SOCIOLINGUISTICS

LESSON 1
INSTRUCTOR: LE NGUYEN NHU ANH
SYLLABUS
1. What do sociolinguists study? (pp 1-16)
2. Language choice in multilingual
communities (pp 19-52)
3. Language maintenance and shift (pp 53-75)
4. Linguistic varieties and multilingual nations
(pp 76-99)
5. National languages and language planning
(pp 100-128)
6. Style, context and register (pp 239-273)
7. Speech functions, politeness and cross-
cultural communication (pp 274-301)
8. Sex, politeness and stereotypes (pp 301-332)
What is a sociolinguist?
Sociolinguists study the relationship between
language and society.
=> explain why we speak differently in different
social contexts,
=> identify the social functions of language and
the ways it is used to convey social meaning.
=> reveal the way language works + the social
relationships in a community + the way people
convey and construct aspects of their social
identity.
The way people talk is influenced by the social
context in which they are talking.
It matters who can hear us and where we are
talking, as well as how we are feeling.
=> The same message may be expressed very
differently to different people. We use different
styles in different social contexts.
Sociolinguistics is concerned with the relationship
between language and the context in which it is
used.
Language serves a range of functions:
• to ask for and give people information
• to express indignation and annoyance,
as well as admiration and respect.
One utterance will simultaneously
convey both information and express
feelings.
Exercise 1
(a) Identify the words in examples 1 and
2 which suggest that Ray’s relationship
with his mother is a friendly one
compared to his relationship with the
principal.
What does this suggest about the social
significance of choice of words?
Exercise 1
(b) Ray greeted the principal with the
words Good afternoon, sir.
How do or did you greet your school
principal?
Would you use the same words to your
father or mother?
Would you use the same greeting to your
best friend? Why (not)?
ANSWER (a)
Ray greets his mother with the friendly form hi,
compared to the more distant and formal good
afternoon used to the school principal.
He uses mum, an address form which indicates
that he gets on well with her. Note that he uses
the respectful address form sir to the principal.
Finally he refers to his teacher as that bastard
and uses a nickname Sootbucket for him  an
indication that he is treating his mother as an
intimate. This contrasts with the way he refers
to the teacher when talking to the principal, Mr
Sutton.
ANSWER (b)
Often nicknames or endearments are used
between people who know each other well
(e.g. mornin’ sweetheart, hello love, hi
Jono).

When speaking to superiors, it is common

to use a title plus last name (eg. Miss Firth,
Mr Halliday, Dr Lee) or to avoid names and
use only a formal greeting, such as good
morning.
We also indicate aspects of our social
identity through the way we talk.
•who we are,
•where we come from,
•what kind of social experiences we have
had.
 Why do we say the same
thing in different ways?
Example 3
Every afternoon my friend packs her bag and leaves her Cardiff office in
southern Wales about 5 o’clock. As she leaves, her business partner says
goodbye Margret, (she replies goodbye Mike), her secretary says see you
tomorrow (she replies bye Jill) and the caretaker says bye Mrs. Walker (to
which she responds goodbye Andy). As she arrives home she is greeted by Hi
mum from her daughter, Jenny, hello dear, have a good day? from her mother
and simply you’re late again from her husband. Later in the evening the
president of the local flower club calls to ask if she would like to join the
club. Good evening, is that Mrs. Billington? She asks. No, it’s Margret Walker.
But my husbands’ name is David Billington, Margret answers. What can I do for
you? Finally a friend calls Hello Meg, sut wyt ti ?
Why do we say the same
thing in different ways?
The choice of one linguistic form rather
than another is a useful clue to
nonlinguistic information.
=> provide social information.
 What are the different
ways we say things?

