Matakuliah
Tahun
: G0362/Sociolingustics
: 2007
Pengenalan Riset dalam Sosiolinguistik
Sumber: Wray, Trott and Bloomer
(1998, Ch7, hal 88-98))
Pertemuan 13
Learning Outcomes
Pada akhir pertemuan ini, diharapkan mahasiswa
akan mampu :
• menghubungkan teori, tujuan dan metode dalam suatu
penelitian sosiolinguistik
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Outline Materi
• Problem atau topik
• Pendekatan sosiolinguistik
• Contoh-contoh penelitian dalam sosiolinguistik
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Problems/topics
• As we know, Sociolinguistics deals with the use of
language in a community. So, a wealth of research
topics are readily available in one’s own community.
• In particular, research on dialects and their maintenance,
gender differences in the use of language, a feature in a
variety (e.g. HRT, ‘eh?’ tags, particular vowels), ect.
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How to find a topic
• Start with yourself
– What interests you?
– Write down the topics that are interesting
– Read some books on the topic
– Narrow them down to the ones you can do (there are
reference books/journals on it, data would be readily
available around you)
– Read some more
– Consult your mentor
– Write your proposal
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Types of Research in Sociolingusitics
Microlinguistics ‘typically focus on very specific linguistic
items and individual differences’ and ‘look for wideranging linguistic and/or social implications’ (Wardaugh
1992:17), e.g. HRT, specific vowels, singing and singin’
Macrolinguistics ‘examines large amounts of language
data to draw broad conclusions about group
relationships’ (ibid), e.g. bilingualism, multilingualism,
language planning.
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Approaches
As sociolinguistics deals with variety in a language, it can
be approached from different angles, including:
– What the variation consists of
– Which groups show it
– In which situation it occurs
– What analysis can be applied
• qualitative, quantitative and – as a bridge between
the two-- social networks
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Quantitative
• One of the key features of linguistic variables is they can
be counted (quantified)
• For example, a group of speakers’ pronunciations of [t] in
the word ‘better’ and ‘bottle’ can be scored according to
whether or not they use RP [t], the non-standard glottal
stop [?] or something in between.
• Labov’s works in Martha’s Vineyard and NY city used
this approach. Also, Trudgill’s work on Norwich speech
based on the same paradigm.
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Social Networks
• The concepts of social networks, speech communities,
social groups were borrowed from social science to
explain differences/similarities in people’s speech by
looking at their relationships within the group.
• Speakers usually consciously or unconsciously use
language to signal their group identity, so the speech of
a group may sound the same.
• Example: Milroy and Milroy’s work in Belfast’s suburbs
(1978)
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Qualitative
• This involves description and analysis, rather than
counting of features.
• The emphasis is on exploring the types of strategy (the
qualities) and in particular, why certain people employ
that strategy in a certain context with particular people
• Often involves long period of observation on a small
number of subjects
• Work on discourse, pragmatics, conversational analysis
belongs to this type.
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Conclusions
• Research in Sociolinguistics is divided into two: Micro
and Macrolinguistics
• There are different approaches to sociolinguistic
research
• Data analysis can use qualitative, quantitative and social
networks
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