1. Language and Dialect
2. Language Contact
3. Language Change: a Social Perspective
4. Language and Gender
5. Taboo
6. Sapir-Wholf Hypothesis
7. Summary
communication
Language is used for communication.
idiolect
Every individual’s language is an idiolect.
Every single individual speaks a language of his own.
S/he speaks her/his own dialect.
regional dialects
Individuals share a lot of common backgrounds with
others in the same community, area, or district.
People living in the same area speak a language of
their own.
religious belief or ceremony, living style or habits,
or working environments  local color
social dialects
People doing the same jobs, or of the same interest (not
living in the same area)
 concerned with their common topics
 giving rise to social dialects
language competence ≠ a successful communication
linguistic competence (Chomsky)
grammar (the linguistic intuition)
 grammatical sentences
People of the same community share a common
communicative competence
 communicate successfully (social/ cultural topics)
social settings, cultural backgrounds,
& to which extent one is socialized
 language is spoken differently
a mirror
Language is a mirror of a society.
What is pursued or disliked is directly or indirectly
reflected.
e.g. (1) expectations
male: strong, brave, ambitious…
female: graceful, attractive…
(2) expressions
male (in a certain manner):
I am sure…, I guarantee…
female (in an uncertain manner):
I am afraid that…, I am not sure that…
sociolinguistics = linguistics + sociology
the target:
It is to examine the nature of language from the
perspective of social factors.
social factors:
one’s backgrounds like age, gender, education, jobs,
interests and communities.
1.1 The Dialects of English
1.2 Dialects in Taiwan
1.3 The Myth of Standard language
1.4 The difference between Taiwan Mandarin
and Beijing Mandarin (Putonghua)
(A) language = dialects
(1) speech forms
Both languages and dialects are speech forms.
(2) communication
There is no specific difference in terms of
communication.
(B) language ≠ dialects
(1) in general (use)
language: broader
dialects: regional / social
(2) in linguistics (mutual intelligibility)
languages: mutually un-intelligible
(e.g. Chinese & English)
dialects: mutually intelligible
(e.g. British English & American English)
(C) exceptions
(1) un-intelligible dialects
(e.g. Chinese dialects)
Mandarin, Wu, Min, Xiang, Yue, Hakka, Gan,Ping & Jin
mutually un-intelligible
but treated as Chinese dialects
(a) share the common writing system
(b) spoken within the same country, politically
(2) intelligible languages
(e.g. Danish, Norwegian & Swedish)
mutually intelligible
but treated as independent languages
(D) two types of dialects
(1) regional dialects
It occurs to most people that a language would yield
different accents or dialects in different areas.
e.g. English in York, Newcastle, New England, Texas
e.g. British [ ] and American [a]
e.g. chicken, [ke] of Zhangzhou & [kue] in Quanzhou
(2) social dialects
Social dialects are limited to some professions,
which are called slogan.
e.g. terminologies
sound change, code-switching,
grammaticalization, lexicalization,
reconstruction, c-command…
(X) decoded in surface lexical meaning
1.1 The Dialects of English
(A) two types
(1) English as a native language
It is spoken in the US, UK, Canada,
New Zealand & South Africa.
(2) English as a second language
It is spoken in India, Singapore,
the Philippines, Nigeria…
(B) Differences of American & British English
(1) the r-color vowels
a trill /r/, a retroflexed vowel
American English (V) & British English (X)
(2) the “a” vowel
some vowels for / /
American English
(man)
British English
(father)
(3) some words / vocabulary
There are some difference in words or vocabulary.
(4) syntactic difference
American English: Do you have a pencil?
British English: Have you a pencil?
1.2 Dialects in Taiwan
(two language families)
(1) Chinese language :
Mandarin
Southern Min
Hakka
(2) Formosa language:
Rukai
Paiwan
Bunun…
the linguistic atlas
1.3 The Myth of Standard Language
(1) a pure myth
We have to speak a standard language.
There is no standard language from the
sociolinguistic perspective.
(2) standard Mandarin ?
Mandarin spoken in Taiwan - nativized
(phonology, vocabulary, morphology, syntax)
Putonghua spoken in Mainland China
(3) the standard English?
(a) English as a native language / a second language (?)
