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The Social Study of Language

This document discusses the field of sociolinguistics and its approaches to studying the relationship between language and society. Sociolinguistics maps linguistic variation onto social conditions to understand changes over time and differences at a single point in time. It examines how society influences individuals' language use and the role of language in society as a whole. Sociolinguists look for evidence of socially accepted rules that account for speech variations and characteristics of speakers and speech encounters. Their methods include covert recordings, sociolinguistic interviews that elicit different speech types, and questionnaires to gather data from large populations on variables likely to be socially significant.

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T Aymen
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291 views12 pages

The Social Study of Language

This document discusses the field of sociolinguistics and its approaches to studying the relationship between language and society. Sociolinguistics maps linguistic variation onto social conditions to understand changes over time and differences at a single point in time. It examines how society influences individuals' language use and the role of language in society as a whole. Sociolinguists look for evidence of socially accepted rules that account for speech variations and characteristics of speakers and speech encounters. Their methods include covert recordings, sociolinguistic interviews that elicit different speech types, and questionnaires to gather data from large populations on variables likely to be socially significant.

Uploaded by

T Aymen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Presented By :Aymen Latif

The scope of inquiry


o Sociolinguistics is the field that studies the relation
between
language and society
Primary task of linguistics
o To map linguistics variation on to social conditions it
help to understand
Synchronic Diachronic
( variation at a ( variation over
point of time) time)
Complementary approaches
scholars What they pursue
o Formal linguistics o An autonomous system or
significant elements that
explain the design and
structure of the human brain.

o How the system works and


o Psycholinguist
how it can be learned or lost.
Continues….
Scholars What they pursue
o Sociolinguist o How the system is used in a
living and complex speech
community.
o Applied linguist
o How to help people learn
language and how to use it
effectively to deal with
problems of practical daily
life.
Sociolinguistics
Micro end of SL Macro end of SL
o Explores the ways in which o Focuses more on society as a
society influences a specific whole, in relation to
language of a person. language.
Some scholars divide the divide
into two parts
o Sociolinguistics o sociology of language
(the social influences ( the role of language in
on language) society)
The methods of inquiry
o In sociolinguistics is
the observer’s paradox (Labov’s)
o It means
how can we observe the way peoples speak
when they are nor being observed?
What do sociolinguistics look for?
o Sociolinguistics is looking for evidence of socially
accepted rules accounting for variations in speech.
o In part
the characteristics of the speaker
( The speech variation.) (the nature of
speech encounter)
The sociolinguist at work
Clandestine • Abandoned for ethical and practical reasons
• Now the subjects are asked for permission.
Recording

• Developed by William Lobov.


Sociolinguistic
• Sociolinguist elicits examples of various
interview kinds of speech.

Non-intrusive • Simple questions for large population.


responses
Continues…..

Variable
• Likely to prove of
social significance.

Questionnaires
• The most common
tool for gathering data
Thank You 

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