Sociolinguistics is the study of how language is influenced by social and cultural factors. [1] It examines how language varies between social groups and how social identity is expressed through language use. [2] The scope of sociolinguistics is broad, as it aims to understand who speaks what language or language variety to whom, when, where, how, and why. [3] Key concepts in sociolinguistics include registers, which are varieties of language used for specific purposes, and diglossia, which describes distinct high and low language varieties used in different social contexts or domains.
Sociolinguistics is the study of how language is influenced by social and cultural factors. [1] It examines how language varies between social groups and how social identity is expressed through language use. [2] The scope of sociolinguistics is broad, as it aims to understand who speaks what language or language variety to whom, when, where, how, and why. [3] Key concepts in sociolinguistics include registers, which are varieties of language used for specific purposes, and diglossia, which describes distinct high and low language varieties used in different social contexts or domains.
Sociolinguistics is the study of how language is influenced by social and cultural factors. [1] It examines how language varies between social groups and how social identity is expressed through language use. [2] The scope of sociolinguistics is broad, as it aims to understand who speaks what language or language variety to whom, when, where, how, and why. [3] Key concepts in sociolinguistics include registers, which are varieties of language used for specific purposes, and diglossia, which describes distinct high and low language varieties used in different social contexts or domains.
Sociolinguistics is the study of how language is influenced by social and cultural factors. [1] It examines how language varies between social groups and how social identity is expressed through language use. [2] The scope of sociolinguistics is broad, as it aims to understand who speaks what language or language variety to whom, when, where, how, and why. [3] Key concepts in sociolinguistics include registers, which are varieties of language used for specific purposes, and diglossia, which describes distinct high and low language varieties used in different social contexts or domains.
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SOCIOLINGUSTICS
1. Definition of Sociolinguistics
Sociolingusitics means the study of language in relation to social factors, including
differences of regional, class, and occupational dialect, gender differences, and bilingualism.
Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and society’s effect on language. It differs from sociology of language, which focuses on the effect of language on society.
It also studies how language varieties differ between groups separated by certain social variables (ethnicity, religion, status, gender, level of education, age, etc) and how creation and adherence to these rules is used to categorize individuals in social or socioeconomic classes.
Sociolinguistics is the study of language and how it is affected by the social setting in which language is used. It has a broad scope in its examination of the many and diverse ways that language and society intersect. Sociolinguistics includes not only the study of language and social setting but also psychology and anthropology.
2. The Scope of Socioliguistics
The scope of Sociolinguistics is to determine who says what to whom, when, where, how, and why. Through studying the scope of Sociolinguistics , one can ever determine a person’s social position, education, background, setting, sex, age, and much more. The scope of Sociolinguistics is very broad but has an incredible impact on language and the different varieties we have.
3. Definition of Register and Diglossia
a. Register Register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting, and English speaker may be more likely to use features of prescribed grammar than in an informal setting: such as pronouncing words ending in –ing with a velar nasal instead of an alveolar nasal: Example: “walking”, not “walkin’ “ choosing more formal words: Example: father vs dad, child vs kid, etc. refraining from using words consideres nonstandard, such as ain’t. b. Diglossia Diglossia literally means “two tongues”. This definition gives the impression that diglossia and bilingualism are the same thing. However, diglossia is a distinct from of bilingualism in that the use of the two languages are determined by the function. A diglossia consists of a high and low language. The high language is used for specific purposes such as business transactions, ceremonies, and religious rites. The low languages is used for everyday conversation. You would never hear a person use the low language for normal conversation. The context in which the high and low languages are used are called domains. There are many different domains such as family, work, school, church, etc. each of these domains calls for either the high or low language. For example, the high language may be used when speaking of politics while the low language may be used for speaking about sports. Example: Me, telling my child I want to depart: Hey, kiddo, c’mon, we’re outta here. Me, telling my husband I want to depart: I wanna get goin’, you mind? Me, telling my mother I want to depart: would it be okay if I left now? Me, telling a highly esteemed official I want to depart: May I go now?
