READING REPORT

AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLINGUISTICS

A BOOK BY: RONALD WARDAUGH

NASRIANDI

F022171012

HASANUDDIN UNIVERSITY

POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM

FACULTY OF CULTURAL SCIENCE

ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES

AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLINGUISTICS

A BOOK BY: RONALD WARDAUGH

1. INTRODUCTION
In everyday life, people cannot be separated from language which means that people
always use and live with language, in order to know the relationship between language
and people or in this case people as society, it is necessary to know and to define each
of the terms, because the definition of the terms ‘language’ and ‘society’ could be very
comprehensive and flexible.
a. Knowledge of language
Language is very complicated, but do we ever wondered how can we produce a
language?, Wardaugh in the book mention that when two people are talking to each
other, they are sharing the same common knowledge about the language that they
speak or we can say that they share the same code or they understand about the
system of that language they use. The most complicate about language for linguists
is the system of a language (the grammar, well-known technical term). Even most of
the linguists agree that the knowledge speaker have of the language they speak is
quite abstract. We already knew that when two people speak, they share the same
knowledge about the language but it is quite difficult to know how it shared and
even how it is acquired. Chomsky came up with ‘language universal’ which is suggest
that linguistic ability manifests itself without being taught and that there are
properties that all natural human languages share and it is a matter of observation
and experimentation to determine precisely what abilities are innate and what
properties are shared by all languages. Then later Chomsky distinguished between
competence and performance.
The thing to remember is Language is a very complicated subject which is related
with human mind, where human mind is perfectly created by God.
b. Variation
Languages in this world are various. In one country, people could speak many
languages and even in one small area we could hear various languages spoken by
the society. As Chomsky mentioned on the previous chapter about language
universal and competence-performance, But we have to consider that The language
that we use in everyday life is varied and this is where it gets tricky if we would like
to demonstrate that language is a homogeneous entity and to write a complete
grammar for a language that makes use of categorical rules, because no one speak
the same way they speak every day. There must be some nuance of the language
 they speak because of the various purpose of the language. But also the thing to be
consider is that even though there is considerable variation in each individual’s
speech but there are also bound of that variation, means that no one speak as they
want, no one pronounce words as they please, If they do so than it would be
unacceptable.
c. Language and Society
Chomsky’s asocial view of linguist rejects any concerns for the relationship between
a language and those who use it and on the other hand social theorists attempt to
understand how societies are structured and how people managed to live together.
In this book, Wardaugh try to find the relation between those two different entities.
For example to find out the relation between ‘linguistic items’ with power, solidarity
etc.
d. Sociolinguistics and the sociology of language
If we see those two terms Sociolinguistics and The Sociology of Language most
people will say that those two terms are same and they concern the same field but
as a matter of fact there is a difference between those two terms related to the field
of study. If we are talking about Sociolinguistic it investigate the relationship
between language and society to understand the structure of language and how
language function in communication whereas the sociology of language is trying to
discover how social structure can be better understand through the study of
language, or Hudson (1996: 4) describe the differences between those two terms,
Sociolinguistic is the study of language and society in relation to language and
sociology of language is the study of society in relation of languages.
e. Methodological concerns

2. CODES (Chapter 4)
It is very interesting when talking about codes, in this book it is mentioned earlier
(chapter 1) that it is possible to refer to a language as a code. When someone who
knows two languages, sometimes when he talks he shifts back and forth between those
two languages. If we say that a language is codes means that if two people are talking,
they share the same code in order to understand each other, but the most important
thing to know is why people use certain codes instead of others, when do people use
certain codes, and why do people switch code. Well, when people speak, they are going
to choose an appropriate code depends on the situation, the interlocutors, the needs
and even the desire to play with a well-known certain language expression ( Yassi, 2016:
223). And this is going to be discussed deeper in this chapter about code switching
a. Diglossia
 In Sociolinguistics, Diglossia is a situation in which two distinct varieties of a
language are spoken within the same speech community. Ferguson (1959: 336) and I
quote ‘ 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
standards), 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 article 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’.
From the explanation and also some examples by Ferguson in Arabic, Swiss German,
Haitian, and Greek it is shown that Diglossia from Ferguson point of view is different
varieties in one language but there is another view from Fishman about Diglossia
which is included two different languages that is used in two different occasion for
example: Spanish and Guarani in Paraguay. but either Ferguson and Fishman, both
are using the terms High variety and Low variety.
b. Bilingualism and Multilingualism
Bilingualism and Multilingualism is the ability of a person to speak two (Bilingualism)
and more than two (multilingualism) languages.in some country Being able to speak
more than one languages is consider as remarkable, but in some other countries
being able to speak more than one languages is unremarkable at all, because people
speak more than one languages in order to do business, or merely just to be able to
speak with people from outside the country, these various languages are usually
acquired naturally, and the shift from one language or variety to another are made
without hesitation. The question is how to tell if someone is bilingual or bidialectal.
In the book, Wardaugh mentioned language as well as varieties in Bilingualism and
Multilingualism, then the problem is how to distinguish between language and
dialect. As for the example that mentioned by Prof. Abdul Hakim Yassi in one of the
class that ‘ Cantonese and Mandarin in China are two different languages, but they
insist that they only speak two different varieties’, on the other hand Russian
language and Ukrainian language are actually the same language but the speakers of
both languages insist that those two are totally different languages, or in Toraja and
Duri, the people from both of those areas are Mutually intelligible but they insist
that Toraja language is different than Duri language.
c. Code-Switching
in this globalization Era where you can talk to other people from all over the world,
English becomes the most popular language in Indonesia, so it is quite common for
Indonesian especially the people who is high educated and living in the city, it is
usual for them to utter some words in English while they speak with other people.
 The status Quo in Indonesia, people are at least using two languages (Bilingualism)
which is Bahasa Indonesia as the Lingua franca and local language as the mother
tongue. But when Indonesian people communicate, beside using Bahasa Indonesia
and local language, they also inserted some English words, and even English phrases.
Bilinguals and Multi-linguals can code switched and use their language as resources
to find better ways to convey meaning.
Macaro (2005) argues that the fact that bilinguals can code switched is an asset and
a valuable addition to their array of communication strategies. Secondly, a bilingual
child may be more sensitive in communication. Since bilinguals have to know when
to speak which language, they constantly monitor which language to use, with which
person and in which situation. Thus they appear to be more sensitive to the needs of
the listeners than monolinguals. The fact that bilinguals are more conscious about
language makes them more efficient in emphatic communication. If the bilingual is
aware of what is going on beneath, above and inside a language, he may be more in
harmony with the needs of the listener in conveying meaning sympathetically.
Hudson and Bill (1980) believe that people decide when to use a particular language.
Speakers that live in an environment where two or more languages co-exist,
frequently switch from one language to another either between or within utterances
so as to achieve complex communicative demands. This means that for a speaker to
be able to switch, the speaker must have a wide knowledge about lexical terms and
phrases that enables him to shift codes freely in different circumstances and for
different reasons. In Indonesia itself, Code switching become communication
strategy (Yassi, 2016).
3. References
Pateda, M. Sosiolinguistik : penerbit Angkasa Bandung
Wardaugh, R. 2006. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. USA
Yassi, A.H.2006. speech variety of elite people in Makassar: forms and social functions of
Indonesia-English code switching. Nady Al Adab Vol 4 No 2: 70-82. Fakultas Sastra Unhas.
Yassi, A.H.2016. code switching as a communication strategy.Yogyakarta : Trust Media