What is sociolinguistic

patterns of words) cluster together to form personal styles of speech. • why people from different communities or cultures can misunderstand what is meant. • Some of the issues addressed are how features of dialects (ways of pronouncing words. especially how people with different social identities speak and how their speech changes in different situations.• Sociolinguistics is concerned with language in social and cultural context. said and done based on the different ways they use language. choice of words.
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such as 'r' (variably pronounced according to where it occurs in a word) or 'ng' (variably pronounced /n/ or /ŋ/). are then tested to see the frequency with which they produce particular variants. and so forth. based on factors such as education. a number of linguistic variables are selected. or in Norwich by [Peter] Trudgill. Palgrave Macmillan.Sociolinguistic Methods
Sociolinguistics encompasses a range of methodologies. known as informants. like those undertaken in New York by [William] Labov. • Sections of the population. money. In classic cases. occupation. Linguistic Terms and Concepts. both quantitative and qualitative • "The standard way in which sociolinguists investigate [language] use is by random sampling of the population. The results are then set against social indices which group informants into classes. • On the basis of such data it is possible to chart the spread of innovations in accent and dialect regionally. 2000)
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termed registers. but only one of them may satisfy societal expectations and the speaker's preferred presentation of self. "Every language accommodates such differences as a non-discrete scale or continuum of recognizably different linguistic 'levels' or styles. Blackwell. Essential Introductory Linguistics. To get someone's attention in English. Hudson.Sociolinguistic Competence
• • • • • • Sociolinguistic Competence "Sociolinguistic competence enables speakers to distinguish among possibilities such as the following. for example. and saying 'Sir!' to a 12year-old probably expresses inappropriate deference. often expresses either a bad attitude or surprising misunderstanding of the usually recognized social proprieties. as part of learning the language. 'Hey!' addressed to one's mother or father. each of the utterances 'Hey!'. and 'Sir!' or 'Ma'am!‘ is grammatical and a fully meaningful contribution to the discourse of the moment. has learned to distinguish and choose among places on the scale of register. 2000)
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. 'Excuse me!'. and every socially mature speaker." (G.