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UNIVERSITY OF ALGIERS 2 Thursday 27 October 2022

SOCIOLINGUISTICS Gps 1 – 4- 5
WEEK 4 /CHAPTER IV

LANGUAGE VARIATION AND SOCIAL FACTORS

(adapted from different sources)

Key words: Sociolects- Register– Ideolect – Gender- geographical origins AND THEIR
IMPACT ON LANGUAGE

Introduction: Sociolinguists have demonstrated that there is a regular relationship between

social and linguistic factors. The principle social dimensions they have been concerned with
are Language and social class, Language and style, Language and gender, Language and age,
Language and idiolect and language and geographical origins

1 LANGUAGE AND SOCIAL CLASS: SOCIOLECTS ( is one of S6 topics)

Sociolects are dialects determined by social factors rather than by geography. They are
varieties of language that are used by a particular social group. They often develop due to
social divisions within a society. Sociolinguists believe that the way of formulating sentences
is a good indicator of the speaker’s social class. For example the British non regional
pronunciation RP (received pronunciation) indicate that the speakers have been educated in
prestige schools. In summary: the sociolect is spoken by a group of people belonging to a
particular social class, eg: the English spoken by the upper , middle and lower class are social
dialects. Women’s language is also a sociolect. Teen agers have their sociolect…

2 LANGUAGE AND REGISTER

Speakers adapt their language to the situation they find themselves in. This is called
‘register’ .The register is defined as the way a speaker uses language differently in different
circumstances (choice of words, structures, tone of voice…) . These variations also called
stylistic variations are known as registers. Some linguists use register and style
interchangeably.
Speakers are able to adjust their register/style to their interlocutors. The linguist MAK
Halliday claims that their choice is guided by 3 variables : 1) the topic, 2) who speaks with
whom , 3) the channel of communication (speech or writing). Halliday labels them 1 FIELD,
2 TENOR , 3 MODE .

1 FIELD: is the topic of the interaction, eg: philosophy, literature gardening, tourism etc…
2 TENOR: is Who is speaking with Whom? It refers to the kind of social relationship between
speaker and interlocutor, if they have the same status or not. A conversation between two
friends , between a minister and a journalist, a manager and his employee, an employee and
and employee … requires , each time, a different language register.
3 MODE : It is the means of communication: speech or writing. In addition to consideration
of topic (field) and social relationship (tenor) language is also impacted by the mode adopted
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for communication: speaking or writing. ( giving news via writing or speaking requires a
different vocabulary , different grammatical structures )

In summary: according to the field (a serious conversation, or joking or chattering or

quarrelling) with whom you are speaking ( same status or not) and by what mode , the
speaker will choose the most appropriate vocabulary , grammatical structures, style …The
social relations between speaker/hearer impact the register used. It can be formal (minister’s
speech, official meetings), informal ( with friends), familiar, intimate ( with close relationship,
relatives)

Jargon: Sociolinguists use the term ‘jargon’ when the register refers to varieties based on
occupation characterized by variation in lexicon. Surgeons, mechanics, drug dealers , cooks
etc..have their jargon (some sociolinguists use ‘jargon’ and ‘register’ interchangeably.

3 LANGUAGE AND THE INDIVIDUAL= IDEOLECT

Speakers can speak the same language (standard or regional variety) and yet no two speakers
speak exactly alike . Differences exist even between the members of the same family. Some
differences are due to sex, age, state of health, personality , emotional idiosyncrasies. That
each person speaks somewhat differently from all others is shown by our ability to recognize
acquaintances by recognizing them talk. The unique characteristics of the language of an
individual speaker are referred as the speaker’s idiolect.

4 LANGUAGE AND SEX = GENDERLECT

Although men and women use the same language they use it differently. In 1975 the
sociolinguist Robin Lakoff was the first who made the claim that there is a distinctive
‘women’s language’ that differs from typical male speech in both syntactic and paralinguistic
features and in a number of ways. For eg: women do not impose. This can be demonstrated
through hedging like ‘ Could you may be …? Could I perhaps …? Women give options (it’s
about not taking complete control …) : ‘It’s up to you’ ‘ Do you want to go first ?’ Women
use empty adjectives (divine, lovely, admirable) , they use tag questions, they apologize more,
they use more hypercorrect grammar…

5 LANGUAGE AND GEOGRAPHY = REGIONAL DIALECTS

They are spoken in one part of a country based on a region. For eg: the English spoken in
Yorkshire and Scotland are regional dialects. Regional dialects tend to show less differences
from their close neighbours and greater differences from distant neighbours. The variation can
be distinguished from the pronunciation, vocabulary and even from the grammatical
differences.
There are different varieties of English spoken across the world, which can be considered as
regional varieties: British English, American English, Canadian English , Australian English
For eg: Americans prefer to use ‘Do you have? While the British English use ‘ Have you got ?
Americans use ‘gotten’ when most British use ‘got’ etc…
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