Sociolinguistics

Teachers

How To Use Sociolinguistics

The Routledge English Language Introductions are ‘flexi-texts’ that you can use to suit your own style of study. All the books in the series, including Sociolinguistics, are divided into four sections:

1. Introduction: Key Concepts in Sociolinguistics
   Section A sets out key concepts. The Units of this section take you step-by-step through the foundational terms and ideas, carefully providing you with an initial toolkit for your own study. By the end of the section, you will have a good overview of the whole field.
2. Development: Studies in Language and Society
   This section adds to your knowledge and builds on the key ideas already introduced. Units in this section also draw together several areas of interest. By the end, you will already have a good and fairly detailed grasp of the field, and will be ready to undertake your own exploration and thinking. In Sociolinguistics, the examples in each Unit are taken from real students' studies.
3. Exploration: Data for Investigation
   This section provides examples of language data and guides you through your own investigation of the field. The Units in this section are more open-ended and exploratory, and you are encouraged to try out your ideas and think for yourself, using your newly acquired knowledge.
4. Extension: Sociolinguistic Readings
   Finally, section D offers you the chance to compare your expertise with key readings in the area. These are taken from the work of important writers, and are provided with guidance and questions for your further thought.

The glossary/index at the end, together with the suggestions for Further Reading at the end of each Unit in section B, will help to keep you orientated.

You can read this book like a traditional text-book, ‘vertically’ straight through from beginning to end. This will take you comprehensively through the broad field of study. However, the Routledge English Language Introductions have been carefully designed so that you can read them in another dimension, ‘horizontally’ across the numbered Units. For example, Units A.1, A.2, A.3 and so on correspond with Units B.1, B.2, B.3, and with Units C.1, C.2, C.3 and D.1, D.2, D.3, and so on. Reading A5, B.5, C.5, D.5 will take you rapidly from the key concepts of a specific area, to a level of expertise in that precise area, all with a very close focus. You can match your way of reading with the best way that you work.

You can use Sociolinguistics as a main course text for the language and society, language variation and sociolinguistic elements in all the different A level syllabuses. The combination of authoritative textbook, open-ended workbook, and reader means that it can be used where you might otherwise have had to choose between two or three alternatives, or have your students buy three expensive books. The flexi-text design allows you to use the book as best suits your own practice and level of expertise. You can use sections A and B to introduce material to students in an accessible and clearly-defined way. The material in section B was produced by students so that your own students can see how quickly they can progress to their own thinking and data-collection. Sections A and B are thus the raw material for structuring your coverage of this part of the course. You can then use the material in section C to provide you with classroom resources, allowing students to explore language data for themselves. The section D readings can be set as follow-up reading. For each of these, there are both general and specific suggestions for further study.

Students

How To Use Sociolinguistics

The Routledge English Language Introductions are ‘flexi-texts’ that you can use to suit your own style of study. All the books in the series, including Sociolinguistics, are divided into four sections:

1. Introduction: Key Concepts in Sociolinguistics
   Section A sets out key concepts. The Units of this section take you step-by-step through the foundational terms and ideas, carefully providing you with an initial toolkit for your own study. By the end of the section, you will have a good overview of the whole field.
2. Development: Studies in Language and Society
   This section adds to your knowledge and builds on the key ideas already introduced. Units in this section also draw together several areas of interest. By the end, you will already have a good and fairly detailed grasp of the field, and will be ready to undertake your own exploration and thinking. In Sociolinguistics, the examples in each Unit are taken from real students' studies.
3. Exploration: Data for Investigation
   This section provides examples of language data and guides you through your own investigation of the field. The Units in this section are more open-ended and exploratory, and you are encouraged to try out your ideas and think for yourself, using your newly acquired knowledge.
4. Extension: Sociolinguistic Readings
   Finally, section D offers you the chance to compare your expertise with key readings in the area. These are taken from the work of important writers, and are provided with guidance and questions for your further thought.

The glossary/index at the end, together with the suggestions for Further Reading at the end of each Unit in section B, will help to keep you orientated.

