Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics is the study of how language is used in communities and how language varies within and between communities.

Language Variation and Dialects

Idiolect

Idiolect

A speaker’s individual language variety is called an idiolect.

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Dialect

Dialect

When a group of speakers speaks in a way that is noticeably different from another group, that group speaks a dialect. A group of people that speaks a dialect is called a speech community. Phonological and phonetic variations are called accents.

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Mutual Intelligibility

Mutual Intelligibility

If two people speaking two dialects can understand each other, the two dialects are mutually intelligible. If two dialects are mutually intelligible, then they are the same language. If two dialects are mutually unintelligible, then they are different languages.

Dialect Continuum

Sometimes dialects form a dialect continuum. A situation where neighboring dialects are mutually intelligible, but distant dialects are not.

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Types of Dialects

Regional Dialects

Regional Dialects

Regional dialects are associated with a particular place.

Regional Dialect Examples

Examples of Language Varieties

What is your generic term for a sweetened carbonated beverage?

What would you call this bug?

What do you call a traffic situation where several roads meet in a circle and you have to get off at a certain point?

Do you pronounce “pajamas” as [pədɛaməz] or [pədɛæməz]?

Do you pronounce “route” as[ɹut] or [ɹaʊt]?

American Dialects

American Dialects

The Northen Dialect

• Northern Cities Shift: /ɑ/ -> [æ], /æ/ -> [ɛ], /ɛ/ -> [ʌ] (e.g., bag[bɛg], lock[læk], bus[bɔs])

The New England Dialect

• A non-rhotic dialect (r-dropping): /ɹ/ -> [ɹ] / before a vowel, /ɹ/ -> ø / otherwise (e.g., Park your car on Havard yard.[pɑk jə kɑɹ ɑn hɑvəd jɑd])

Southern Dialects

• Pin-pen merger: pin[pɪn]and pen[pɛn] both pronounced as [pɪn]
• Monophthongization: /aɪ/ -> [a] / before certain consonants (e.g., wide/waɪde/ -> [wad])

Appalachian Dialect

• a-prefixin: He come a-running to tell me the news.
• Irregualr verbs: heat -> het instead of heated.
• Multiple negation: I didn't have no lunch.

Midland Dialect

• Phonological variants: /oʊ/ -> [øʊ] (e.g. boat[bøʊt])
• /l/-vocalization: /l/ -> [w] / after a vowel (e.g., hill[hɪw], belt[bɛwt]a)
• Positive anymore: The gas station sells gas anymore. instead of The gas station sells gas these days.

Western Dialect

• /u/ -> [ʉ] (e.g., dude[dʉd], new[nʉ])
• Cot-caught merger: cot[kɑt], caught[kɑt] -> [kɔt]

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Social Dialects

Social Dialects

Social dialects are associated with a particular class, race, and/or gender.

• Class and Rhoticity: In the northeast US, non-rhoticity(e.g., fourth floor[fɔəθ flɔə]) is a major feature of working-class dialect. On the other hand, in the UK, non-rhotic dialects are high-class, and rhotic dialects are working-class.

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Ethnic Dialects

Ethnic Dialects

Ethnic dialects are associated with specific ethnic groups.

• African American Vernacular English (AAVE)

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