summary of introduction to sociolinguistics

An Introduction to Sociolinguistics

By Ronald Wardhaugh

Summary by : Layalia Faza

An Introduction to Sociolinguistics

By Ronald Wardhaugh

Summary by: Layalia Faza

Here let me summarize this book hope you enjoy guys.

Languages, Dialects, and Varieties

Language variation:

• No two speakers of a language speak exactly the same way

• No individual speaker speaks the same way all the time

Language Varieties Language variety refers to the various forms of language triggered by social factors. Language may changes from region to region, from one social class to another, from individual to individual, and from situation to situation. This actual changes result in the varieties of language.

Dialect

• A language variety, spoken by a speech community that is characterized by systematic features (e.g., phonological, lexical, and grammatical) that distinguish it from other varieties of that same language • Idiolect: the speech variety of an individual speaker

Varieties ü Hudson (1980: 24) a set of linguistic items with similar distribution ü Varieties

• Wardaugh (1988: 20) a specific set of linguistic items or human speech patterns (presumably, sounds, words, grammatical features) which we can uniquely associate with some external factors (presumably, a geographical area and a social group)

LANGUAGE AND DIALECT •

What is the difference between language and dialect?

• Variety is a term used for to replace both terms - Hudson says “a set of linguistic items with similar distribution”

• Variety is some linguistic shared items which can uniquely be associated with some social items

Part of variety are styles register and beliefs

Pidgins and Creoles

Hymes (1971, p. 3) has pointed out that before the 1930s pidgins and creoles were largely ignored by linguists, who regarded them as ‘marginal languages’ at best.

Pidgin is formed because there are different backgrounds in society.

Creole can develop from a pidgin language if a certain social condition come into play

Pidgin	Creoles
No native speaker	Native speaker
Mixing language	Mixed language associated with cultural and often racial mixture
Reduced grammar and vocabulary	Have parents who use pidgin

Lingua Franca

People who speak different languages who are forced into contact with each other must find some way of communicating, a lingua franca.

Lingua franca arguably bridge language that is systematically somewhat tranquil or sometimes opposite used to communicate relaxed in the community. A lingua franca can be spoken in a variety of ways. An example of lingua franca is Swahili.

Codes

Code is communication tools that is variant of language.

Diglossia

A diglossic situation exists in a society when it has two distinct codes which show clear functional separation; that is, one code is employed in one set of circumstances and the other in an entirely different set.

Bilingualism and Multilingualism

Bilingual is a person who can master two languages at once the first language and second language.

Multilingual one who mastered more than two languages.

Monolingual is a person who only master in one language.

Code-Switching

People, then, are usually required to select a particular code whenever they choose to speak, and they may also decide to switch from one code to another or to mix codes even within sometimes very short utterances and thereby create a new code in a process known as code-switching. Code-switching (also called code-mixing) can occur in conversation between speakers’ turns or within a single speaker’s turn.

I gave you an example of code switching

Saya mau membeli high heels di center point.

Higheels in here means that code switching where should be “ sepatu tinggi” but Indonesian people common say it high heels than sepatu tinggi

Speech Repertoire

An individual also has a speech repertoire; that is, he or she controls a number of varieties of a language or of two or more languages. Quite often, many individuals will have virtually identical repertoires. The concept of ‘speech repertoire’ may be most useful when applied to individuals rather than to groups.

In this view each individual has his or her own distinctive verbal repertoire and each speech community in which that person participates has its distinctive speech repertoire; in fact, one could argue that this repertoire is its defining feature.

Like this if A says I am similar to her and B says I am like her.