Unit Two: Language and Social Class

Sociolects: When dialects provide information about the social status of the speakers, they are called sociolects. These sociolects have differences in grammar, vocabulary, and accent. When sociolects have phonetic and phonological differences, they are called social-class accents. Test Your Understanding: What are sociolects? _____________________ provide information about the social status of speakers. Sociolects have differences in ______________, ____________ and ________. When sociolects have phonetic and phonological differences, they are called ___________.

Barriers and Distance The difference in human societies is seen in their languages. Barriers and distance play a vital role in the nature of dialects. Barriers are of two types geographical and social. Geographical barriers refer to mountains, rivers, or swamps. When there is a geographical barrier or distance between two dialects, there are also a lot of dissimilarities between them. Dialects can also be different due to social barriers and social distance. These barriers could be related to age, class, race, or religion.

Test Your Understanding: __________ and ____________ play a vital role in the nature of dialects. What are geographical barriers?
Suja Menon

Mountains, rivers, or swamps are _____________ barriers. Barriers are of two types, _____________ and _____________. Age, class, race, and religion are _______________ barriers. a. biological b. social c. geographical

Social Stratification Social stratification refers to any ordering of groups within a society in terms of power, wealth, and status. It is stratification that gives rise to social-class dialects or sociolects. Test Your Understanding What is social stratification? Social stratification is in terms of ___________, ___________, and __________. Stratification gives rise to ______________.

Idiolect An idiolect is an individual's use of the language. It is the speech of one person at one time in one style. Test Your Understanding What is an idiolect? An ___________ is an individual's use of the language. An idiolect is the __________ of one person at one time in one style.

Studies in Dialectology The study of dialects is called dialectology. A person who studies dialects is called a dialectologist. At first, dialectologists studied rural dialects. But after the Second World War, dialectologists understood that most of the population lived in towns or cities. So, they began to concentrate on urban dialects. Test Your Understanding
Suja Menon

The study of dialects is called ____________. A person who studies dialects is called a _____________. At first, dialectologists studied ____________. After the Second World War, dialectologists began to study rural dialects. (True or False)

Free Variation When two or more forms appear in society without a change in meaning and without being misunderstood, it is called free variation. For example, some people pronounce 'beard' and 'bad' alike. Free variation is due to factors like class, age, and gender. Test Your Understanding Free variation is due to factors like ___________, ____________, and _____________. Define free variation. Reasons for Studying Dialects It helps to allot a social status to a speaker based on his/her speech. It tells us something about the social structure of a particular community. It helps to understand the relationship between a dialect and an idiolect. It provides information on the reasons for linguistic change. Test Your Understanding Dialects help us understand the relationship between a dialect and an idiolect. (True or False) Dialects do not provide information on the reasons for linguistic change. (True or False) Mention any three reasons for studying dialects.

Suja Menon