Definitions, Origins and approaches of Sociolinguistics. Definitions, Origin, approaches, Sociolinguistics, Introduction, history

1. Name: Aleena Farooq.
Roll no. 07.
BS. English. (4th Semester.)
Definitions:
‘Sociolinguistics is the study about relationship between language and society.’ The
language as the communication tool and then the society is the communities of
people. There are many various of language that are suitable with the place, speaking
people, condition and situation, so the language is possible used. The place is very
important because the language style of people reflect where the people live.
1. Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any and all aspects of, including cultural,
expectations, and context, on the way is used, and the effects of language use on society.
2. Sociolinguistic investigation is the language study within social context.
3. The aim of sociolinguistic investigation is to achieve a further progress in the knowledge of nature
and the operation of human language by the study of language in its social context. Besides, all
sociolinguistics is language and society but, however, not all language and society are
sociolinguistics.
4. Sociolinguistics is an interdisciplinary science which is concerned with relationships between
language and society.
5. The focus of sociolinguistics is the effect of the society on the language.
6. It studies how language varieties differ between groups separated by certain social variables, e.g.,
ethnicity, religion, status, gender, level of education, age, etc .
Characteristics Of Sociolinguistics:
 A science, which is concerned with the relationship between language and society.
 A branch of linguistics.
 It considers that language is a social and a cultural phenomenon.
 It studies language in its social context, in real life situations by empirical investigation.
 It is related to methodology and contents of social sciences.
Origins And Main Figures:
Origins: Saussure & Chomsky concepts.
Prominent figures: William Labov & Peter Trudgill.
Origin: “Sociolinguistics has its roots in dialectology, historical linguistics, and language contact
with considerable influence from sociology and psychology. This is why it has evolved into an
exceptionally broad field.” Sociolinguistics is a New discipline of Linguistics, it Developed in the
last 30 years.
Origins also focuses on:
The structure of langue/parole & the diachronic/synchronic is suggested by Ferdinand De Saussure:
Langue/parole – Internal Linguistics / Microlinguistics (phonology, morphology, syntax)

2. Diachronic/synchronic – External Linguistics/ Macrolinguistics (acquisition-use of language and
culture-society-language connection)
The competence/actions notions by Noam Chomsky.
Saussurean concept of language (Related with Chomsky’s competence):
Focused on the ideal speaker/listener (control of language - a homogeneous community).
Languages - autonomous and coherent systems.
In the past: Linguistics focused on microlinguistics, ignoring macrolinguistics.
William Labov:
Regarded as the one who started it with his theories in his empirical works:
1. The social stratification of english in New York city. (1966)
2. Sociolinguistics patterns. (1972)
Sociological methodology – with theoretical implications for Linguistics.
His study – based on empirical work in social context
Objective – mechanism of linguistic changes & structure of linguistic systems.
The first one to put into practice the area of sociolinguistics in the united states.
Peter John Trudgill:
Later in the United Kingdom.
1. The british complement for the secular linguistics of Labov.
2. The social differentiation of english in Norwich. (1971)
3. Sociolinguistic patterns in British English. (1972)
Approaches:
The difference between micro and macro sociolinguistics is that micro-sociolinguistics refers to the
research with a linguistic lean focusing on dialect and stylistic/register variation where as Micro
Sociolinguistics looks at issues as to why immigrants keep their native language in some contexts and
not in others, or how social identity can affect language.
According to Trudgill:
1. Macrolinguistics focused on the study of the language (large-scale - group behaviour).
2. Microlinguistics focused on the description-analysis of languages (small groups).
 Macro-Sociolinguistics: It studies what societies do with their languages, such as:
attitudes that account for the functional distribution of speech forms in society, language
shift, maintenance, and replacement, the delimitation and interaction of speech
communities.
 Micro-Sociolinguistics: It is not that easy to describe the differences between micro-and
macro-sociolinguistics in a nut-shell. However, in a simplistic term micro-sociolinguistics
explores the ways in which society influences a speaker's idiolect - meaning
the specific language of a person - and how people communicate with one another in line
with different social variables/factors. On the other hand, macro-Sociolinguitics focuses
more on society as a whole, in relation to language. So with micro-sociolinguistics the
emphasis is on language; with macro-Sociolinguitics the emphasis is on society.