(b) English dialects within the US
Eastern New England, Northern, Midland & southern
American atlas of the English dialects
1.4 the difference between Taiwan Mandarin &
Beijing Mandarin (Putonghua)
(A) in phonetic sounds
(1) the loss of r-retroflexation
Neutralization: The three distinct syllables with
phonetic segments in Beijing Mandarin are
neutralized into one homonym in Taiwan Mandarin.
the retroflexed palatal affricates of Mandarin 
fused with ts, tsh, s in Taiwan Mandarin
(2) shortening of diphthongs
Different parameter settings give rise to different tree
configurations.
(B) vocabulary
Vocabulary also distinguishes Taiwan Mandarin
from Beijing Mandarin.
(C) Syntactic structure
a “yu” (have) in every sentence
Taiwan Mandarin (V) & Beijing Mandarin (X)
(Taiwan Mandarin is highly influenced by Southern Min)
2.1 Lingua Franca
2.2 Pidgin
2.3 Creole
Language contact-1
Two languages are divided
by an isogloss which exists
more theoretically than
practically where the
isogloss between language
A and B is not regular.
language contact-2
One is an island surrounded
by another language.
language contact-3
One language is neighboring
with more than two languages.
language contact - superstratum & substratum
superstratum (loaning):
superior in population / politics / economics
playing the role of loaning
substratum (borrowing):
inferior in population / politics / economics
playing the role of borrowing
e.g. (1) William the Conqueror
French (superstratum) & England (substratum)
(England borrowed a lot of vocabulary from French.)
(2) Japan colonized Taiwan (1895-1945)
Japan (superstratum) & Taiwan (substratum)
(Taiwan borrowed a lot of vocabulary from Japan.)
(3) in Taiwan
Mandarin (superstratum in politics & economics)
Southern Min ( superstratum in population)
(mutual borrowing of vocabulary & morphological
structures)
2.1 Lingua Franca
Lingua Franca refers to the language for common
or mutual communication (in an environment in
which there is more than one language spoken).
e.g. in India
English: lingua franc
in Singapore
English: lingua franc
in Taiwan
Mandarin: lingua franc
2.2 Pidgin
a mixture of the two contact languages in their
simplified forms
(1) foreign & un-intelligible
Two languages are foreign & un-intelligible to
each other.
(2) simplifying / comprehensible / body languages
One of the speakers would simplify his own
language in such a way that it might be
comprehensible to the other speakers,
accompanied wit a lot of body languages.
(3) mutually intelligible
The speaker of the other language would do the
same. In so doing, speakers of two languages are
mutually intelligible to some extent.
(4) pidgin
A new language form comes into being when
people speak simplified forms of each language.
e.g. Tok Pisin (in Papua New Guinea)
Wes-Kos Pidgin (in West Africa)
Guangxing
(a small village of about 1200 speakers of Hakka)
a pidgin: simplified Hakka + simplified Paiwan
2.3 Creole
(1) pidgin  creole:
When a pidgin (a mixture of two simplified language
forms) becomes an independent language or mother
tongue of a certain people, then it becomes creole.
(2) creole:
(a) Portuguese: The word creole comes from Portuguese,
referring to those white descendants
born in colonies of Portuguese.
(b) languages: It is used to refer to languages spoken in
West Africa or along the Caribbean.
(3) Gullah:
(a) spoken in Georgia & South Carolina
(b) speakers: descendants of black slavery
(c) mother tongue: mother tongue of those inhabitants
3.1 Martha’s Vineyard
3.2 The r-variation in New York City
3.1 Martha’s Vineyard (Labov)
(1) vowel reduction
why [way]  [ y] & wow [waw]  [ w]
(2) geographically
Martha’s Vineyard
an isolated island, one hour flight from Boston
people
(a) descendants of those immigrating from England
(b) Portuguese descendants
(c) those immigrating from inland
(d) others
(3) economic background (age, jobs, education)
(a) who was talked with
natives vs. tourists: vowel reduction (X)
natives vs. natives: vowel reduction (V)
(b) races
Portuguese & English descendants :
vowel reduction (V)
(c) jobs
The more pressure on finding a job ( age 30-40),
the more vowel reduction was used.
(4) conclusions
1. (a) + (b)  The more one try to be natives,
the more s/he used vowel reduction.
2. (c)  The more one wanted to be recognized,
the more vowel reduction s/he used.
social factors:
Vowel reduction is an indicator for the identity of
Martha’s Vineyard.
