Sociolinguistics (Social Dialect)

Sociolinguistics (Social Dialect) Article

By: Sella Safitri B Class 13-530-0149

English Education Department Faculity of Teacher Training and Education University of PGR !di "uana Sura#aya $%&'

hapter  ! "ac*ground

People often use a language to signal their memership of particular groups an! to construct !ifferent aspects of their social i!entity" Social status# gen!er# age# ethnicity an! the $in!s of social net%or$s that people elong to turn out to e important !imensions of  i!entity in many communities "  &o t%o people spea$ e'actly the same" (here are infinite sources of )ariation in speech" A soun! spectrograph# a machine %hich represents the soun! %a)es of speech in )isual form# sho%s that e)en a single )o%el may e pronounce! in hun!re!s of minutely !ifferent %ays# most of %hich listeners !o not e)en register" Some features of speech# ho%e)er# are share! y groups# an! ecome important ecause they !ifferentiate one group from another" *ust as !ifferent languages often ser)e a unifying an! separating function for their spea$ers# so !o speech characteristics %ithin languages" " +#,ective 1+ ,+ 3+ 4+ 5+

(o $no% aout %hat social !ialect is" (o $no% aout social classification (o $no% aout the !ifferent of the )ocaulary in social !ialect (o $no% aout the !ifferent of the pronunciation in social !ialect (o $no% aout the !ifferent of the grammatical pattern in social !ialect

hapter  ! Social -ariation n earlier centuries# you coul! tell %here an .nglish lor! or la!y came from y their 

regional form of .nglish" But y the early t%entieth century# a person %ho spo$e %ith a regional accent in .nglan! %as most unli$ely to elong to the upper class" /pper-class  people ha! an upper-class e!ucation# an! that generally meant a pulic i"e" pri)ate+ school %here they learne! to spea$ 2P" 2P stan!s not for  2ecei)e! Pronunciation  the accent of the est e!ucate! an! most  prestigious memers of .nglish society" t is claime! that the lael !eri)es from the accent %hich %as recei)e! at the royal court# an! it is sometimes i!entifie! %ith the 6ueens .nglish# although the accent use! y 6ueen .li7aeth # as portraye! so  rilliantly y 8elen irren in the mo)ie (he 6ueen # is a rather ol!-fashione! )ariety of  2P"

2P %as promote! y the BBC for !eca!es" t is essentially a social accent not a regional one" n!ee!# it conceals a spea$ers regional origins" " Social Dialect (he term !ialect can also e use! to !escrie !ifferences in speech associate! %ith )arious social groups or classes" (here are social !ialects as %ell as regional ones" An imme!iate prolem is that of !efining social group or social class# gi)ing proper %eight to the )arious factors that can e use! to !etermine social position# e"g"# occupation# place of  resi!ence# e!ucation# ne% )ersus ol! money# income# racial or ethnic origin# cultural  ac$groun!# caste# religion# an! so on" Such factors as these !o appear to e relate! fairly !irectly to ho% people spea$" (here is a British pulic-school !ialect# an! there is an African American ernacular .nglish !ialect foun! in cities such as &e% ;or$# ao) an! (ru!gill that social !ialects can in!ee! e !escrie! systematically" ?hereas regional !ialects are geographically ase!# social !ialects originate among social groups an! are relate! to a )ariety of factors# the principal ones apparently eing social class# religion# an! ethnicity"
the term )ernacular share this sense of the fi rst )ariety acuire! in the home an! use! in casual conte'ts" ernacular !ialects# li$e )ernacular languages# lac$ pulic or o)ert  prestige# though they are generally )alue! y their users# especially as means of  e'pressing soli!arity an! affecti)e meaning" D Social lassification Sociologists use a numer of !ifferent scales for classifying people %hen they attempt to place in!i)i!uals some%here %ithin a social system" An occupational scale may !i)i!e  people into a numer of categories as follo%s: maor professionals an! e'ecuti)es of large  usinesses@ lesser professionals an! e'ecuti)es of me!iumsi7e! usinesses@ semi professionals@ technicians an! o%ners of small usinesses@ s$ille! %or$ers@ semi-s$ille! %or$ers@ an! uns$ille! %or$ers" An e!ucational scale may employ the follo%ing categories: gra!uate or professional e!ucation@ college or uni)ersity !egree@ atten!ance at college or uni)ersity ut no !egree@ high school gra!uation@ some high school e!ucation@ an! less than se)en years of formal e!ucation" nce again# ho%e)er# some caution is necessary in ma$ing comparison across time: gra!uating from college or uni)ersity in the 1950s in!icate! something uite !ifferent from %hat it !oes to!ay" ncome le)el an! source of income are important factors in any classification system that focuses on ho% much money people ha)e" >i$e%ise# in consi!ering %here people li)e# in)estigators must concern themsel)es %ith  oth the type an! cost of housing an! its location E -oca#ulary Social !ialect research in many !ifferent countries has re)eale! a consistent relationship et%een social class an! language patterns" People from !ifferent social classes spea$ !ifferently" (he most o)ious !ifferences  in )ocaulary  are in many %ays the least illuminating from a sociolinguistic point of )ie%# though they clearly capture the pulic imagination" n the 1950s in .nglan!# many pairs of %or!s %ere i!entifie! %hich# it %as claime!# !istinguishe! the speech of upper-class .nglish people / spea$ers+ from the rest non-/ spea$ers+" / spea$ers use! sitting room rather than lounge non-/+# an! referre! to the la)atory rather than the non-/+ toilet" F Pronunciation (his speech )ariale is %i!ely calle! DhE-!ropping  a lael %hich you shoul! note

