discussion 6

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Table of Contents Module Six Module Overview

Module Overview

Varia!on and Sociolinguis!cs: The Spice of Life

Because language and society are so closely linked, it is possible, in some cases, to encourage social change by direc!ng a"en!on towards

linguis!c reflec!ons of aspects of society that one would like to see altered.

—Peter Trudgill, Sociolinguis!cs: An Introduc!on to Language and Society

Society and Language

Thinking back to last week and how style relates to audience, you might be wondering what varia!on and sociolinguis!cs are and how they !e in

with our earlier topics, too. Looking backwards, you have inves!gated style, seman!cs, syntax, and invented vocabulary. Essen!ally, these areas

inves!gate words, their order, their meaning, and how, as a writer, teacher, editor, or academic, you weave these elements all together to create a

style that appeals to a specific audience. Now, you will look at the varia!on that occurs between groups of people and consider how they use

English to define their group and how this speech community defines and shapes English. Inves!ga!ng this interplay and how specific social

groups use language is sociolinguis!cs. It is important to note that in this inves!ga!on, there is not an assump!on that any one group’s use of

English is be"er than another group’s use of English. You will explore this idea of linguis!c equality in greater depth in this week’s discussion.

You have probably seen a great deal of sociolinguis!cs at work in most fic!on that you have read, as an author creates a rich, authen!c se#ng and

characters within a story. An author needs to give thought to how to represent a par!cular group through complex dialogue. He or she must take

into account the terms or register that the group uses and the syntax that the group uses. The author then has to contrast all of this with these

features of other social groups that the characters interact with throughout the story. Consider these four instances of dialogue from Harper Lee’s

To Kill a Mockingbird:

“But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal—there is one human ins!tu!on that makes a pauper the equal of

a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That ins!tu!on,

gentlemen, is a court. It can be the Supreme Court of the United States or the humblest J.P. court in the land, or this honourable court

which you serve. Our courts have their faults, as does any human ins!tu!on, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in

our courts all men are created equal.” – A#cus Finch (Chapter 20)

“You just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No ma"er what anybody says to you, don’t you let ‘em get your goat. Try

figh!ng with your head for a change.” – A#cus to Jem (Chapter 9)

“I asked him to pass the damn ham, please.” – Scout Finch (Chapter 9, p. 83)

“Hush your mouth! Don’t ma"er who they are, anybody sets foot in this house’s yo’ comp’ny, and don’t you let me catch you remarkin’

on their ways like you was so high and mighty! Yo’ folks might be be"er’n the Cunninghams but it don’t count for nothin’ the way you’re

disgracin’ ‘em—if you can’t act fit to eat at the table you can just set here and eat in the kitchen!” – Calpurnia to Scout (Chapter 3, p. 29)

Though these quotes are from the same book, there are many different social se#ngs represented by the language the characters use for each

different se#ng. The book is set in a fic!!ous town, Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930s. Social classes in this small town and the dialogue between

and among these classes are pronounced. For instance, the first quote is from A#cus (who is a defense lawyer in this case) as he addresses the jury

for the case that is central to the story. You can see that his language in this quote is much more formal than his speech to his children, as in the

quote that follows from A#cus to his son, Jem. The third quote shows Scout’s language use, as a tomboy tes!ng the boundaries with her favorite

uncle (and later reprimanded for it). The fourth quote is from the Finch’s housekeeper, Calpurnia, who is African American and has to walk the line,

code-switching between the white society of the town and her African American social group at home. In this quote, Calpurnia is talking to Scout

about being respec%ul of her company, despite the difference between the Finches’ and the Cunninghams’ social class. Calpurnia slides into a

vernacular closer to her home vernacular when she speaks with Jem and Scout, despite the fact that they are her boss’s children, as she cares for

them as if they were her own children.

Varia!on and Sociolinguis!cs: A Quick and Simple Synopsis

Varia!on – the differences in regional, cultural, or professional group use of language

Dialect – varia!ons in pronuncia!on of a language, typically s!ll understandable by people who do not speak with the same varia!ons and usually

different in structure (word structure or syntax) or lexicon (register, or vocabulary used)

Vernacular – everyday speech of a group, including slang and syntax specific to that group

Sociolinguis!cs – the examina!on of how society and language interact and influence each other

Speech communi!es – groups of people who use a specific dialect, register, or lexicon

Code-switching – changing between register or vernacular of a par!cular group and that of another group to “‘fit in” with or relate to that other

group. Code-switching is some!mes called code-mixing, which is more like a blend of registers or vernaculars, taking terms from one and mixing

them in with the other “base” language.

Keep these terms in mind while you do your required reading this week.

Ques!ons to consider:

1. Where have you seen linguis!c varia!on in use in stories, plays, poems, songs, and movies?

2. How do your favorite writers bring sociolinguis!cs into their wri!ng?

3. Are you a code-switcher in your daily file? In your academic life? In your professional life?

4. Can you think of more characters who code-switch?

!Listen"#

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ENG-550-Q5627 Grad Studies in English Lang 20TW5 SP Sandra Pennington

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