1
DIMENSIONS OF SOCIOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS
NAME:
NIM:
NO CASE
Two little Maori girls are playing “School” in the classroom during the lunch1
break. Mere is the teacher and Hine the pupil. Mere has written on the board “IT
IS TEN O’CLOCK”. TIME FOR WORK”. A little boy, Tama puts his head in the
door.
Tama: Where’s Mrs. McLean?
Mere: Dunno. She not here.
Tama: You Sure?
Hine: Mrs. McLean not here dummy! (a stupid person who has no common
sense and no brain at all)
Mere: Mrs. McLean isn’t around today.
(Tama leaves at this point and Mere continues with her lesson.)
Mere: Now Hine. You copy this carefully.
Hine: Yes Miss. I am.
YOUR ANSWER :
2
Coming from a very hot country with a “WaterOriented Culture”, Paijo was not able to
understand what her Britain hotel hostess meant
THE QUESTION
Please describe the choice had been
made by Mere and Hine in the view
of the standard and vernacular
(bahasa daerah) English and please
describe
the
sociolinguistic
dimensions of solidarity (social
distance), status (power) and
formality.
NOTE:
Maori
would
have
expressed solidarity, while English
would have expressed formality
and superior status.
Supposed that you’re Paijo and please give your wise
answer or any question and describe what’s the sociocultural background on the mindset of Indonesian Paijo and
2
when she asked “On which day of the week would you
like to have your bath?”
YOUR ANSWER:
3
the Britain hotel hostess.
Mary: Well I don’t know how she puts up with (having
patience/enduring without complaining) him.
Elizabeth: God he’s awful – a real dickhead (TABOO WORDS). I’m not
kidding
Mary: And he’s so rude. He interrupts her all the time and he puts her
down (To bring to an end; repress)– even in front of her friends.
Avril: she must be nuts.
Mary: exactly – but he’s rolling of course. He gets two thousand
dollars a shot as an after-dinner speaker.
Avril: Yeah?
Elizabeth: (singing) Can’t buy my love, can’t buy my love!
YOUR ANSWER:
Women’s gossip focuses predominantly
on personal experiences and personal
relationships, on personal problems and
feelings. It may include criticism of the
behavior of others, but why women tend
to avoid criticizing people directly?
Please quote the sentences which show
the woman solidarity affirmation to
others.
3
4
ATTITUDES
TO
AFRICAN
AMERICAN
VERNACULAR ENGLISH (AAVE)
“…What makes me feel that blacks tend to be
ignorant is that they fail to see that the word is
spelled A-S-K not A-X. and when they say AKSED,
it gives the sentence an entirely different meaning.
And that is what I feel holds blacks back.”
(Female Call-In Viewer, Oprah Winfrey Show,
1987)
YOUR ANSWER
Why African American people tend to use different
varieties which are quite different with the standard
American English? Please describe language as social and
cultural identity! What about the usage of vernacular
languages in Indonesia? (Javanese, Sundanese, Maduranese
etc.)