Week 10: Sociolinguistics
Cockney Dialect
•Used in London by the working class in
certain areas
• Characterized by its own special
vocabulary and usage, and "rhyming
slang.’
Expression Meaning
Examples
China
Mate/ friend
Plates
Feet
How are you, my old China
How are you, my friend
You have got big plates
You have got big feet
Reflexive Formation
A. To create a reflexive pronoun, put the
possessive pronoun together with the
noun(s) self/selves .
Reflexive Formation
B. Third person singular reflexive: Hisself/
Herself / Itself
Third person plural reflexive: theirselves
Cockney Dialect and Reflexive
Formation
C. Singular: Himself/ Herself/ Itself
Plural: Themselves
D. 1. Prescriptive approach
- List of explicit rules that we follow when we speak
The forms in (b) are incorrect.
Based on standard English rules, Hissself/Theirselves do
not exist at all!
Cockney Dialect and Reflexive
Formation
2. Descriptive approach
- Model the rules that speakers implicitly use when
speaking to each other
The forms in (b) are correct!
They follow the reflexive formation rule in (a).
3. “ systematic” : Follow a consistent rule
Nonstandard forms of English such as Cockney Dialect,
Middle English are more systematic with respect to
reflexive formation
Q2: Contact Linguistics
and Tok Pisin
Tok Pisin
 One of 3 official languages of
Papua New Guinea
 Literally means ‘Talk pidgin’
 English Creole Language
 Originated from workers in
colonial English/German
plantations from different tribes
who needed a common
language
 Returning workers brought back
Tok Pisin as a lingua franca
Tok Pisin Phrases
Tok Pisin
English
Taim bilong kol
‘winter’
• Time belong cold – time when
it is cold
Taim bilong san
‘summer
• Time belong sun – time when ’
the sun appears
Man bilong wokim gaden
‘farmer’
• Man belong work (him)
garden – person who works in
a garden (farm)
• ‘bilong’ is a preposition, functions like
‘of’/‘ from’
• ‘-im’ (from ‘him’) marks a transitive verb
Tok Pisin Phrases
Tok Pisin
English
tasol
• that’s all
kamup
• come up
Haus sik
• House sick – House (building)
for the sick
Haus moni
• House money – House
(building) containing money
‘only’
‘arrive’
‘hospital
’
‘bank’
Tok Pisin Phrases
Tok Pisin
olgeta
• altogether
sapos
• suppose
Handet yia
• Hundred year
Hamas krismas yu gat?
• How much Christmas you
got? – How many
Christmases have you
celebrated?
English
‘all’
‘if’
‘century’
‘How old
are you?’
Question 3
Choosing an official language for
Gavagaibabibahasa
Pros
Cons
French
- Spoken by elites
- Language of
administration &
education
- Colonial past
- Only elite groups
are educated in
French
English
- Most popular
language
- Economic /
educational /
scientific /
technological
advantages
- Not a colonial
language
- Unknown to 80% of
population
Dondon
- Numerical majority
- Can be shared
among different
ethnic groups
- Resistance from
other vernacular
languages
- Lacks a lexical /
terminology
repertoire for
modernization &
education
Ababa
- Pollitcally neutral
- Language of trade
- Limited to trading
domains
- Unknown to others
Things to note
 Gavagaibabibahasa  newly independent country ∴
most important thing now is to achieve economic growth
Our Decision
 French!
English
Reason:
 Unknown to 80% of population
 Unable to communicate effectively
Dondon
Reason:
 Lacks the lexical and terminology repertoire needed for
modernization and education
Ababa
Reason:
 Limited to people in the trading industry
 Percentage of people in that industry is unknown
French
Reason:
 It has been in use for the past 80 years
 Elites can bring economic growth to the country
Question 4
How
would
you
explain
to
your
parents/spouses/friends/loved ones, etc. what linguistics is
and why we care about it in your own words? Obviously,
these people may rightly have no idea what linguistics is and
what linguists are doing unless they have taken a linguistic
course. Specifically, what do we study natural language for?
Why do we care about such things like wh-movement,
minimal
pairs,
Chomsky,
Singlish,
or
maxims
of
conversation!?
Why study linguistics and what is it (to a
layman)?
What is Linguistics?
 Trick question… You should know by now
What is Linguistics?
 It is the scientific study of language




Study of Sound
Phonology
Study of Meaning
Semantics,
Pragmatics
Study
Syntaxof Rules
Study of Origin
Sociolinguistics,
Biolinguistics
Why study Linguistics?
Linguistics uncovers how a language is formed, perceived and received. It
is the science of an art. It is the making of the seemingly abstract and
implicitly intuitive nature of language into a more simplified and universally
understood manner. Through the understanding of the works of linguistics,
we can better understand languages we utilize and equip ourselves with
knowledge to acquire new ones. Also, especially through the
understanding of sociolinguistics, people are more aware of their own
linguistic differences and how it depends on the context to which certain
slang or form is used (code-switching). This will hopefully influence the
people to be more accepting of others despite their seemingly different
accents. Also, the study of language is important as we need a common
understanding to communicate. (e.g. IPA) Language is intriguingly the
most obvious cognitive difference between our species and others, so it is
imperative to investigate more on it. It is also the ground to all other
disciplines so it has a significant impact on almost all the things we do. For
example, to talk to each other, to direct instructions, to present in front of
you guys!
MAXIM OF
QUANTITY
Why study Linguistics?
1.
Helps in the understanding of our own language
Why study Linguistics?
2.
Helps us understand other languages/accents
Why study Linguistics?
3.
Forge a common ground
IPA
 Make foreign
language easier to
work with!
Why study Linguistics?
4.
Just like any science, it aims to have 2 things:
 Predictability
 Efficiency
Phonology helps especially if
language is transparent (one
sound-to-one symbol match)
Predictability
Syntax also helps in predicting the
correct order of words in sentence
Why study Linguistics?
4.
Just like any science, it aims to have 2 things:
 Predictability
 Efficiency
Efficiency at its best
Conclusion
 Linguistics has enabled more effective communication
between languages and people, forging understanding
from different perspectives
THANK YOU!