Sociolinguistics (Social Dialect)

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Sociolinguistics (Social Dialect)

Article

By:

Sella Safitri

B Class

13-530-0149

English Education Department

Faculity of Teacher Training and Education

University of PGR !di "uana Sura#aya

$%&'



hapter

! "ac*ground

People often use a language to signal their memership of particular groups an! to

construct !ifferent aspects of their social i!entity" Social status# gen!er# age# ethnicity an!

the $in!s of social net%or$s that people elong to turn out to e important !imensions of

i!entity in many communities"

&o t%o people spea$ e'actly the same" (here are infinite sources of )ariation in

speech" A soun! spectrograph# a machine %hich represents the soun! %a)es of speech in

)isual form# sho%s that e)en a single )o%el may e pronounce! in hun!re!s of minutely

!ifferent %ays# most of %hich listeners !o not e)en register" Some features of speech#ho%e)er# are share! y groups# an! ecome important ecause they !ifferentiate one

group from another" *ust as !ifferent languages often ser)e a unifying an! separating

function for their spea$ers# so !o speech characteristics %ithin languages"

" +#,ective

1+ (o $no% aout %hat social !ialect is"

,+ (o $no% aout social classification

3+ (o $no% aout the !ifferent of the )ocaulary in social !ialect

4+ (o $no% aout the !ifferent of the pronunciation in social !ialect5+ (o $no% aout the !ifferent of the grammatical pattern in social !ialect

hapter

! Social -ariation

n earlier centuries# you coul! tell %here an .nglish lor! or la!y came from y their

regional form of .nglish" But y the early t%entieth century# a person %ho spo$e %ith a

regional accent in .nglan! %as most unli$ely to elong to the upper class" /pper-class

people ha! an upper-class e!ucation# an! that generally meant a pulic i"e" pri)ate+

school %here they learne! to spea$ 2P"

2P stan!s not for 2ecei)e! Pronunciation the accent of the est e!ucate! an! most

prestigious memers of .nglish society" t is claime! that the lael !eri)es from the

accent %hich %as recei)e! at the royal court# an! it is sometimes i!entifie! %ith the

6ueens .nglish# although the accent use! y 6ueen .li7aeth # as portraye! so

rilliantly y 8elen irren in the mo)ie (he 6ueen # is a rather ol!-fashione! )ariety of

2P"



2P %as promote! y the BBC for !eca!es" t is essentially a social accent not a

regional one" n!ee!# it conceals a spea$ers regional origins"

" Social Dialect

(he term !ialect can also e use! to !escrie !ifferences in speech associate! %ith

)arious social groups or classes" (here are social !ialects as %ell as regional ones" An

imme!iate prolem is that of !efining social group or social class# gi)ing proper %eight to

the )arious factors that can e use! to !etermine social position# e"g"# occupation# place of

resi!ence# e!ucation# ne% )ersus ol! money# income# racial or ethnic origin# cultural

ac$groun!# caste# religion# an! so on" Such factors as these !o appear to e relate! fairly

!irectly to ho% people spea$" (here is a British pulic-school !ialect# an! there is an

African American ernacular .nglish !ialect foun! in cities such as &e% ;or$# <etroit#

an! Buffalo" any people also ha)e stereotypical notions of ho% other people spea$# an!#as %e %ill see in chapter = in particular# there is consi!erale e)i!ence from %or$ of

in)estigators such as >ao) an! (ru!gill that social !ialects can in!ee! e !escrie!

systematically"

?hereas regional !ialects are geographically ase!# social !ialects originate among

social groups an! are relate! to a )ariety of factors# the principal ones apparently eing

social class# religion# an! ethnicity"

<ialects are linguistic )arieties %hich are !istinguishale y their )ocaulary#

grammar an! pronunciation@ the speech of people from !ifferent social# as %ell as

regional# groups may !iffer in these %ays" *ust as 2P is a social accent# so Stan!ar!

.nglish is a social !ialect"

Standard English

Stan!ar! .nglish is more accommo!ating than 2P an! allo%s for some )ariation

%ithin its oun!aries" (he !ialect %e grace %ith the name Stan!ar! .nglish is spo$en

%ith many !ifferent accents" But# as illustrate! in the !iscussion of regional !ialects# there

are also many stan!ar! .nglishes" /S Stan!ar! .nglish is !istinguishale from South

African stan!ar! .nglish an! Australian stan!ar! .nglish# for instance# an! all three !iffer

from the British stan!ar! !ialect"

n social terms# linguistic forms %hich are not part of Stan!ar! .nglish are y

!efinition non-stan!ar!" Because the stan!ar! !ialect is al%ays the first to e co!ifie!# it

is !ifficult to a)oi! !efining other !ialects %ithout contrasting them %ith the stan!ar!"

ernacular is a term %hich is use! %ith a )ariety of meanings in sociolinguistics# ut

the meanings ha)e something in common" *ust as )ernacular languages contrast %ith

stan!ar! languages# )ernacular !ialect features contrast %ith stan!ar! !ialect features"

ernacular forms ten! to e learne! at home an! use! in informal conte'ts" So all uses of



the term )ernacular share this sense of the fi rst )ariety acuire! in the home an! use! in

casual conte'ts" ernacular !ialects# li$e )ernacular languages# lac$ pulic or o)ert

prestige# though they are generally )alue! y their users# especially as means of

e'pressing soli!arity an! affecti)e meaning"

D Social lassification

Sociologists use a numer of !ifferent scales for classifying people %hen they attempt

to place in!i)i!uals some%here %ithin a social system" An occupational scale may !i)i!e

people into a numer of categories as follo%s: maor professionals an! e'ecuti)es of large

usinesses@ lesser professionals an! e'ecuti)es of me!iumsi7e! usinesses@ semi-

professionals@ technicians an! o%ners of small usinesses@ s$ille! %or$ers@ semi-s$ille!

