SOCIOLINGUISTIC

1. DEFINITION OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Sociolinguistics, the study of language as it affects and is affected by social relations. Sociolinguistics encompasses a broad range of concerns, including bilingualism , pidgin and creole languages , and other ways that language use is influenced by contact among people of different language communities (e.g., speakers of German, French, Italian, and Romansh in Switzerland). Sociolinguists also examine different dialects, accents, and levels of diction in light of social distinctions among people. Sociolinguistics is a term including the aspects of linguistics applied toward the connections between language and society, and the way we use it in different social situations. It ranges from the study of the wide variety of dialects across a given region down to the analysis between the way men and women speak to one another. Sociolinguistics often shows us the humorous realities of human speech and how a dialect of a given language can often describe the age, sex, and social class of the speaker; it codes the social function of a language.

2. DIALECT AND ACCENT

a. Dialect Dialect is something greater. A dialect is a version of a language that is special to a particular region or group. Dialects of the same language are different from each other, but still understandable to speakers of another dialect of that language. For example, American English and British English are two dialects of English. They have some differences, such as in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar, but they are still understandable to each other. b. Accent Accent is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation. An accent may identify the locality in which its speakers reside (a geographical or regional accent), the socio-economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class, their first language (when the language in which the accent is heard is not their native language), and so on.

Accents typically differ in quality of voice, pronunciation of vowels and consonants, stress, and prosody. Although grammar, semantics, vocabulary, and other language characteristics often vary concurrently with accent, the word 'accent' refers specifically to the differences in pronunciation, whereas the word 'dialect' encompasses the broader set of linguistic differences. Often 'accent' is a subset of 'dialect'.

3. Language Variation
Language variation is one of the main discussion in the study of Sociolinguistics. Sociolinguistics is a branch of linguistics that describes the characteristics of language variation and sets the correlation of those characteristics with the characteristics of the social community. a. Language Variation: Focus on Users 1) Idiolect is the language variation that is individual in nature (Chaer & Agustina, 1995:82). Everyone has his own language variation or his own idiolect. This idiolect variation is concerning with the colours of voice, choice of words, language style, sentence order, etc. 2) Dialect is something greater. A dialect is a version of a language that is special to a particular region or group. Dialects of the same language are different from each other, but still understandable to speakers of another dialect of that language. For example, American English and British English are two dialects of English. They have some differences, such as in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar, but they are still understandable to each other. b. Language Variation: Focus on Uses In terms of language variation that are based on its uses, the discussion is focused on the ways in which speech reflects the contexts in which language is used and not the characteristics of the speakers (Holmes, 2001:223). The language variation that is concerning with the uses or functions can be called as style or register. 1) Style According to Holmes (2001:246) the term style refers to language variation which reflects changes in situational factors. She also mentions that styles are often analysed according to the levels of formality (Holmes, 2001:246). This is in accordance with Martin Joos (1967) in his book The Five Clocks as quoted by Nababan (1986:22) who
2

divides the style of formality into five levels, frozen, formal, consultative, casual and intimate styles. The description of these styles can be seen in the following: a. Frozen style. It is the most formal style used in formal situations and ceremonies (Nababan, 1986:22). It is called frozen because the pattern has been set up firmly and can never be changed by anyone. b. Formal style. It is the style used in formal speech, formal meeting, office correspendence, lesson books for school, etc (Chaer & Agustina, 1995:93). Formal style is basically similar to the frozen style that is only used in formal situations and not in informal situations. c. Consultative style. This is the style used in ordinary conversation held at school, in meeting or conversation that leads to result and production (Nababan, 1986:22). It can be said that this style is the most operational one. d. Casual style. It is the style used to speak with friends, family or relatives, during the leisure time, while exercising, etc (Chaer & Agustina, 1995:93). e. Intimate style. This is the style used with people who have close relationships with the speaker (Nababan, 1986:22).

4. Lingua Franca
A lingua franca, according to most definitions, is a language used to communicate between people who speak different languages natively. Because there are different ideas people want to communicate, different languages fill this role. Currently, English is the language which fills the most roles. The definition of lingua franca accepted by most sources is a common language used by people who normally speak other languages. For example, English is a vernacular in the United Kingdom, but is used as a vehicular language (that is, a lingua franca) in the Philippines. English as a Lingua Franca "The status of English is such that it has been adopted as the world's lingua franca for communication in Olympic sport, international trade, and air-traffic control. Unlike any other language, past or present, English has spread to all five continents and has become a truly global language."(G. Nelson and B. Aarts, "Investigating English Around the World," The Workings of Language, ed. by R. S. Wheeler. Greenwood, 1999). "Even
3

though everybody around the world speaks English--sort of--in their dealings with American media and business, politics, and culture, the English that is spoken is a lingua franca.

