Linguistics 110 Linguistic Analysis: Sentences & Dialects
Lecture Number Eighteen
Sociolinguistics


  1. The Problems

    1. "Standard" dialects
      1. The Up-side: sense of belonging (security, nationality, family, neighborhood)
      2. The Down-side: sense of social ranking (insecurity, marginality, job, advancement)
    2. Language planning, language, diversity, language conflict
      1. English as the official language?
      2. Switzerland, Bosnia, Ukraine, India, China
      3. Malta, 17th-century Russia, ?
    3. Gender and Ethnicity Issues
      1. Gender: 'man', 'chairman', 'The typical student. . . he'; gender exclusive vs. gender variable differentiation
      2. Race: what are the implications of 'black' and 'white'; She is a jew vs. She is jewish

  2. Methods of study

    1. Social network analysis (Labov)
    2. Principle components analysis

  3. The Subject Matter

    1. Varieties of dialects
      1. regional dialects
        • Bean soup
        • came from afar
      2. Sociolects
        • professional dialects (jargons)
        • ethnic dialects
        • gender variations
        • age variations
      3. social registers
        • Casual (friends)
        • Formal (job interview)
        • Technical (someone in same business)
        • Motherese
        • 'Tough-guy talk'
          Father comes home and finds his kid
          standing in the corner.
        • Radio-TV
        • Stand-up comedy
      4. codes: word substitution
        • slang (youth code)
        • jargon
        • criminal argot
      5. idiolects
    2. Characteristics
      1. Dialect continuum (isoglosses)
      2. Dialectal impurity: speech community is a mixture
      3. Communicative isolation (Tangiers Island, Gullah)

  4. Sociolinguistic Variables

    1. Phonology: [Ø] ¡ [aw], [ð] ¡ [¬]; [r] ¡ [oj], [aj] ¡ [Øj]
    2. Morphology: she come and she go
    3. Syntax: I want you should help your brother out.
    4. Lexicon
      • antigobblin : cattywampus : catty-cornered
      • pail : bucket
      • milkshake : cabinet : malted : frappe
      • mango : pepper
      • berm : shoulder

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