LANGUAGE, SOCIETY AND CULTUR In many ways, speech is a form of social identity, and is used, consciously or unconsciously,

to indicate membership of a different social group or a different speech community.

Speech community: is a group of people who share a set of norms, rules and expectations regarding the use of language.
Sociolinguistics: It deals with the inter-relationship between language and society. It has strong connection to anthropology,
through the investigation of language and culture. It has strong connection to sociology, through the crucial role that language plays
in the organization of social groups and institutions. It is also tied to social psychology too.
Social dialects: Varieties of language used by groups defined by such factors as class, education, age, sex and a number of other
social parameters. The concept of prestige, about language in use, is typically understood in terms of overt prestige and covert
prestige.
Overt prestige: the generally recognized 'better' or positively valued ways of speaking in social communities.
Covert prestige: the hidden type of positive value attached to non-standard forms and expressions by certain subgroups - indicates
you are one of us Example: 'schoolboys' seem to attach covert prestige to forms of 'bad' language.
Age and gender: (Social class the same)
Age: variation in forms and expressions is most noticeable in the grandparent - grandchildren time span. Grandfather may still talk
about the 'icebox' and 'wireless', but not know what rules, what sucks, or what's totally stoked, and he doesn't use like to
introduce reported speech: We're getting ready, and he's like, Let's go, and I'm like, No way I'm not ready, and he splits anyway
the creep!
Gender: Female speakers tend to use more prestigious forms than male speakers. The forms, such as I done it, it growed and
he ain't can be found more often in the speech of males, and I did it, it grew and he isn't in the speech of females.
Ethnic background: Within any society, differences in speech may come about because of different ethnic background. When a
group within a society undergoes some form of social isolation, such as the discrimination or segregation experienced historically
by African-Americans, then social dialect differences become more marked. From social point of view, the resulting variety of
speech may be stigmatized as bad speech. The speech of many African-Americans, technically known as Black English Vernacular
(BEV) is often stigmatized as bad speech, because of: 1. Absence of copula (linking verb-forms of the verb 'to be'), as in
expressions: They mine, you crazy Arabic, Russian and some other language have similar expressions without the copula
2. Double negative constructions as in expressions He don't know nothing, I ain't afraid of no ghosts.
# Old English used double negatives, and French and Spanish use double negatives also. (Examples on p. 243 of the textbook)
Idiolect:The personal dialect of each individual speaker of a language is called idiolect. Besides the elements of social and regional
dialect, voice quality and physical state of the individual also contribute to the identifying features of an individual's speech - in
many respect, you are what you say.
Style, register and jargon:
Style: Situation of use determines formal or informal style of speech - speaking to the chancellor (Formal style) speaking to the
colleague (Informal style). (Examples on p. 244 of the textbook)
Register: Variation in use of speech according specific situations (religious, legal, technical)
- Expressions vary from situation to situation. (Examples on p. 245 of the textbook)
Jargon: (also argot or cant) can be defined as specialized technical vocabulary associated with different registers, such as
religious register, legal register, linguistics register. (Examples on p. 245 of the textbook)
Diglossia: This term is used to describe a situation in which two very distinct varieties of language co-exist in a speech community,
each with distinct range of functions. Example: In Arabic-speaking countries - high or classical variety of Arabic is used for lectures,
religious speech, and formal political dialog.
(6) Language and culture: Anthropologists define culture as socially acquired knowledge, since languages are acquired through
cultural transmission, linguistic variation seems to be tied to the existence of different cultures. Different groups not only have
different languages, they have different world views which are reflected in their languages. There are words and expressions in
languages that reflect cultural phenomena. Aztec has no word for Santa Clause.
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf produced arguments in the 1930s, that the languages of American
Indians led them to view the world differently from those who spoke European languages. According to Whorf, the grammar of the
language of the Hopi Indians of America has a distinction between 'animate' and 'inanimate' (a semantic feature). The words 'cloud'
and 'stone' were categorized as 'Animate' in Hopi language. Whorf concluded, therefore, that the Hopi believe that clouds and stones
are 'living' entities and that it is their language that leads them to believe this. In Whorf's words, We dissect nature along lines laid
down by our native language. But, in Whorf's conclusion there is confusion between the biological category of 'living' and the
linguistic category of 'animate'. Stones and clouds do not live for Hope Indians anymore than 'stones' and 'doors' are considered
to be females in the minds of Spanish speakers (la piedra and la puetra). Whorf's strong version of linguistic determinism was
wrong.3. A weaker form of linguistic determinism: Our languages reflect our cultural norms and concerns, but speakers can
certainly change their language to refer to new entities or concepts. Our minds are not totally locked by our language.
Language universals: Those properties that are common to all languages are referred to as language universals: All languages can
be learned by children. All languages employ arbitrary symbol system. All languages can be used to send and receive messages by
their users.

Designed by: VAAHIDARICIR