LANGUAGE AND
SOCIETY
Language, Culture and Society
Sociolinguistics
Study the relationship between language and society.
1. explaining why we speak differently in different social
contexts
2. identifying the social functions of language and the
ways it is used to convey social meaning.
An attempt to find correlations between social structure and
linguistic structure and to observe any changes that occur
(Gumpers, 1971: 223)
Language and society → intertwined → impossible to
understand one without the other.
The language used by the participants is influenced by a
number of social factors.
Sociolinguistics vs. the Sociology of
language
• Sociolinguistics
investigating the relationships between language
and society with the goal of a better
understanding of the structure of language and of
how languages function in communication
• Sociology of language
to discover how social structure can be better
understood through the study of language, e.g.
how certain linguistic features serve to
characterize particular social arrangement
Sociolinguistics vs. the Sociology of
language
Hudson, 1980: 4-5
a. Sociolinguistics is the study of language in relation to
society’,
b. Sociology of language: the study of society in relation
to language
Similarity:
a. Both require systematic study of language.
The relationship between language and
society (wardaugh, : 10)
1. Socialstructure → linguistic structure and/or behavior
a. age-grading phenomenon
young children speak differently from older
children and in turn, children speak differently
from mature adults.
b. studies → the varieties of language that speakers
use reflect such matters; their regional, social,
or ethnic origin and possible sex.
c. other studies → particular ways of speaking,
choices of words, and rules for conversing are
determined by social requirement
The relationship between language and
society (wardaugh, : 10)
2. Linguistic structure and/or behavior may either
influence or determine social structure (behind Whorfian
hypothesis)
3. The influence is bi-directional; language and society
may influence each other.
Social factors
• The participants
Who is talking to whom (wife-husband, customer-shopkeeper,
boss-worker)
• The social setting and function of interaction
e.g. home, work, school
• The aim or purpose of the interaction
(informative, social)
• The topic; What is being talked about?
Example I
Ray : Hi mum.
Mum : Hi. You’re late.
Ray : Yeah, that Sootbucket kept us in again.
Mum : Nana’s here.
Ray : Oh sorry. Where is she?
Analysis I
• Language serves a range of functions; to ask for
and give people information, to express
indignation and annoyance, as well as admiration
and express feelings.
Social dimensions
• A Social distance scale concerned with participant
relationship
• A status scale concerned with participant relationship
• A formality scale relating to the setting or type of
interaction
• Two functional scales relating to the purposes or topic of
interaction
The solidarity – social distance
scale
Intimate Distant
High solidarity Low solidarity
The scale is useful in emphasizing that how well we know
someone is a relevant factor in linguistic choice.
e.g. meg vs. Mrs. Belington
The status scale
Superior high status
Subordinate low status
e.g.
1. The use of ‘sir’, ‘Mrs.’, to the lecturer by the students
2. The [h]-dropping reflect someone’s lower social group
The formality scale
Formal High formality
Informal Low Formality
1. Useful in assessing the influence of social setting or type
of interaction on language choice.
2. Often degrees of formality are largely determined by
solidarity and status relationship. But not always.
The referential and affective function
scales
Referential
High low
Information information
Content content
affective
Low high
Affective affective
Content content
The referential and affective function
scales
1. The more referentially oriented an interaction is,
the less it tends to express the feelings of the
speaker.
• Chaika ( 1988, 10)
the context determines meaning,
1. the social status of speakers
2. the speech event and social conventions
governing it;
3. the social-cultural and physical environment
4. previous discourse between the speakers or
known to them
5. the intent of the speaker.
Conclusion
• Our word choices depend on who we are talking to.
• Language choices convey information about the social
relationships between people as well as about the topic of
discussion.
• Linguistic variation occurs at other levels of linguistic
analysis: sounds, word-structure, grammar as well as
vocabulary.