3.2 The r-variation in New York (Labov)
(1) r-color (V) or (X) in New York City
r-color: the
sound after a vowel  ( V )
the
silent after a vowel  ( X )
(2) Labov’s assumption
r-color  an indicator for one’s social status
The better one’s social status,
the more r-color was retained
clerks served as a social mirror
better social status customers  r-color (V)
inferior social status customers  r-color (X)
(3) experiments
(a) three stores of different customers
better social status: Saks 5th Avenue
good social status: Macy’s
lower social status: St. Klein
(b) procedures
Labov went to “the fourth floor” (r-color words)
asked the clerks: Where can I buy “shoes” ?
(see what was sold there)
asked twice (one, casual & the other, more careful)
went to a corner & wrote down what he heard
(4) the results
(5) Implications
(a) r-color & social status
The r-color has much to do with social status.
Saks (62 %) > Macy’s (51%) > St.Klen (20%)
(b) more r-color, more careful circumstances
No matter which store Labov visited, clerks
used more r-color in careful circumstances.
(c) r-color, customers of better social status
In Saks, which was a fine store, there was no
great difference between casual and careful talks,
implying that clerks were treated to speak
English with r-color, because customers coming
to this store were of better social status.
Conclusions
(vowel reduction in Martha’s Vineyard &
r-variation in New York City)
(1) Sound change is not merely limited to regional
difference.
(2) Social difference would be an important factor
for a sound change (Some sound change is
motivated by social factors).
4.1 Different Evaluation in Gender
4.2 Social Expectation
4.3 Gender in Language Use
4.1 Different Evaluation in Gender
language seems to be created by man
Most words directly refer to man only in English
vocabulary.
man  human beings
(human, containing man)
chairman  good jobs are for man only
(chairman)
housewife  heavy duty / hard-working for woman
(housewife, woman)
a gender prejudice ?
the experiments (240 subjects)
Q1: My friend is a distinguish physician in a hospital.
What gender do you think s/he is?
Q2: My friend is a very qualified nurse in a hospital.
What gender do you think s/he is?
results:
the physician (male: 72 %) & the nurse (female: 84 %)
implication:
a better job for males, a gender prejudice for jobs
men & women in words (not equally treated)
(a) Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address
Four score and seven years ago our fathers
brought forth on this continent…
(Where were our mothers?)
(b) surface (no great difference) & meaning (quite different)
4.2 Social Expectation
(1) psychological expectations for children
a female baby: room (pink), toys (dolls)
a male baby: toys (tanks, trucks, cars, guns…)
(2) the modifier for female & male
female: attractive, adorable, charming, lovely,
beautiful, pretty, graceful, slender, tempting,
cute, quite, gentle, plain, considerate,
passionate…
male: manly, strong, generous, handsome, talented,
genius, gifted, ambitious…
(3) Expectations of parents in name-given in Chinese
girls: Shu-jing (淑靜), to be clever and quiet
Ya-hui (雅慧), to be graceful and full of wisdom,
Yi-wen (怡雯), to be happy and quiet
boys: Jian-haou (健豪), to be strong and ambitious,
Bian-xian (秉憲), to be abiding by the constitution
Zhi-jian (志堅), to be insistent with a strong will
(4) Summary
social expectation of males and females is different
socially defined > biologically defined
language is a mirror reflecting what we want in our mind
4.3 Gender in Language Use
Gender plays a role in the use of language.
differences female
male
uncertain
I’m afraid that I can’t...,
I’m not sure, I think,
Maybe, perhaps,
expressions it might be, could be…
indirect /conservative
Would it be possible…,
If there is…,
I won’t go unless…
certain
I’m sure, certainly,
naturally, for sure,
of course,
I guarantee…
direct
Come on, man!,
I want…,
I prefer to…
differences female
tag
questions
manner
a lot
John will be here,
won’t he?
He does not mean it,
does he?
more polite
Thank you, thanks,
I’m sorry,
excuse me…,
Would you please…,
May I…
male
less
less polite
an experiment (library):
saying “thanks / thank
you” for check-out or
returning a book
female (75%)
male (37%)
differences female
male
scream out / get excited
facing
How terrible!
difficulties How disgusting!
What a shame!...
more emotional
How amazing!
delighted
How fantastic!
time
How interesting!
I really like it!...
keep calm
try to figure out
how to solve the
problems
less emotional
Male & female are different in the use of language
expressions (part from social backgrounds).