pronunciation
Grammar and vocabulary
(a) uses a passive grammatical
structure should be deposited, for
example  which avoids any mention of
the people involved.
(b) uses an imperative verb form, put, a
possessive pronoun, your, and an
address form, Jilly  much more direct
and it specifies whose rubbish is the
focus of the directive.
Vocabulary choices: Tender vs give,
state vs tell, destination vs where you’re
going, exact vs right. Use of please in (c).
Syntax: Both sentences use imperative
structures, but the more formal verbs in
(c) help avoid the use of the personal
pronouns me and you which occur in (d).
The determiner is omitted before exact
fare and destination  increases the
impersonality of the expression.
Example 6
In northern Norway, there is a village, Hemnesberget, which has become famous
among sociolinguists because the language used by the villagers was described
in great detail by two sociolinguists, Blom and Gumperz, in the late 1960s. Blom
and Gumperz reported that the Hemnesberget villagers knew and used two
distinct kinds of Norwegian: firstly, the local dialect, Ranamål ( Rana is the
district, mål is the Norwegian word for ‘language’), and secondly, the standard
dialect or standard Norwegian, Bokmål (literally ‘book-language’). Bokmål was
used by the teachers in school, it was the language of the textbooks and, after a
little exposure, it was the kind of Norwegian that the pupils used to discuss
school topics in school too. Bokmål was used in church services and sermons. It
was used when people went into the local government offices to transact official
business. It was used on radio and television. And it was used to strangers and
visitors from outside Hemnesberget. So what did that leave for Ranamål?
Ranamål was the kind of Norwegian that people used to speak to their family,
friends and neighbours most of the time. As the local dialect, it signalled
membership in the local speech community. People used Ranamål to each other
at breakfast, to local shopkeepers when buying their newspapers and
vegetables, to the mechanic in the local garage, and to the local people they met
in the street. A local person who used Bokmål to buy petrol would be regarded

dialects
as ‘stuck up’ or ‘putting on airs’.
Example 7
In a mountain village, Sauris, in north-east Italy, a sociolinguist,
Denison, reported in 1971 that the adults were all trilingual.
Before 1866, the village had been part of the Austrian empire,
and its villagers all spoke German. In the late 1960s, they still
used a German dialect in the home, and to neighbours and
fellow villagers. They also used the regional language Friulian
with people from the surrounding area outside the village, and
the young men, in particular, tended to use it to each other in
the pub. These men had gone to secondary school together in
Ampezzo, a nearby town, and Friulian had become for them a
language of friendship and solidarity. Italian was the language
people used to talk to those from beyond the region, and for
reading and writing. Because their village was now part of Italy,
Italian was the language of the church and the school.
languages
What are the different
ways we say things?
Linguistic variation involves
• Pronunciation
• Vocabulary
• Grammar
• Styles of a language
• Dialects
• Languages
=> variety/code: any set of linguistic forms which patterns
according to social factors.
A variety is a set of linguistic forms used under specific
social circumstances.
What are the different
ways we say things?
In every community there is a range of
varieties from which people select
according to the context in which they
are communicating. In monolingual
communities these take the form of
different styles and dialects.
=> linguistic/verbal repertoires
Social factors, dimensions
and explanations
Social factors
1. The participants:
(a) who is speaking and
(b) who are they speaking to ?
2. The setting or social context of the
interaction: where are they speaking?
3. The topic: what is being talked about?
4. The function : why are they speaking?
Social factors, dimensions
and explanations
Social dimensions
1. A social distance scale concerned with
participant relationships
2. A status scale concerned with participant
relationships
3. A formality scale relating to the setting
or type of interaction
4. Two functional scales relating to the
purposes or topic of interaction.
The solidarity–social distance scale

Intimate Distant
High solidarity Low solidarity
The status scale

Superior High status

Subordinate Low Status

The formality scale

Formal High formality

Informal Low formality

The referential and affective function scale
Referential
High Low
information information
content content
Affective
High Low
affective affective
content content
Social factors, dimensions
and explanations
Looking for explanations
Sociolinguists aim to describe sociolinguistic
variation and explain why it happens.
1. identify clearly the linguistic variation involved
2. identify clearly the different social or non-
linguistic factors which lead speakers to use one
form rather than another
3. look for patterns which will help to formulate
an explanation of why people use one set of forms
in some contexts, but different forms in others.
 OUTLINE
• Choosing your variety or code • Code-switching or code-mixing
• What is your linguistic repertoire? • Participants, solidarity and status
• Domains of language use • Topic
• Modelling variety or code choice • Switching for affective functions
• Other social factors affecting code choice • Metaphorical switching
• Lexical borrowing
• Diglossia
• Linguistic constraints
• A linguistic division of labour
• Attitudes to code-switching
• Attitudes to H vs L in a diglossia situation
• Diglossia with and without bilingualism
• Extending the scope of ‘diglossia’
• Polyglossia
• Changes in a diglossia situation
An example of a person’s
linguistic repertoire
Example 1 Standard (Zairean) Swahili:
Informal Shi: home different tribal group (lingua
with family; market franca), national language:
place (same ethnic) official transaction; officials in
government offices; tries for job

