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Summary Sociolinguistics General Linguistics 278 notes
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Sociolinguistic Exam notes, this is a summary of the term's work, rather than learning 30-something pages I managed to get it down to 7 pages
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SociolinguisticsOrigins of Sociolinguistics
• Language is a social process that unfolds in social interaction
• Linguistic homogeneity (an environment where one language that is not influenced by
other or existing alongside others) does not exist – meaning language does not exist in
isolation and is always influenced by others
Reciprocal view of language and Society
• Language is embedded in social situations, identities and contexts
• Referential à identities that exist outside of language, language is an indication of one’s
social class, age group, ethnicity etc.
• Language is a socio-political construct
• Language is made up of dialects (variations) – negative connotation
• Dialects à “language varieties”
• Language varieties ordered by: pronunciation & vocabulary
• Regional Variety (different place = different variations of a language due to location)
• Intervarition à variation in one person’s language
• Linguistic Repertoire à speakers own language
• Distinctions between class & society influence a language is called Social variety
• Linguistic Repertoire à the set of skills/knowledge a person has of one or more
languages & their varieties
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• Stereotypes have developed between of repetition
• Stereotypes – familiar & easy to identify & can be used for humour
Style & Stylization
• Style à expression of a speakers identity, an active and conscious symbolic process
o Non-verbal: gestures, hair styles, ways of dressing, facial expressions & body
positioning
o Can be a default way of speaking
• Stylization à when someone tries to imitate another person’s style / a variety of
language that imitates another variety of language
o Communicative action where speakers use marked and exaggerated
representation of languages, dialects and registers that are outside of their usual
repertoire
o Functions of stylizations:
§ Undermine, question/make a parody of/mock, humour
Crossing
• The use of language or variety that one way or another feels unexpectantly “other”
• Sense of social or ethnic boundary transgression
• Can be used strategically
• It evokes reactions from an audience
• Can be risky à reproduces ideologies and stereotypes
, Sociolinguistics
Cultural Appropriation
• Refers to a power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture take elements from
previously disempowered culture
• View as disrespectful/undesirable/offensive
• Ethnic boundary transgression (crossing)
• Questions of legitimacy, authenticity and entitlement arise
• The marginalized group doesn’t have a say
The Reverse of Cultural appropriation:
• When marginalized groups adopt aspects of stronger groups in order to fit in (try to
avoid stigmatization)
Attitudes
• A disposition to react favourably or unfavourably to a class of objects
• Cognitive, affective & behavioural
• Learnt through socialisation
• The earlier they are learnt the more difficult they are to change
• Affects our responses to others & anticipates others responses
1. Societal treatment approach
• Observational (ethnographic), involves analysis of various public domain sources
• How varieties and their speakers are treated in society (sociocultural & political
contexts)
• Attitudes have to be deduced
• Data set à smaller, limits generalisation
2. Direct approach
• Asking people to directly report what their attitudes are
• Larger scale surveys or questionnaires
• Data set à larger, allows for generalisations
• Problem of response bias & acquiescence bias
3. Indirect approach
• Matched-guise technique (MGT)
• Uses a vocal “guise”, who can imitate the required speech style (accent) and deceive
listeners into thinking they are listening to multiple different speakers saying the
same thing
• Thus the attitudes of listeners are tested because they are unaware
Prestige
• Overt prestige à evaluation of dominant varieties
• Covert prestige à evaluation of less-dominant varieties
• Non-standard varieties: favourable in social attractiveness but less favourable in
superiority
• Standard varieties: more superiority less social attractiveness
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