represents the )ie%point of spea$ers of the stan!ar!" t has een analy7e! in many social !ialect stu!ies of .nglish" (he highest social group !rops the least numer of DhEs an! the lo%est group omits the most" (he pronunciation -ing )s -in  DiȠE )s DinE+ at the en! of %or!s li$e sleeping an! s%imming !istinguishes social groups in e)ery .nglish-spea$ing community in %hich it

has een in)estigate!" (he Brisane !ata %as collecte! from a!olescents# ut the !ata from the other communities is representati)e of the communities as a %hole" n each community# people from lo%er social groups use more of the )ernacular DinE )ariant than those from higher groups" (he more people use! post-)ocalic DrE" An! e)en %ithin stores a pattern %as e)i!ent" n one store# for instance# nearly half the socially superior super)isors use! post-)ocalic DrE consistently# %hile only 1F per cent of the less-status-ful salespeople !i!# an! the stoc$   oys rarely use! it at all" Post-)ocalic DrE illustrates )ery clearly the aritrariness of the particular forms %hich are consi!ere! stan!ar! an! prestigious" (here is nothing inherently a! or goo! aout the  pronunciation of any soun!# as the !ifferent status of DrE-pronunciation in !ifferent cities illustrates" n &e% ;or$ City# pronouncing DrE is generally consi!ere! prestigious" n 2ea!ing in .nglan! it is not" n one city the higher your social class the more you  pronounce post-)ocalic DrE" n the other# the higher your social class the fe%er you  pronounce" easuring the presence or asence of DhE or DrE# or the !ifference et%een DinE an! DiȠE# is !ifficult enough %hen you are listening to tapes of inter)ie%s" G Grammatical Pattern n a)erage# it %as foun! that chil!ren from lo%er-class families use! more )ernacular  )er forms than chil!ren from mi!!le-class families" (his pattern has een note! for a )ariety of grammatical )ariales" 8ere are some e'amples of stan!ar! an! )ernacular grammatical forms %hich ha)e een i!entifie! in se)eral .nglish spea$ing communities"

(he higher social groups use more of the stan!ar! grammatical form an! fe%er  instances of the )ernacular or non-stan!ar! form" (he thir! person singular form of the  present tense regular )er e"g" stan!ar! she %al$s )s" )ernacular she %al$+# there is a sharp !istinction et%een the mi!!le-class groups an! the lo%er-class groups" Sentence G+ in the list illustrates a pattern of negation %hich is sometimes calle! negati)e concor! or multiple negations" ?here Stan!ar! .nglish allo%s only one negati)e in each clause# most )ernacular !ialects can ha)e t%o or more" n some !ialects# e)ery possile form %hich can e negate! is negate!"

hapter 

A" Conclusion any factors interact in !etermining the proportion of )ernacular or stan!ar! forms a  person uses" Some of these are social factors such as the age or gen!er of the spea$er" Another factor# ho%e)er# %hich %as mentione! riefly y ao)e# is the linguistic en)ironment in %hich a %or! occurs" n e'ploring the relationship et%een language an! society# this article has een concerne! almost e'clusi)ely %ith the !imension of social status or class" (he e)i!ence !iscusse! in!icates that the social class someone elongs to is generally signale! y their  speech patterns" any people# ho%e)er# are not )ery conscious of elonging to a  particular social class" (hey are much more a%are of other factors aout the people they meet regularly than their social class memership" A persons gen!er an! age are proaly the first things %e notice aout them""

References 8olmes# *anet"199," An Introduction to Sociolinguistics fourth edition" &e% ;or$: 2outle!ge" eyerhoff# iriam" ,00G" Introducing Sociolinguistics" /SA: 2outle!ge" ?ar!haugh# 2onal! H Iuller# *anet" " ,015"  An Introduction to Sociolinguistics seventh edition" /J: ?iley Blac$%ell" ?ar!haugh# 2onal!" ,00G"  An Introduction to Sociolinguistics fifth edition" /J: ?iley Blac$%ell"