formal Shi: Local Swahili

weddings; (Kingwana): younger
funerals children; street;
marketplace

Indoubil: friends, young Varieties

people in Bukavu; ingroup Varieties
slang in monolingual
of Shi
communities (based on of
Swahili, dev. with French, Swahili
English, Italian
“A lingua franca, also known as a bridge
language, common language, trade
language, auxiliary language, vehicular
language, or link language is a language
or dialect systematically used to make
communication possible between
groups of people who do not share a
native language or dialect, particularly
when it is a third language that is
distinct from both of the speakers'
native languages.”
(Chirikba, 2008)
Two linguistic repertoires in the
Democratic Republic of the
Congo-Zaire
Kalala’s linguistic Addressee’s linguistic
repertoire repertoire
Shi: informal style Rega: informal style
formal style formal style
Indoubil Lingala
Kingwana
Standard Zairean Swahili Standard Zairean Swahili
Source: Based on Goyvaerts et al. 1983, Goyvaerts 1988,
1996.
 Domains of
language use
Example 2

Tonga: home with English: language at

family; school
- Grandmother: - Can be used with
Tongan customs sisters
- Mother: gossip
about Tongan friends
and relatives
- Meal-time language:
members’ activities,
outings, social events
Domains of language use
Language choice <= social factors:
- Who you are talking to
- The social context of the talk
- The function and topic of the
discussion
Typical interactions involving these
social factors => Domains
Domains of language use
A domain involves typical interactions
between typical participants in typical
settings.
Example 3

Spanish: Guaraní: American

colonisers; used Indian indigenous
by those who live language;
in the cities, Paraguayan
language of identity signal;
literature, also used by many
language of gossip rural Paraguayans;
used by those who
live in the cities,
language of gossip
Domains of language use in Paraguay
Modelling variety or
code choice
Example 4

Portuguese: at English: at school;

home; to older after-school job
people at serving in a local
Portuguese café
Catholic church
and community
centre, sometimes
greeted by
customers at work
Information about the domains of use in a
community
=> draw a very simple model summarising the
norms of language use for the community.
=> useful for bilingual and multilingual speech
communities
Domains identified in example 4
Domain Variety/code
Home/family Portuguese
Church/religion Portuguese
Work/employment English
School/education English
Appropriate code choice in different domains among
the Portuguese communityin London
An explicit model is useful because:
1. It forces us to be very clear about
which domains and varieties are
relevant to language choice.
2. It provides a clear basis for comparing
patterns of code choice in different
speech communities.
Example 5
Cantonese: at home; Singapore English:
to mother and to friends, sisters;
grandmother; market in large
place to elder people department stores
Formal Singapore
Hokkien: in
English: taught at
smaller shops and
primary school; to
market-place
government
officials, office job
Mandarin
application
Chinese: taught at
primary school; English: secondary
Channel 8 on TV, school; university;
Chinese textbooks
newspaper
Other social factors
affecting code choice
In describing the patterns of code use of
particular communities, the relevant social
factors may not fit neatly into
institutionalised domains.
Models can usefully go beyond the social
factors summarised in the domain concept
to take account of social dimensions: social
distance, relative status or role, degrees of
formality and the function or goal of the
interaction.
 Diglossia
A linguistic division of labour
Example 6

Swiss German: Standard German:

(regional dialect), language of
everyday school;
interactions; newspaper;
radical clerics; university lecture;
weather national TV news;
broadcasts sermons in
church; novels
Diglossia (narrow sense):
1. Two distinct varieties of the same
language are used in the community, with
one regarded as a high (or H) variety and
the other a low (or L) variety.
2. Each variety is used for quite distinct
functions; H and L complement each other.
3. No one uses the H variety in everyday
conversation.
 Diglossia
Attitudes to H vs L in a diglossia
H variety:
situation L variety: varied
admired;
respectful,
prestigious
 Summary of H & L
differences
(i) They are different varieties of the same
language.
(ii) They are used in mutually exclusive
situations. Where H is appropriate, L is not,
and vice versa. H is used in more formal
contexts and L in less formal contexts.
(iii) Only L is used for conversation with family
and friends.
(iv) L is learned ‘naturally’ in the home. H is
learned more formally – usually in school.
 Summary of H & L
differences
(v) This is a tricky question. In the usual sense of
prestige – i.e. high status – the answer is H.
However, people are often more attached to L
emotionally. When people have this kind of
fondness for a variety, the variety is sometimes
described as having ‘covert prestige’
(vi) H is generally codified in grammar books and
dictionaries. More recently linguists have also
begun to codify the L variety in some places such
as Haiti.
(vii) Literature is usually written in H, but when the
L variety begins to gain status people begin to use it
to write in too.
 Diglossia
Extending the scope of ‘diglossia’
Diglossia (broader sense):
Any situation where two languages are
used for different functions in a speech
community, especially where one
language is used for H functions and the
other for L functions. There is a division
of labour between the languages.
Diglossia with and without
bilingualism
Diglossia is a characteristic of speech
communities rather than individuals.
Individuals may be bilingual.
Societies or communities are diglossic.
Diglossia describes societal or
institutionalised bilingualism, where two
varieties are required to cover all the
community’s domains.
Relationship between diglossia and bilingualism