5. Pidgin and Creoles

a. Pidgin A pidgin, or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the country in which they reside (but where there is no common language between the groups). Fundamentally, a pidgin is a simplified means of linguistic communication, as it is constructed impromptu, or by convention, between individuals or groups of people. A pidgin is not the native language of any speech community, but is instead learned as a second language. A pidgin may be built from words, sounds, or body language from multiple other languages and cultures. Pidgins allow people or a group of people to communicate with each other without having any similarities in language and does not have any rules, as long as both parties are able to understand each other. Pidgins can be changed and do not follow a specific order. b. Creoles Creoles are languages which, originally having been pidgins, have become established as a mother tongue in some speech communities. Their grammar develops beyond the simplified form of the pidgin and becomes as rich and complex as that of other languages. Normally, creoles co-exist with the standard language that was originally pidginised. The standard language usually functions as the language of education and administration. New creoles do not have an established library of written language and so are often influenced by the standard, which is why they tend to change frequently and rapidly. Over time, the influence of the original language lessens as a rich literary history develops - French Creole is an example of this.

6. Slang and Jargon

a. Slang Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially.Slang is considered as an independent non-literary language formation existing in the national language and closely connected with its terminology. Slang words and expressions are characterised by a high degree of informality, familiarity, vocabulary richness. They are realised by a specific group of people whose members are connected with some particular link, such as territory (Californian), age (teenagers), subculture (students), and mainly occur in the spoken form of the language.

b. Jargon Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, group, or event. In earlier times, the term jargon would refer to trade languages used by people who spoke different native tongues to communicate, such as the Chinook Jargon. In other words, the term covers the language used by people who work in a particular area or who have a common interest. Much like slang, it can develop as a kind of short-hand, to express ideas that are frequently discussed between members of a group, though it can also be developed deliberately using chosen terms. A standard term may be given a more precise or unique usage among practitioners of a field. In many cases this causes a barrier to communication with those not familiar with the language of the field.

7. Language and Sex

In 1922, Otto Jespersen published a book containing a chapter on women's language. He describes differences in women's compared to men's speech and voice pitch. He describes women's vocabulary as less extensive than men's and claims that the periphery of language and the development of new words is only for men's speech. Jespersen explains these differences by the early division of labour between the sexes. In his conclusion, he claims that the social changes taking place at the time may eventually
5

modify even the linguistic relations of the two sexes. During this period, the use of female pronouns to refer to countries and boats was emphasized. (The use of she to refer to motorcars and ships may seem typically male.) The first specific piece of writing on gender differences in language came out in 1944. This was P. H. Furfeys article Mens and Women's Language in The Catholic Sociological Review. The suggested dichotomy includes: A: Women - talk more than men, talk too much, are more polite, are indecisive/hesitant, complain and nag, ask more questions, support each other, are more co-operative, B: Men - swear more, dont talk about emotions, talk about sport more, talk about women and machines in the same way, insult each other frequently, are competitive in conversation, dominate conversation, speak with more authority, give more commands, interrupt more.

8. Multilingual Communities
The term multilingualism can refer to an occurrence regarding an individual speaker who uses two or more languages, a community of speakers where two or more languages are used, or between speakers of different languages. The term multilinguals is also sometimes used to refer to the people who can use more than two language. A person is multilingual if he or she knows several languages; a document or message is multilingual if it is presented in multiple languages. Nigeria is one of the most multilingual countries in the world with over 400 languages and more than 1000 dialects spoken by a population of over 140 million people.

REFERENCES
Holmes, Janet. 2001. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, England: Pearson Education Limited. Holmes, J. (1992) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. London: Longman. "Salikoko Mufwene: "Pidgin and Creole Languages"". Humanities.uchicago.edu.

http://humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mufwene/pidginCreoleLanguage.html. Arends, J / Muysken, P / Smith, N (eds): Pidgins and Creoles. An introduction. Amsterdam / Philadelphia, John Benjamins publishing company: 1995.