You can read this book like a traditional text-book, ‘vertically’ straight through from beginning to end. This will take you comprehensively through the broad field of study. However, the Routledge English Language Introductions have been carefully designed so that you can read them in another dimension, ‘horizontally’ across the numbered Units. For example, Units A.1, A.2, A.3 and so on correspond with Units B.1, B.2, B.3, and with Units C.1, C.2, C.3 and D.1, D.2, D.3, and so on. Reading A5, B.5, C.5, D.5 will take you rapidly from the key concepts of a specific area, to a level of expertise in that precise area, all with a very close focus. You can match your way of reading with the best way that you work.

You can use the book as an accompanying course text to give you a fast and rich grounding in Sociolinguistics. If you want to learn quickly about language and gender, for example, you can read A7 in a few minutes to get a quick sketch of the key ideas in the area. Then read B7 on 'genderlects' to see three studies by students, with my comments. At this point you can use the Further Reading to explore the area more thoroughly, or check which are the main books you will need if you want to go and write and essay or project on this topic. Going on to C7 you will find more material on gender, including a transcript from a mixed-sex conversation. This might give you further ideas for your own study, or simply more data for you to compare with your own findings. Lastly, you can read D7 — on men's and women's narratives in New Zealand - for a professional published study of an area in sociolinguistics. You can use this not only for its ideas, but also to lead you on to similar studies, and so that you can see how to write in a style that is appropriate for academic argument and discussion. You will also find cross-references to linked topics elsewhere in the book, and then a range of issues to consider. Each section D reading ends with some specific suggestions for your own study, project or essay.

Extra Activities

The following list gives example questions and the essay and project titles completed by my students last year. You can use these as ideas for the range of possible topics that are possible, and also to see which areas within sociolinguistics are popular with students at the moment. I encourage my students at Nottingham to generate their own areas for investigation and their own titles, in consultation with me. Obviously, their selection reflects current fashions and also the structure of my own course - though my course is structured very similarly to the Sociolingustics book. Note that some categories overlap, and some essays could appear in two or more categories - in these cases I have gone for the predominant approach of the essay.

Example Questions

1. Describe the linguistic practices of a multilingual community. Which strategies are open to them that are not directly available to a monolingual community? You should focus on the social and situational factors that determine the choice of code in these communities.
2. Discuss the notions of prestige and stigmatisation in relation to one or more languages, dialects or accents. You might include a discussion of language planning or prescriptivism in your essay.
3. What have been the methodological innovations that have allowed urban dialectology to be undertaken? Consider the ideology and methodology of different approaches, and give examples of published studies.
4. Describe the effects of language loyalty in one or more specific situations. How has the pressure of standardisation made itself felt in these contexts? You might focus on the effects within the education system of such attitudes and processes.
5. What are pidgins and creoles and how are they formed? Give an account of typical pidgin/creole features, discuss their contexts of use, and discuss the various approaches to their classification.
6. How could modern insights in sociolinguistics contribute towards an understanding of the historical development of the English language? You should focus on one or two specific areas of historical change.
7. What features and strategies are available in modern English to express social relationships, politeness, power, solidarity, class affiliation, personal identity? Choosing ONE or TWO of these factors, illustrate your essay with reference to published studies.
8. Give an account of the analysis of natural spoken discourse, focusing on one framework. You should also discuss the range, scope and applicability of this framework critically.
9. Describe the ways either African-American Vernacular English (also called Black English, or Ebonics) or British Black English differs from the standard form of English. You should also discuss the consequences of different approaches to the phenomenon.
10. Do men and women use language differently? Consider different approaches to the issue, and discuss whether there is variation between male and female language at different linguistic levels.
11. Describe the effects of language planning and language loyalty in one or more specific situations. How has the pressure of standardisation made itself felt in these contexts?
12. What has been the contribution of sociolinguistics to government language policy and educational policy?
13. Give an account of the analysis of natural spoken discourse, focusing on one framework. You should also discuss the range, scope and applicability of this framework critically.
14. Should sociolinguists be descriptive or interventionist in their own speech communities?
15. What are the ethical responsibilities of sociolinguists?