▪ Box 1: the society is diglossic, (most) individuals are

bilingual.
▪ Box 2: individuals are bilingual, there is no community-wide
functional differentiation in the use of their languages.
▪ Box 3: two languages are used for different functions, by
largely different speech communities.
▪ Box 4: monolingual groups, typical of isolated ethnic
communities
 Diglossia
Polyglossia
situations where a number of distinct
codes or varieties are used for clearly
distinct purposes or in clearly
distinguishable situations.
Colloquial Maori: Diglossia English:
L variety; friends H variety;
and family; in local triglossia language of
shops school; the
government; the
Formal Maori: courts; official
H variety; transactions with
ceremonial non-Maori New
purposes; formal Zealanders
interaction on the
marae
 Diglossia
Changes in a diglossia situation
- 2 varieties can continue to exist side by side
Or
- 1 variety may gradually displace the other
 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Participants, solidarity and status
Example 8
[ The Maori is in italics. THE TRANSLATION IS IN SMALL
CAPITALS. ]
Sarah : I think everyone’s here except Mere.
John : She said she might be a bit late but actually I think
that’s her arriving now.
Sarah : You’re right. Kia ora Mere. Haere mai. Kei te pehea
koe ?
[ HI MERE. COME IN. HOW ARE YOU ?]
Mere : Kia ora e hoa. Kei te pai . Have you started yet?
[ HELLO MY FRIEND. I’M FINE ]
=> solidarity expressed
 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Participants, solidarity and status
Example 9
(a) Tamati : Engari [SO] now we turn to more important
matters.
(Switch between Maori and English)

(b) Ming : Confiscated by Customs, dà gài [PROBABLY]

(Switch between English and Mandarin Chinese)
=> identity marker
(c) A : Well I’m glad I met you. OK?
M: ándale pues [ OK SWELL ], and do come again.
Mm? => solidarity marker
(Switch between Spanish and English)
 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Participants, solidarity and status
Example 10
[ BOKMÅL IS IN SMALL CAPITALS . Ranamål in lower case.]
Jan : Hello Petter. How is your wife now?
Petter : Oh she’s much better thank you Jan. She’s out of
hospital and convalescing well.
Jan : That’s good I’m pleased to hear it. DO YOU THINK YOU
COULD HELP ME WITH THIS PESKY FORM? I AM
HAVING A GREAT DEAL OF DIFFICULTY WITH IT.
Petter : OF COURSE. GIVE IT HERE . . .

Change of topic => change of relationship

 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Participants, solidarity and status
People sometimes switch code within a domain or social
situation.
▪related to a particular participant or addressee (expression
of solidarity, group membership, shared ethnicity)
▪Emblematic/tag switching: an interjection or a linguistic tag
in the other language => ethnic identity marker
▪Express a move along the solidarity/social distance
dimension
▪Indicate a change in the status relations between people or
the formality of their interaction
▪Situational switching: when people switch from one code to
another for reasons which can be clearly identified
Code-switching or code-
mixing
Topic

switch to quote a person

Code-switching or code-
mixing
Topic

嫁鸡随鸡，嫁狗随狗
switch to recite to a
proverb
 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Topic
For many bilinguals, certain kinds of referential
content are more appropriately or more easily
expressed in one language than the other.
Referentially oriented code-switch:
• triggered by topic
• for quotation / proverb citation => stress on
accuracy
Code-switching or code-
mixing
Switching for affective functions
Example 13

