L23B: Sociolinguistics
2005-2006
Please Turn off all cellular phones & pagers
L23B Website:
www.mona.uwi.edu/dllp/courses/l23b
6/30/2016
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Course Assessment
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
Incourse Test (40% of total
grade)
TEST DATE: MONDAY, APRIL
3, 2006 (2-4pm)

Final Exam
(60% of total grade)
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Topics for this Session
Brief Review
 Data Collection &
Analysis cont’d
 Variation Studies
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Variation Studies - Micro
Process – identify:
 linguistic variables
 social variables
 relationship between (1) & (2)
 data collection method
 sample to be used
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Types of collection method:
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Self–reported method:
Questionnaires or Interviews
(structured or open-ended)
Audio/Visual recording
Overt or covert Observation
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Questionnaire
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Structured:
(i)
Which language do you use at
work? Creole_ English_ Other_
(ii) Which language do you use at
home?
Creole_ English_ Other
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Questionnaire
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Open-ended
Which language or languages do you use
at home and why?
Possible response – “I use Creole
sometimes, to speak to my grandma, but
English to speak to my parents. They do
not like to hear me speak Creole, since I
am now at ‘university’. It creates a
problems for me to speak sometimes
when I am at family functions…”
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Levels of Formality:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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casual speech
careful speech
reading
wordlist of specific variables
minimal pairs
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Formality
Word list:
‘ng’ variable
Sing
Singing
Eating
Contemplating
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Minimal Pairs
Ring vs. sing
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Sin vs. sing
Run vs. rung
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SAMPLING
Types of sample: (taken from Wolfram &
Fasold- Prescribed Text, ch.9, pg.89-90)
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Random – “each person in the total
population has an equal chance of being
selected from the sample”.
Representative sample – used by Labov
“the social composition is pre-determined
and then informants are chosen to
represent these categories”
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Trudgill (Norwich)
Main Conclusions drawn:
 Men and women had different
notions of ‘prestige language’
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Hence distinction between:
Overt & Covert Prestige.
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THEORIES developed to account for
variation
Social Networks
Accommodation Theory
Acts of Identity
Ideology & language use
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Readings – Next Class
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Readings on Social Network, Acts
of Identity, Language Ideology,
Accommodation Theory, etc.
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