%or$ers@ an! uns$ille! %or$ers" An e!ucational scale may employ the follo%ing

categories: gra!uate or professional e!ucation@ college or uni)ersity !egree@ atten!ance atcollege or uni)ersity ut no !egree@ high school gra!uation@ some high school e!ucation@

an! less than se)en years of formal e!ucation" nce again# ho%e)er# some caution is

necessary in ma$ing comparison across time: gra!uating from college or uni)ersity in the

1950s in!icate! something uite !ifferent from %hat it !oes to!ay" ncome le)el an!

source of income are important factors in any classification system that focuses on ho%

much money people ha)e"

>i$e%ise# in consi!ering %here people li)e# in)estigators must concern themsel)es %ith

oth the type an! cost of housing an! its location

E -oca#ulary

Social !ialect research in many !ifferent countries has re)eale! a consistent

relationship et%een social class an! language patterns" People from !ifferent social

classes spea$ !ifferently" (he most o)ious !ifferences in )ocaulary are in many

%ays the least illuminating from a sociolinguistic point of )ie%# though they clearly

capture the pulic imagination" n the 1950s in .nglan!# many pairs of %or!s %ere

i!entifie! %hich# it %as claime!# !istinguishe! the speech of upper-class .nglish people

/ spea$ers+ from the rest non-/ spea$ers+" / spea$ers use! sitting room rather than

lounge non-/+# an! referre! to the la)atory rather than the non-/+ toilet"

F Pronunciation

(his speech )ariale is %i!ely calle! DhE-!ropping a lael %hich you shoul! note

represents the )ie%point of spea$ers of the stan!ar!" t has een analy7e! in many social

!ialect stu!ies of .nglish" (he highest social group !rops the least numer of DhEs an! the

lo%est group omits the most"

(he pronunciation -ing )s -in Di E )s DinE+ at the en! of %or!s li$e sleeping an!Ƞ

s%imming !istinguishes social groups in e)ery .nglish-spea$ing community in %hich it



has een in)estigate!" (he Brisane !ata %as collecte! from a!olescents# ut the !ata

from the other communities is representati)e of the communities as a %hole" n each

community# people from lo%er social groups use more of the )ernacular DinE )ariant than

those from higher groups"

(he more people use! post-)ocalic DrE" An! e)en %ithin stores a pattern %as e)i!ent"

n one store# for instance# nearly half the socially superior super)isors use! post-)ocalic

DrE consistently# %hile only 1F per cent of the less-status-ful salespeople !i!# an! the stoc$

oys rarely use! it at all"

Post-)ocalic DrE illustrates )ery clearly the aritrariness of the particular forms %hich

are consi!ere! stan!ar! an! prestigious" (here is nothing inherently a! or goo! aout the

pronunciation of any soun!# as the !ifferent status of DrE-pronunciation in !ifferent cities

illustrates" n &e% ;or$ City# pronouncing DrE is generally consi!ere! prestigious" n2ea!ing in .nglan! it is not" n one city the higher your social class the more you

pronounce post-)ocalic DrE" n the other# the higher your social class the fe%er you

pronounce"

easuring the presence or asence of DhE or DrE# or the !ifference et%een DinE an!

Di E# is !ifficult enough %hen you are listening to tapes of inter)ie%s"Ƞ

G Grammatical Pattern

n a)erage# it %as foun! that chil!ren from lo%er-class families use! more )ernacular

)er forms than chil!ren from mi!!le-class families"

(his pattern has een note! for a )ariety of grammatical )ariales" 8ere are some

e'amples of stan!ar! an! )ernacular grammatical forms %hich ha)e een i!entifie! in

se)eral .nglish spea$ing communities"

(he higher social groups use more of the stan!ar! grammatical form an! fe%er

instances of the )ernacular or non-stan!ar! form" (he thir! person singular form of the

present tense regular )er e"g" stan!ar! she %al$s )s" )ernacular she %al$+# there is a

sharp !istinction et%een the mi!!le-class groups an! the lo%er-class groups"

Sentence G+ in the list illustrates a pattern of negation %hich is sometimes calle!

negati)e concor! or multiple negations" ?here Stan!ar! .nglish allo%s only one

negati)e in each clause# most )ernacular !ialects can ha)e t%o or more" n some !ialects#

e)ery possile form %hich can e negate! is negate!"

hapter



A" Conclusion

any factors interact in !etermining the proportion of )ernacular or stan!ar! forms a

person uses"

Some of these are social factors such as the age or gen!er of the spea$er"

Another factor# ho%e)er# %hich %as mentione! riefly y ao)e# is the linguistic

en)ironment in %hich a %or! occurs"

n e'ploring the relationship et%een language an! society# this article has een

concerne! almost e'clusi)ely %ith the !imension of social status or class" (he e)i!ence

!iscusse! in!icates that the social class someone elongs to is generally signale! y their

speech patterns" any people# ho%e)er# are not )ery conscious of elonging to a

particular social class" (hey are much more a%are of other factors aout the people they

meet regularly than their social class memership" A persons gen!er an! age are proaly

the first things %e notice aout them""

References

8olmes# *anet"199," An Introduction to Sociolinguistics fourth edition" &e% ;or$: 2outle!ge"

eyerhoff# iriam" ,00G" Introducing Sociolinguistics" /SA: 2outle!ge"

?ar!haugh# 2onal! H Iuller# *anet" " ,015" An Introduction to Sociolinguistics seventh

edition" /J: ?iley Blac$%ell"

?ar!haugh# 2onal!" ,00G" An Introduction to Sociolinguistics fifth edition" /J: ?iley

Blac$%ell"

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Sociolinguistics (Social Dialect)