Standard English:
(West Midlands
accent)
Use Patois to
Patois: (a variety swear at the
of Jamaican teacher
Creole)
switch to express
anger => affective
function
Code-switching or code-
mixing
Switching for affective functions

switch for amusement

and dramatic effect
Code-switching or code-
mixing
Switching for affective functions

switch emphasize anger

and disapproval
Code-switching or code-
mixing
Metaphorical switching

Tok Pisin => social distance, status, referential information

of the business world
Buang => high solidarity, equal status, friendly feelings

Code-switching for rhetorical reasons

 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Metaphorical switching

English => distance and objectivity

Samoan => personal feelings
 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Metaphorical switching
▪ Rapid switch
▪ Drawing on the associations of both codes.
▪ Each of the codes represents or symbolises a
set of social meanings
=> to represent complex meanings.
▪ Involving rhetorical skill => to enrich the
communication.
You can follow this link to watch the
video of code-switching examples
https://youtu.be/nkdn2-ho7VQ?t=155
 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Code-mixing
▪ Speakers mixing up codes indiscriminately
▪ Incompetence
▪ Fused lect: a relatively stable mixture of two
or more languages (conversational style by
bilinguals and multilinguals)
Sometimes sociolinguists can’t explain language choices in
situations where the participants are all multilingual…

Anh thích thì anh switch thôi

 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Lexical borrowing
Lexical borrowing <= a lack of vocabulary in a
language
Different from code-switching
▪Purpose
▪Form: borrowed words usually adapted to the
speaker’s first language
Code-switching or code-
mixing
Linguistic constraints

universal social
linguistic stylistic
constraints contextual
 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Linguistic constraints
Intra-sentential switching
Inter-sentential switching
Equivalence constraint (matched
grammar)
Matrix language frame (MLF) &
embedded language
 Code-switching or code-
mixing
Attitudes to code-switching
Reactions to code-switching styles are
negative in many monolingual
communities.
Where multilingualism is the norm,
attitudes to proficient code-switching
are much more positive.
Reasons for code-switching
Change in a feature of the domain or social
situation
Setting
Participant features
Addressee specification
Ethnic identity marker
Express solidarity
Express social distance
Assert social status
Topic
Quoting someone
Proverb
Aspect of the function or purpose of interaction
Add emphasis
Add authority
Express feelings (vs describing facts)
 MULTILINGUAL
SPEECH COMMUNITIES
LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE AND SHIFT
OUTLINE
• Language shift in different communities
• Migrant minorities
• Non-migrant minorities
• Migrant majorities

• Language death and language loss

• Factors contributing to language shift
• Economic, social and political factors
• Demographic factors
• Attitudes and values

• How can a minority language be

maintained?
• Language revival
Language shift in different
communities
Migrant minorities
Example 1
Gujerati: home with family
parents and grandparents,
workmates of same origin
in shop floor
At workplace
Gujerati English
English: language at
workplace, office
10 years
Language shift: gradually over time the
language of the wider society displaces
the minority language mother tongue.
-from using one language for most
purposes to using a different language
-from using two distinct codes in
different domains, to using different
varieties of just one language
SCHOOL

English: language at English: talking to

school for brothers or sisters
instructions, talking -> talking to parents
to teachers and -> parents talking to
friends children
PRESSURE FROM WIDER SOCIETY

Immigrant = threat

•Shifts can take from 2 to 4 generations.

Language shift in different
communities
Non-migrant minorities
Example 2

Farsi: official language of Azeri: Armeen’s native

Iran, used in street signs language, not taught to
read and write, rich
literature in the language
Example 3 Before World War I: Hungarian:
official language
After World War I: German: official
language, Hungarian banned in
schools
In the 1920s:
- Hungarian: peasants talking to each
other -> low (L) language,
interactions with townspeople
- Functions of German expanded
-> high (H) language, language of
school, official transactions,
economic advancement -> young
people began to use German ->
parents to children
By the 1970s: little use for Hungarian
Political, economic and social changes
can occur within a community, and this
may result in linguistic changes too.
Language shift in different
communities
Migrant majorities
Example 4

best understand
speaker of Maori, not fluent speaks and
Maori speakers understands
English, only
know some
Maori phrases go to Maori
pre-school
 Maori people in New Zealand

Monolingualism Bilingualism in Monolingualism

in Maori Maori & English in English

Late 19th 1950s

century
▪When colonial powers invade other
countries their languages often become
dominant.
▪When multilingualism was not
widespread in an area, or where just
one indigenous language had been used
before the colonisers arrived, languages
were often under threat.
When language shift occurs, it is almost
always shift towards the language of the
dominant powerful group.
A dominant group has little incentive to
adopt the language of a minority.
The dominant language is associated
with status, prestige and social success.
Language death and
language loss
Example 5

Ayapaneco: name given by outsider

True name of language: Nuumte Oote (True Voice)
They finally spoke to each other in 2014!
True reasons for disappearance of Ayapaneco:
- Increasing urbanisation of the population
- Compulsory education in Spanish (political)
Example 6