Essay and Project Titles

Social Aspects of Language Acquisition

Is language the crucial element separating homo sapiens from the apes?

Investigate the social factors involved in language acquisition and examine how they affect a child's ability to learn a language.

Child language acquisition: a sociolinguistic angle.

Codes and Multilingualism

The use of code-switching within a bilingual community.

Discuss Singlish and the controversy surrounding it.

Spanish-English code-switching

The problem of 'Du' and 'Sie' in the German language.

Code choice and multilingualism.

Bilingualism and code-switching.

Black English (US and UK)

The rise of a multi-racial vernacular in modern 'youth' dialect.

A discussion of identity, education and the speech continuum in Jamaica and Great Britain.

An investigation into Black English vernacular and the social networks that contain it.

A theoretical and practical investigation into the usage of Black English vernacular by British white and Asian youth.

A study in BEV in the southern US: characteristics, evolution and social implications.

Educational Linguistics

Social class, language and educational performance.

A critique of Basil Bernstein and dialect prejudice within the UK.

An investigation into the influence of gender and education in the giving of verbal descriptions.

Deficit, deprivation, difference, disadvantage.

The use of restricted code, elaborated code and code-switching in Tony Harrison's V.

Social class, language and education: a study into the language of the working class.

Bernstein, linguistic codes, and education.

Sociolinguistic issues in education.

Gender and Power

Do women and men talk differently: do genderlects exist?

A personal investigation into gendered politeness strategies in interactive conversation.

An assessment of the relationship between feminist linguistics and the Whorfian hypothesis.

Gender and the social register of language.

Feminism and language: a critical study

Why do women speak differently from men?

Can language itself be sexist?

How do women and men talk differently?

A study of the linguistic behaviour of men and women.

Does language create ideologies or is it a product of them: a UK/US gender comparison.

Gender and politeness: women, men and society.

Are linguistic markings for words for women sexist?

Language and gender in radio conversations.

Male and female conversational style.

An investigation into theories of gender divisions in society through language.

To what extent is sexism embodied in the English language, and how does it affect our society?

Politeness

An investigation into perceived levels of formality and its usage in English.

Imprecision as courtesy: how are hedging and vague language used, and are they essential to polite conversation?

Politeness in Friends

Gender and politeness: a discussion of women, men and society.

Accent and Dialect

A study into the stereotypical working-class language of the North and South of England.

A study of swearing and its social factors in the late 20th century.

'A language is a dialect with an army and a navy'. Is this true, and what are the consequences?

Milroy's Belfast study: the social network concept in practice.

A modern sociolinguistic account of Middle English diglossia.

British linguistic representation in American popular culture.

The origins and perception of 'correct' English.

Consider why RP remains the prestige norm in England today.

Evaluative reactions to accents in 1999.

Pidgin and Creole

Pidgin and creole genesis and the nature of language.

At what point should a pidgin or creole be sued as the medium of instruction in schools?

How similar is the lexicalisation of Tok Pisin and Jamaican creole, and what is the significance of this?

How are pidgin and creole languages formed? How important are they to national development?

The colonial socio-historical impact on the linguistic development of pidgin and creole languages.

Media and Literature

A report on a sociolinguistic fieldwork study on television commercials.

The use of accent in television advertising.

Corduroy parents and a four cheese pizza: a sociolinguistic analysis of the humour of Harry Hill.

How Abigail went bird-spotting and hijacked the court: a turn-taking analysis of Miller's The Crucible.

The authority of BBC radio news.

A sociolinguistic study of TV news broadcasts.

Miscellaneous

An analysis of the sociolinguistics of computer-mediated communication.

An examination of the discourse used in internet chatrooms.

Misinterpretation in everyday conversation.

Analysing the 'D' word: euphemism and the grim reaper in newspaper obituaries.

Language as manipulation.

Idioms as a signal of conversational endings.

A sociolinguistic study of the 'F' word in modern English.

Portmanteau words and blends in English.

What is the use of sociolinguistics?