the leading philosophers of the 20th century, drew upon Saussure’s work to explore how utterances constitute social action. Erving Goffman (1986), a central figure in sociology and linguistics, studied language as central to social interaction. Goffman is widely known for his work on the concept of framing: how people define and give meaning to activities and adjust their behaviors, including their linguistic practices, accordingly. Also influenced by Saussure were Norman.

Fairclough (1989) and Pierre Bourdieu (1991), both eminently concerned with the relationship among language, capital, power, and society. Fairclough (1989), influential in furthering the area known as critical discourse analysis, argues that discourse produces, enacts, maintains, directs, and challenges power in society. From analyzing discourse, power dynamics and the ideologies that support them can be revealed. From sociology, Bourdieu (1991) also links language to power. Acts of language generate, legitimize, and reproduce social resources, distinctions, and structures, and power is enacted and contested in the “linguistic field.”

Dialectology as subfield of Sociolinguistics

The sociolinguistics subfield known as dialectology primarily investigates the intersection of linguistic and geographic variation—that is, how elements of language vary by place, over time, and by social group, with specific attention given to boundaries, transitions, and processes of diffusion (Chambers & Trudgill, 1998; see also Trudgill, 2011). In addition, the area of data-driven dialectology, or dialectometry, seeks to aggregate linguistic features drawn from large data collections to better characterize and describe languages and language varieties in relation to geographic variation (Nerbonne, 2009).

Perceptual dialectology, a branch of dialectology, examines how speakers perceive differences in linguistic usage by community or region, including linguistic stereotyping and language prejudice (see also Preston, 2005).

Applied Sociolinguistics

Applied sociolinguistics is a broad concept that has typically been used to describe ways in which sociolinguists have interacted with various publics on issues of language-related concern. Some of these areas include education, the law, health, and the media, where language is often a key mechanism that works in interaction with other social factors, to help or hinder culturally and linguistically diverse speakers’ access to the rights and privileges afforded by these social institutions. The engagement that many sociolinguists have fostered has led to some theorizing about models and best practices, particularly with respect to ethical considerations, for future scholars to follow when seeking to interact with those outside of academia.

Language and Dialect Contact, Choice, and Shift

Thomason (2001) and Winford (2003) introduce the field of language contact, which generally explores the factors that contribute to, as well as the consequences that arise from, relationships between and across speakers of different languages and language varieties. Research in this area investigates how languages come into contact in stable and unstable situations; multilingualism among speakers and societies; contact- induced language change; second language acquisition, borrowing, and maintenance; the social and linguistic aspects of code-switching; the formation and use of pidgins, creoles, and other mixed languages; and language shift, attrition, and death/dying.

Multiculturalism, Multilingualism, and Globalization affecting Sociolinguistics.

A growing area of sociolinguistic research investigates local manifestations of language, culture, and identity in relation to forces of globalization, economics, and politics. Heller (2003) examines language and identity practices and tourism in Francophone Canada. Ethnographic research revealed the competing values that often surround bilingualism and multilingualism in relation to local communities, tourism, and the corporate world. Heller raises questions of globalization, commodification, and authenticity and asserts the importance of studying the language and identity practices of ethno linguistic minorities. The collection McKee & Davis (2010) explores the ramifications of globalization and technology on variation and change in sign languages around the world. Complementary strands of research deal with the presence of global varieties of English. Topics relate to interactions between Deaf and hearing people within contexts of linguistic and cultural diversity, including the rise of American Sign Language, indigenous sign varieties, and changes in technology, globalization, and access to higher education.

Gender, Sexuality and Sociolinguistics

Extensive research on language, culture, and identity has sought to uncover how gender differences are encoded in language, how gender interacts with other social identities, and how everyday discourse enacts and challenges gender dynamics and gender ideologies. Lakoff and Bucholtz (2004) is an edited volume that contains a reprinting of Lakoff’s (1975) groundbreaking work, Language and woman’s place,

which argues that language is central to gender inequality. Evidence from myriad studies reveals how factors such as norms and cultural expectations relating to gender and sexuality, education, social class, job segregation, politics, and the like affect the gendered distribution of linguistic forms in communities and cultures around the world. Recent research further explores language use along the “borderlands” of gender and sexual identities, such as by transgender, intersex, and gender queer individuals, in various cultures around the world.

Summary

Simply put, language is not merely content; rather, it is something that we do, and it affects how we act and interact as social beings in the world.

Abundant scholarship in sociolinguistics reveals how linguistic, cognitive, ideological, stylistic, cultural, and social dimensions are inextricably intertwined. Historically, sociolinguistic scholarship reflects the influence of and contributions from a host of related disciplines from the humanities and social sciences, including anthropology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, communications, and literary analysis. In turn, sociolinguistic scholarship has traveled beyond the boundaries of linguistics proper to influence these related fields.

Sociolinguistics holds broad applicability for scholars across diverse fields who are interested in exploring relationships between language, individuals, culture, and society. Studies of the power and prestige of languages and language varieties and of the linguistic, educational, occupational, legal, and health-related effects of social hierarchies represent one highly applicable area of inquiry. With continuing advancements in technology and mathematical and computational methods, as well as increasing knowledge of cognition, sociolinguistic studies will also come into closer alignment with research efforts involving language, cognition, and computation from other fields. Through more sustained interdisciplinary collaborations, sociolinguists can continue to advance inquiry into how language plays a central, critical role in the myriad cognitive, psychological, cultural, and social processes in which speakers and groups engage.

Reference

• Ball, M. J. (Ed.) (2010). The Routledge handbook of sociolinguistics around the world. New York: Routledge.
• Bayley, R., Cameron, R., & Lucas, C. (Eds.) (2013). The Oxford handbook of sociolinguistics. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
• Coulmas, F. (2013). Sociolinguistics: The study of speakers’ choices. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
• Crystal, D. (2007). How language works: How babies babble, words change meaning, and languages live or die. New York: Penguin Group.
• Lippi-Green, R. (2011). English with an accent: Language, ideology, and discrimination in the United States. New York: Routledge.
• Mallinson, C., Childs, R., & Van Herk, G. (Eds.). (2013). Data collection in sociolinguistics: Methods and applications. New York: Routledge.