Annie’s Dyirbal: no English: school

reading materials, language
fewer contexts

=> Vocabulary
shrunk
=> Grammar
affected by English
=> Competence
erodes
=> Language death
(gradually)
Language death: when all the people
who speak a language die, the language
dies with them.
When a language dies gradually, the
process is similar to that of language
shift.
=> domains taken over one after another
=> speakers become less proficient
=> language gradually dies
 Factors contributing to
language shift
Economic, social and political
factors
▪The community sees an important reason
for learning the second language:
Economic/Political reasons => bilingualism
 $$$
▪ Bilingualism may or may not lead
language shift (eg. stable diglossa)
▪The community sees no reason to take
active steps to maintain their ethnic
language. (not see any advantage/not
realise danger of disappearing)
▪The social and economic goals of
individuals => speed of shift
▪ Young people: fastest shift
▪ Led by women or men depending on new
jobs and gender roles
 Factors contributing to
language shift
Demographic factors
▪Resistance to language shift tends to
last longer in rural than in urban
areas.
▪ Rural: isolated from centers of political
power for longer
▪ Examples: Ukrainians in Canada who live
out of town on farms, Maori in
inaccessible rural areas
▪Size of group: bigger => lower rates
of shift
▪Intermarriage between group =>
faster shift.
▪ Unless multilingualism is normal in a
community, one language tends to
predominate in the home
Chinatown in Manhattan
Example 7

Spanish: no
opportunity to use in
her place, seem odd to Language shift to
friends of school, English completed by
refuse to use at home age 13 (no longer
speaking Spanish)
Factors contributing to
language shift
Attitudes and values
Example 8
Ione’s Family proud of Samoan culture

Part of an active Samoan community

Samoan used for church services and social events
Samoan Youth Club (of church): play sports, dances, sing
and write songs, go on trips

Ione is proud to be Samoan and is

pleased his family taught him his
language. For him, being Samoan
means knowing how to speak Samoan.
 How can a minority
language be maintained?
‘. . . nothing benefits a country more than to
treasure the languages and cultures of its
various peoples because in doing so, it fosters
intergroup understanding and realizes greater
dividends in the form of originality, creativity
and versatility.’
Gao Hong-na (2011), School of Chinese
Language and Literature Shaanxi Normal
University
How can a minority
language be maintained?
▪language is considered
an important symbol of a
minority group’s identity
▪Families from a minority
group live near each
other and see each other
frequently
▪The degree and
frequency of contact with
the homeland.
How can a minority
language be maintained?
▪Social factors:
▪extended family with
grandparents and
unmarried relatives living in
the same house,
▪discourage intermarriage
▪language used in schools,
places of worship
▪Institutional support:
Education, law and
administration, religion
and the media
How can a minority
language be maintained?
Ethnolinguistic vitality (EV): For predicting
the likelihood that a language will be
maintained
Three components:
1. the status of the language as indicated
by attitudes towards it;
2. the size of the group who uses the
language and their distribution (e.g.
concentrated or scattered);
3. the extent to which the language enjoys
institutional support.
 Language Revival
The History and Revival of the Hebrew
language

For more information, please visit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBiiad9fO-g
Sometimes a community becomes aware that its
language is in danger of disappearing and takes
deliberate steps to revitalise it.
Economic factors are likely to be important in
assessing the long-term outcomes of efforts at
language maintenance and revival.
Languages can be maintained, and even revived,
when a group values their distinct identity highly
and regards language as an important symbol of
that identity.
Pressures towards language shift occur mainly in
countries where monolingualism is regarded as
normal, and bilingualism is considered unusual.
 MULTILINGUAL
SPEECH COMMUNITIES
LINGUISTIC VARIETIES AND
MULTILINGUAL NATIONS
OUTLINE
• Vernacular languages
• Standard languages
• World Englishes

• Lingua francas
• Pidgins and creoles
• Pidgins
• Creoles
• Origins and endings
Example 1
Kathiawari: (a dialect of Marathi: local market
Gujerati) home with wife language
and children

