Linguistics

Lesson 1:
 Sociolinguistics:
 A branch of linguistics which studies all aspects of the relationship
between language and society.
 The study of the link between lng usage and society, of lang variation, and
of attitude about language.
 A study of relationship between lng and social factors such as class, age,
gender, and ethnicity.
 Sociolinguistics is the study of language in relation to social factors,
including differences in region, class, occupational dialect and gender,
and bilingualism. In other words, it studies how various social factors
such as gender, ethnicity, age or social class affect language.
 Sociolinguists study such matters as the linguistic identity of social groups,
social attitudes to language, standard and non-standard forms of language.
 Factors that can affect the way people speak: social class, social context,
geographical origins, ethnicity, nationality, gender, age, identity...
 An alternative name sometimes given to the subject is sociology of language.
Yet, there are differences between the two terms:
 Sociolinguistics studies language in relation to society. The sociology of
language studies society in relation to language.
 Sociolinguistics studies language and how it varies based on user’s
sociolinguistic background such as gender... Sociology of language
studies society and how it is impacted by language.
 Sociolinguistics focuses on language while sociology of language focuses
on society.
 Sociolinguistics focuses on society’s effect on language; whereas
sociology of language is about the effect of language on society.
 The term sociosemantics is about the choices available within a grammar that
is related to communication roles found within the speech situation.
 Sociological linguistics is sometimes differentiated from sociolinguistics
where the term reflects a concern to see language as an integral part of
sociological theory.
 Sociohistorical linguistics, the study of the way particular linguistic functions
and types of variation develop over time within specific languages, speech
communities, social groups and individuals.
 There are two branches of sociolinguistics: interactionist and variationist
sociolinguistics. The former is interested in what language use can tell us
about social processes; the latter is concerned with how language changes by
observing it.
Lesson 2:
 Sociolinguistics can be defined as the study of the linguistic identity of social

groups, social attitudes to language, standard and non-standard forms of
language, the patterns and needs of national language use, social varieties
and levels of language, the social basis of multilingualism, and so on.
 Dialect: a regional variety of language distinguished by features of
vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties and
constituting together with them a single language
 Accent vs. Dialect: An accent is simply how one pronounces words—a style
of pronunciation. A dialect includes not just pronunciations, but also one’s
general vocabulary and grammar. As an example, someone from the United
States may say, “Would you like some tea?”, while a person from the UK
might instead say, “Fancy a cuppa?” They’re both speaking English, and
they’re both expressing the exact same idea. But not only would the
pronunciation (the accent) be different, the choice of vocabulary and the
grammar behind both sentences is clearly distinct.
 Idiolect: An idiolect is the dialect of an individual person at one time. This
term implies an awareness that no two persons speak in exactly the same way
and that each person’s dialect is constantly undergoing change.
 Register: the way a speaker uses language differently in different
circumstances; variations in formality. They are determined by such factors
as social occasion, context, purpose, and audience.
 Jargon refers to the specialized language of a professional or occupational
group. The complex language used by experts in a certain discipline or field.
 A standard language is a variety of language that is used by governments,
in the media, in schools and for international communication. In contrast,
there are non-standard forms of a language that are used, for example, in
different regional dialects and these non-standard varieties are different from
each other. Nonstandard English refers to any dialect of English other than
the standard English.
Lesson 3:
Pidgin:
 Pidgin is a new language which develops in situations where speakers of

different languages need to communicate but don't share a common
language. The vocabulary of a pidgin comes mainly from one particular
language (called the 'lexifier').
 An early 'pre-pidgin' is quite restricted in use and variable in structure.
 The 'stable pidgin' develops its own grammatical rules which are quite
different from those of the lexifier.
 Once a stable pidgin has emerged, it is generally learned as a second
language and used for communication among people who speak different
languages.
 In the nineteenth century, slaves from Africa were brought over to North
America to work on the plantations. They were separated from the people
of their community and mixed with people of various other communities,
therefore they were unable to communicate with each other. In order to
finally communicate with their peers on the plantations, and with their
bosses, they needed to form a language in which they could communicate.
 Pidgins also arose because of colonization.
 A pidgin is a combination of two or more languages which sometimes
occurs in trade contact, multi-ethnic or refugee situations, where
participants need a functioning common language.
Creole:
 A language developed from a pidgin.

 It is usually reduced in complexity and function and is learned as a second
language by all speakers.
 Sometimes the pidgin becomes stable and established and comes to be
spoken as a mother tongue; the language has then become a Creole.
 The process of turning a pidgin into a Creole is creolization.
 Countless creoles have come into existence during the past few centuries,
often because of the activities of European colonists. Europeans and
Africans, for instance, were forced to construct innumerable local pidgins,
very many of which went on to be converted to creoles.
 A creole can undergo decreolization; adjustment towards the prestige
standard language from which it was largely constructed. The result may
be a creole continuum.
 The study of creoles was pioneered by the Trinidadian John Thomas, the
American Addison Van Name and the German Hugo Schuchardt.
 Linguists studying contemporary language change have found
creolization to be a rich source of information, particularly from the point
of view of the construction of new grammatical systems.
 There was a widespread belief that all creoles were descended from a
single ancestral creole by massive vocabulary replacement.
Diglossia:
 A situation in which two languages are used under different conditions

within a community, often by the same speakers.
 There are two (often) closely-related languages, one of high prestige, and
one of low prestige, which is usually the spoken vernacular tongue.
 In the Arabic speaking world, there are two forms of the same language
(conventionally called "High" and "Low") that are used in different
situations.
 The "High" form (called "Modern Standard Arabic") is normally used in
formal situations, such as writing, political speeches, university lectures,
television news, etc.
 The "Low" form (referred to as "dialects," ) is used in informal situations,
such as conversations, etc
 Vernacular refers to the native language of a country or locality. it is used
to describe local languages as opposed to linguae franca.
 Lingua franca is any language widely used beyond the population of its
native speakers.
Code switching:
 Speakers of more than one language (e.g., bilinguals) are known for their
ability to code-switch or mix their languages during communication.
 This phenomenon occurs when bilinguals substitute a word or phrase
from one language with a phrase or word from another language.
 Code-switching has been viewed as a strategy to compensate for
diminished language proficiency; bilinguals code-switch because they do
not know either language completely.
 This argument is also known as semi-lingualism, which underscores the
notion that bilinguals “almost” speak both languages correctly.
 However, one concern with this account is that the notion of language
proficiency is not clearly defined.

Linguistics

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Lesson 1:

 Sociolinguistics can be defined as the study of the linguistic identity of social

 Pidgin is a new language which develops in situations where speakers of

 A language developed from a pidgin.

 A situation in which two languages are used under different conditions

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