5.1 Taboo
5.2 Euphemism
5.1 Taboo
words improper to be spoken on certain
occasions (related to culture)
e.g. Americans (self-dignity)
coward, chicken  offended
Chinese
involved with parents / ancestors  offended
personal privacy
Western culture  should be respected
Chinese  nothing can be hidden
5.2 Euphemism
express in another expression what the taboo is
concerned with
e.g. taboo  replaced by euphemism
Christian tradition ( Satan / Devil  taboo)
Speak of the Devil and he appears.
(euphemism: deuce / the good man / the great fellow)
death  taboo
John died.
(euphemism: passed away.)
e.g. abstract expressions  euphemism
parachute: aerodynamic personnel decelerator
energy release: radiation release
stop fighting: break off contact with the enemy
out of control: above critical
e.g. taboo related to races
in US (black & white  taboo)
nigger / black (avoid)  African American
in Taiwan
Shanbao / Shanditongbao (avoid)  Yuzhumin
Do cultures affect our language?
(Edward Sapir, 1884-1939)
(A) language: a mirror of society & cultures
Eskimo & snow:
words / expressions for various types of snow
Chinese & rice:
various terms for rice
(B) Do cultures affect our language?
(a) Edward Sapir (1884-1939)
Indians’ thinking is subject to language structure
language is closely limited/ influenced by
language structure
(b) Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
“Our view of the world is conditioned by the
language structure.”
(Banjamin Lee Whorf, 1897-1941)
a fire prevention engineer
(1) people felt afraid of fire
the fire was there (X)
the phrase “Caution! Fire!” (V)
(careless)
smoked by a barrel of gasoline
threw the cigarette butt to the barrel
Our thinking is confined by language structure.
(2) support: Hopi (an Indian language)
no specific terms for time / space
time: continuous, like water
cut into days / months (X)
count by days / months (X)
Whorf:
their language structure (no such a unit of time in Hopi) 
stop the Hopi people from counting time by days 
the Hopi speakers get no knowledge of time
conclusion:
Our thinking is confined to the language structure.
7.1 language and dialect
7.2 language contact
7.3 language change: a social perspective
7.4 language and gender
7.5 taboo
7.6 Sapir-Wholf Hypothesis
7.1 Language and Dialect
(1) sociolinguistics = linguistics + sociology
to examine the nature of language from the
perspective of social factors (age, gender, education,
jobs, interests & communities)
(2) idiolect
One expresses in his language directly /indirectly
reflects his society / culture.
every individual is an idiolect speaking a specific
language of his own.
(3) regional dialects
to put individuals into a society, the common
features constitute a dialect / an accent
(4) social dialects
people living in the same area / district 
different professions, jobs, educational backgrounds 
different in their language
(5) standard language (X)
every language is standard 
each should be treated equal
7.2 Language Contact
(1) Language Contact
(a) isogloss (idealistic / theoretical):
a clear-cut line separating one language from
another
(b) superstratum (loaning):
superior in population / politics / economics
(c) substratum (borrowing):
inferior in population / politics / economics
(2) Lingua Franca
more than one language in an area / country 
one of them should be chosen for common or
mutual communication
(governmental offices / in public)
(3) Pidgin
two languages are simplified & mixed into
a new form.
(4) Creole
a pidgin is adopted as a mother tongue
7.3 Language Change: a Social Perspective
(William Labov)
two studies  social factors trigger sound change
(1) Vowel reduction in Matha’s Vineyard
Vowel reduction is an indicator for the identity
of Martha’s Vineyard.
(2) The r-variation in New York
The r-color has much to do with social status.
7.4 Language and Gender
(1) Different evaluation in Gender
language seems to be created by man
a gender prejudice (better jobs for man)
men & women in words (not equally treated)
(2) Social Expectation
female: gentle adjectives
male: muscular adjectives
(3) Gender in Language Use
female: more uncertain in expressions
male: rather confident in positive expressions
7.5 Taboo
(1) Taboo
words improper to be spoken on certain occasions
(in life & death, in body / organs, in religions)
(2) Euphemism
Whenever taboo is encountered,
euphemism is used instead.
7.6 Sapir-Wholf Hypothesis
“Our thinking is conditioned by the language
structure of our mother tongue.”
(1) fire (careful / careless)
the fire was there (X)
“Caution! Fire!” (V)
(2) Hopi
an Indian language
time (X) & space (X)