Hindustani: working Kacchi: language of spice

people’s lingua franca trade
English: listening to cricket
commentary on the radio
Problems facing multilingual nations:
▪ Should a country use the same language
for internal administration and for official
communications with other nations?
▪ Which language or languages should be
used by the government and the courts?
 Vernacular languages
A vernacular language: a language
which has not been standardised and
which does not have official status.
- often used for a relatively narrow
range of informal functions.
Ex: Buang in Papua New Guinea,
Hindustani in India, Bumbar in Vanuatu,
etc.
 Vernacular languages
3 components:
1. an uncodified or unstandardized variety
2. acquired in the home, as a first variety
3. used for relatively circumscribed
functions.
 Vernacular languages
Extended term:
▪The first language of a group socially or politically
dominated by a group with a different language. => A
language which is not an official language in a particular
context.
▪The most colloquial variety in a person’s linguistic
repertoire.
▪Used for communication in the home, with close friends
▪Used between people from the same ethnic group
▪In a monolingual community, the most informal and
colloquial variety of a language
▪Used to indicate that a language is used for everyday
interaction
Example 2
Do not take the termes of Northern-
men, such as they use in dayly talke,
whether they be noblemen or
gentlemen, or of their best clarkes all
is a matter; nor in effect any speach
used beyond the river Trent, though
no man can deny but that theirs is the
purer English Saxon at this day, yet it
is not so Courtly nor so currant as
our Southern English is, no more is
the far Westerne mans speach; ye
George Puttenham
shall therefore take the usuall speach (1529-1590)
of the Court, and that of London and English writer
the shires lying about London within and literary critic
LX myles, and not much above.
 Standard languages
A standard variety: one which is written,
and which has undergone some degree
of regularisation or codification (for
example, in a grammar and a dictionary);
it is recognised as a prestigious variety
or code by a community, and it is used
for H functions alongside a diversity of L
varieties.
 prestigious
Emerged in the influential
15th century useful
The variety used by People (from
the English Court & provinces) coming to
influential
merchants of London
Standard London recognized
English and learned it

London: base of the Court, Codification process

Oxford and Cambridge accelerated by printing.
universities , hub of Speech of London: basis
international trade and exports for translation. Consult
to Calais, centre of political, best writers for
social and intellectual life judgements on usages
 Standard languages
Standard varieties are codified varieties.
▪Codification: recording and prescribing
standard forms of the language through
grammars and dictionaries
▪Criteria based on usage of educated and
socially prestigious members of the
community
 Standard languages
3 essential criteria of a standard variety
▪It was an influential or prestigious
variety
▪It was codified and stabilized
▪It served H functions
 Standard languages
A standard language is always a
particular dialect which has gained its
special position as a result of social,
economic and political influences.
 Standard languages
ESL: India,
World Englishes Jamaica,
Philippines,
EFL: Italy, etc.
Brazil, (400
Russia, million)
China, etc.
(1 Billion) L1: UK,
USA,
Australia,
etc.
(375
million)
 Lingua francas
Explained in Lesson 1.
 Pidgins and Creoles
Let’s watch this video about a language
called Tok Pisin.
Link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhGo
hMxJ9WM
 Pidgins and Creoles
Pidgins
A pidgin is a language which has no
native speakers, developed as a means
of communication between people who
do not have a common language.
 Pidgins and Creoles
Pidgins
Why do pidgins develop?
1. West African slaves in
Caribbean plantations
=> separated from those
with the same language to
avoid escape or rebel plot
=> pidgin developed based
on plantation bosses +
slaves’ languages
 Pidgins and Creoles
Pidgins
Why do pidgins develop?
2. Sea-coasts in multilingual
contexts
=> European traders (Portuguese,
Spanish, English) communicate
with people from other continents
=> pidgins developed as languages
of trade, a lingua franca
Etymology
Originally Chinese mispronunciation of English
“business” => pigion => Chinese Pidgin English =>
later used to refer to any pidgin

Repeat after Pigeon,

me Pigion,
“BUSINESS” Pidgin
 Pidgins and Creoles
Pidgins
▪Initially developed with limited
functions.
▪Almost exclusive for referential
functions (buy/selling things)
=> Simple structure
Example 7

Pidgin language Simple sound system:

spoken in the morphology of Arabic
Southern Sudan eliminated

Small vocabulary: Own distinct

trade and basic
Juba
Arabic structure
communication, A stable variety
borrows from native
languages of the Easier for an Arabic
Sudan, or colloquial person to learn than
Arabic for an English
speaker
 Pidgins and Creoles
What kind of linguistic structure does a pidgin language
have?
1. All languages involved may contribute to the sounds,
the vocabulary and the grammatical features, but to
different extents, and some additional features may
emerge which are unique to the new variety.
2. The prestige language tends to supply more of the
vocabulary (=> lexifier language/superstrate)
3. Vernacular languages have more influence on the
grammar of the developing pidgin (=> substrate)
4. Tend to have a simplified structure and a small
vocabulary
5. Tend to reduce grammatical signals to a minimum
French English Tok Pisin Cameroon
pidgin
je vais I go mi go a go
tu vas you go yu go yu go
elle/il va she/he/it goes em go i go
nous allongs we go yumi go wi go
mipela go
vous allez yupela go wuna go
elles/ils vont they go ol go dem go

Source: From Todd 2005: 2.

