Scope of sociolinguistics

Semester 5 Module: Sociolinguistics

Semester 5 Youssef TAMER

Associate Professor Department of English Studies

Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir

2014-‐2015

/Dr.Youssef.Tamer /YoussefTamer /+Youssef.Tamer /TEFLANDICT

WWW.ENGLISHSTUDIESINFO.BLOGSPOT.COM

Introduction

By the end of this lecture you should be able to:

!

• Explain what sociolinguists study; • Discuss different meanings of

bilingualism



Key Concepts• What do sociolinguists study? • What determines language use? • What is variety/code? • What is the meaning of bilingualism? • What is individual bilingualism? • What is societal bilingualism? • What is a first language? • What is a second language?



What does sociolinguistics study?

• The relationship between language and society • How does society (who people are, what they do, who they are with) affect the ways people speak?

• What social factors can account for linguistic variation?



Examples of aspects of sociolinguistics we will study in this module:

• Why do you use Arabic differently when you talk to me (your lecturer) from when you talk to a stranger or when you talk to another student?

• Why do you use Arabic differently when you talk to your fellow student in class from when you talk to him/her in the café?

• Why do you sometimes switch from Arabic/Amazigh to French/English in the middle of a sentence?



!• What are some of the differences between the ways men and

women use language? !

• Do people of different ages speak differently? !

• What can a language tell about the social background of a person? !

• Will a language die? !

• How do languages change over time? !

• What languages should we use or teach in school?



What determines language use?

• Why do you use Arabic differently when you talk to me (your lecturer) from when you talk to another student or a friend?

!

• Why do you use Arabic differently when you talk to your fellow student or friend in class from when you talk to him/her in the café?



Factors determining language use

• The participants • The setting • The topic • The function • Social dimensions • Solidarity – social distance scale • Status scale • Formality scale • Function scale



What is a variety/code?• Spolsky (1998) Sociolinguistics:

‘Variety’ is a term we use to include any identifiable kind of language

Example: 1) Hakka and Cantonese are two varieties of

Chinese 2) Tamazight, Tachelhit, Tarifit are different

varieties of Amazigh 3) MA and EA are different varieties of SA



Read the following extract and decide how you would call it: a language, variety or code?

Gary: day dreaming, haha, just feel bored and can’t concentrate. Dunno why –haha

Phil: why can concentrate ar? Have ‘heart problem’?? Work hard ar, u will have present on Friday wor, and have 4 midterms. Don’t daydream la i will support you mentally ar

Gary: thx. U make me feel warm studying in UST –university of stress and tension yes, there r many ppl watch me thru icq. I can be lazy and let them down!



Morocco as a multilingual speech community

!

• Bilingual individuals (individual bilingualism) !

• Bilingual society (societal bilingualism) !

• A speech community



What is the meaning of bilingualism?!

!

!

The ability to use two languages e.g. Arabic & Amazigh



Are you a bilingual?

• One who possesses at least one of the language skills even to a minimal degree in the second language.”

• (Macnamara 1967)

• Those who demonstrate complete mastery of two different languages without interference between the two linguistic processes.”

• (Oestreicher 1974)



Are you a bilingual?

• Bilingualism is understood…to begin at the point where the speaker of one language can produce complete meaningful utterances in the other language.”

• (Baetens-‐Beardsmore, 1982).



What is individual bilingualism?

– Focus on the linguistic competence of individual persons !

–What are your L1 and L2?



What is an L1?

• This term is used in different, overlapping ways, and can mean

• a) the first language learnt; • b) the stronger language; • c) the mother tongue; • d) the language most used !Encyclopedia of bilingualism and bilingual education,

Colin Baker (1998)



What is an L2?

• This term is used in different, overlapping ways and can mean

• a) the second language; • b) the weaker language; • c) a language that is not the mother tongue; • d) the less used language. • Second language is sometimes used to cover 3rd or further languages.



What is societal bilingualism?!–Focus on the roles and functions of different languages in one society !–Is Morocco a bilingual society? !–Must societal bilingualism come with individual bilingualism?



Introduction to Sociolinguistics

Language in society



Bilingualism and bilingual societies

!

!

• Societal Bilingualism !

• Bilingual/multilingual countries and societies are normal



Second language vs. foreign language

• Second language can be used to describe a language widely spoken in the country of the learner; !

• Foreign language refers to a language taught in school which is not normally used as a means of instruction in schools or as a language of communication within the country, in the community or in bureaucracy.



Is English a second or foreign language in Morocco

• A Foreign language • Hong Kong: Tsang Yok-‐sing ‘Lesson in double standards’ 22/2/94 SCMP: – Our language education mistakes English as a second language in the territory, which is why we spend so much on teaching the language, yet achieve so little. In fact, English has never been and will never be, anywhere near a second language in Hong Kong, which is truly recognized as a foreign language can there be any hope of it being taught and learned properly.



How do bilingual societies operate?

• What are the roles and functions of different languages/varieties in a society? – E.g. MA, Amazigh, French, English in Morocco



Diglossia• Holmes: The use of two varieties in a society, distinguished by function

• High and Low varieties; • Typical functions of the H variety: – Literature, education, law, government administration, news broadcasts;

• H variety is used in formal/official occasions e.g. delivering a speech; holding a meeting. The H variety is usually learnt in school.

• L variety used for everyday, more informal purposes. L variety is usually an L1 and learnt at home.



Attitudes to H and L varieties

• H variety has high prestige; !

• Why doesnt a society use only the H variety? !

• Overt prestige !

• Covert (hidden) prestige



The Case of Singapore

• Holmes Table 2.4 (p.32) • H (Mandarin, Singapore English formal variety)

• L (Cantonese, Hokkien, Singapore English informal variety)



The Case of Morocco

• Ferguson 1959 !

• H (Standard Arabic = Formal variety) !

• L (Moroccan Arabic = Informal variety)



Ferguson 1959

• Refer to his Article



Diglossia without bilingualism• Luke & Richards (1982): • A society where two or more languages are commonly used but in which: !– Individual linguistic repertoires are largely confined to one of the languages

– A single language is used for intra-‐group communication

– Bilingualism is restricted to certain areas of public life – The bilingual population is small – The two speech communities rarely mix



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