Tok Pisin
pas => a pass, a letter, a permit, ahead,
fast, firmly, to be dense,
crowded, or tight,
to be blocked or shut

Cameroon Pidgin English

water => lake, river, spring, tear or water
 Pidgins and Creoles
Pidgins
Attitudes
- Pidgins do not have high status or
prestige
- Ridiculous languages to outsiders
- Sometimes given negative labels
- Considered a debased form of original
languages (to Europeans)
 Pidgins and Creoles
Pidgins
▪often have a short life.
▪disappear when the function
disappears.
▪disappear when trade between the
groups dies out, or one side begins
learning the other’s language
 Pidgins and Creoles
Pidgin language
1. it is used in restricted domains and
functions
2. it has a simplified structure compared
to the source languages
3. it generally has low prestige and
attracts negative attitudes – especially
from outsiders.
 Pidgins and Creoles
Creoles
A creole is a pidgin which has acquired
native speakers.
A creole is a pidgin which has expanded in
structure and vocabulary to express the
range of meanings and serve the range of
functions required of a first language.
Creolisation: the process by which a pidgin
becomes a creole
Example 12

Tok Pisin at different stages

a) baimbai yu go you will go
b) bambai yu go you will go
c) bai yu go you will go
d) yu bai go you will go
e) yu bfgo you will go
Comparison of verb forms in four languages

French English Tok Pisin Cameroon

pidgin
je vais I go mi go a go
tu vas you go yu go yu go
elle/il va she/he/it goes em go i go
nous allongs we go yumi go wi go
mipela go
vous allez yupela go wuna go
elles/ils vont they go ol go dem go

Source: From Todd 2005: 2.

Tok Pisin forms

Tok Pisin English Tok Pisin English

bik big, large bikim to enlarge, make large
brait wide braitim to make wide, widen
daun low daunim to lower
nogut bad nogutim to spoil, damage
pret afraid pretim to frighten, scare
doti dirty dotim
_________ to make dirty
 Pidgins and Creoles
Creoles
Structural features
•Develop ways of systematically signalling
meanings such as verb tenses =>
inflections/affixes over time
•Substrate: source of structural complexity for a
creole
•Become more structurally regular
•Paraphrases become more compact and
concise, less transparent.
 Pidgins and Creoles
Creoles
Functions
Once a creole has developed it can be
used for all the functions of any language
– politics, education, administration,
original literature and so on.
 Pidgins and Creoles
Creoles
Attitudes
- often negative (outsiders)
- has status and prestige
 Pidgins and Creoles
Origins and endings
The origin of pidgins:
▪Many similarities are found among pidgins
and creoles <= Argument 1: Lexifier language
for most (about 85): English (35), French (15),
Portuguese (14), Spanish (7), German (6),
Dutch (5), Italian (3)
 Pidgins and Creoles
Origins and endings
The origin of pidgins:
▪Similarities have been found between pidgins
from quite different geographical regions, and
in pidgins where quite different languages
have contributed to their development
<= Argument 2: all pidgins and creoles had a
common origin
 Pidgins and Creoles
Origins and endings
The origin of pidgins:
▪Argument 3: each pidgin arises and develops
independently.
• Basic functions: trade, barter, transactional and
referentially oriented functions.
• Structural processes (simplification and reduction)
universal to all situations of language development.
=> No need to argue for a common origin for all
pidgins.
 Pidgins and Creoles
Origins and endings
What will ultimately happen to a creole?
▪In societies with rigid social divisions, a creole may
remain as a stable L variety alongside an officially
sanctioned H variety
▪Where social barriers are more fluid, the creole may
develop towards the standard language from which it
has derived large amounts of vocabulary (change in
the direction of the standard variety). =>
decreolization.
 Pidgins and Creoles
Origins and endings
▪Post-creole continuum

acrolect
mesolect

standard creole
basilect
 Pidgins and Creoles
Origins and endings
Over time a creole
▪may be engulfed by the standard language; or
▪may be standardised and adopted as an
official language; or
▪May become a national language.