Social-Class Dialect Differences
 Grammatical differences (Syntax)
 Vocabulary differences (Lexical)
 Phonetic/phonological differences
(Social-Class Accents)
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Differences in Sociolinguistic
Rules
 What do you call people when you meet
them for the first time?
 What do you say to get off the crowded bus?
 Acceptable / Unacceptable small talk topics?
 How to respond to compliments?
 How to respond to invitations to eat sth at
sb’s house?
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Social Class Differences
between Two Speakers
Speaker A
Speaker B
I done it yesterday.
I did it yesterday.
He ain’t got it.
He hasn’t got it.
It was her what said it. It was her that said it.
Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society,
4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 23.
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Speech Community
 Share at least one language
 Consider yourself part of the “same” group
 Share sociolinguistic rules (Hymes)
Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society,
4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 23.
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Regional and Caste Differences
in Kanarese1
SOCIAL:
Brahmin2 (High)
REGION: Dharwar3 Bangalore3
d
ayti
inside
-olage
`ga
-`ga
inf. affix
-likke
-8k
part. affix -8
-8
it is
sit
reflexive
k[tk8
k[tk8
non-Brahmin (Low)
Dharwar Bangalore
ide
ayti
-alli
-
-`k
-`
-`k
-`
kuntkont
kuntkont-
1 A Dravidian language of south India.
2 Highest caste.
3 ThesePeter.
two cities
are 250
miles apart. An Introduction to Language and Society,
Trudgill,
2000.
Sociolinguistics:
4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 26.
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What do we study?
Idiolect

MOST
CONCRETE
Dialect

Language
MOST
ABSTRACT
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Traditional Dialect Studies
YES: Rural folks
NO: City folks
YES: Old people
NO: Young people
YES: Un-/Less-educated NO: Educated
7/20
Enhanced Dialect Studies
 ADDED: Social factor (Level of Education)
(Ling Atlas of US & Canada, 1930s)
 STARTED: Urban studies too (after WWII)
8/20
What Sociolinguistics Can
and Cannot Tell You
"Viewed against the background of the speech
community as a whole, the variation was not random
but determined by extra-linguistic factors in a quite
predictable way. That is, you could not predict on any
one occasion whether individuals would say cah or car,
but it could be shown that, if speakers were of a
certain social class, age, and sex, they would use one
or other variant approximately x per cent of the time,
on average, in a given situation."
Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society,
4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 29.
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Verbs without –s for the Third
Person Singular Present Form
Norwich
MMC
0%
LMC
2
Detroit
UMC 1%
LMC 10
UWC 70
MWC 87
LWC 97
UWC 57
LWC 71
She like him very much.
He don’t know a lot, do he?
It go ever so fast.
Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society,
4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 34.
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Variations on Expressing
Negative
I can eat anything.
I can't eat anything.
I can eat nothing.
I can't eat nothing.
Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society,
4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 35.
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Non-RP Forms for Three
Consonants in Norwich
Form used -n
Instead of -

t
NOTHING
h-
MMC
LMC
41%
62
6%
14
89
92
94
40
59
61
UWC
MWC
LWC
31%
42
87
95
100
Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society,
4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 37.
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Trudgill's Department Store Study
Post Vocalic /r/
Store
NO /r/
YES /r/
Trudgill's Department Store Study
High
Mid
Low
38%
49%
83%
61%
51%
17%
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Attitudes towards and use of
non-prevocalic /r/ : Upper
middle class in New York City
age
% r-positive
informants
% /r/
used
8-19
20-39
100
100
48
34
40 +
62
9
Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society,
4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 11.
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Goals of
Sociolinguistic Research
1. It makes explicit what people may implicitly use to
identify a person's social status by the way the person talks.
2. It tells us something about the social structure of the
community studied.
3. It reveals the systematic pattern that groups show even
when individuals appear to be speaking in random way.
4. It tells us what social dialects are like (and not like).
5. It gives us insight into linguistic change.
Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society,
4th edition. London: Penguin Books, pp. 39-41.
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Attitudes towards and use of
non-prevocalic /r/ : Upper middle
class in New York City
age
% r-positive
% /r/
attitudes only1 used
8-19
20-39
100
100
48
34
40 +
62
9
1
Positive attitude (but as can be seen, some of them do not USE it)
Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society,
4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. 11.
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Representing Dialects in Literature 1a
Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
SCENE: Huck Finn runs into Jim, an escaped
slave. Jim thinks he has seen a ghost because
Huck was supposedly dead. Huck is telling the
story.
He [Jim] bounced up and stared at me [Huck] wild.
Then he drops down on his knees, and puts his hands
together and says:
“Doan’ hurt me—don’t! I hain’t ever done no harm to
a ghos’. I awluz liked dead people, en done all I could
for ‘em. You go en git in de river agin whah you
b’longs, en doan’ do nuffn to Ole Jim, ‘at ‘us awluz yo’
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fren’.”
Mark Twain. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 67.
Representing Dialects in Literature 1b
Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Well, I warn’t long making him understand I warn’t
dead. I was ever so glad to see Jim. I warn’t
lonesome, now. I told him I warn’t afraid of him telling
the people where I was. I talked along, but he only
set there and looked at me; never said nothing. Then
I says:
“It’s good daylight. Le’s get breakfast. Make up
your camp fire good.”
“What’s de use er makin’ up de camp fire to cook
strawbries en sich truck? But you a gun, hain’t you?
Den we kin git sumfn better den strawbries.”
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Mark Twain. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 67.
Representing Dialects in Literature 1c
Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
“Strawberries and such truck,” I says. “Is that what
you live on?”
“I couldn’t git nuffn else,” he says.
“Why, how long you been on the island, Jim?”
“I come heah de night arter you’s killed.”
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Mark Twain. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 67.
Representing Dialects in Literature 2
SCENE: 大陸一個口音很重的縣長到村里作報告
兔子們，蝦米們，豬尾巴！不要醬瓜，鹹菜太貴啦！」
(翻譯：同志們，鄉民們，注意吧！不要講話，現在開
會啦！)
縣長講完以後，主持人說：「鹹菜請香腸醬瓜！」
(翻譯：現在請鄉長講話！)
鄉長說：「兔子們，今天的飯狗吃了，大家都是大王八！」
(翻譯：同志們，今天的飯夠吃了，大家都是大碗吧！）
不要醬瓜，我撿個狗屎給你們舔舔．．．
(翻譯：不要講話，我講個故事給你們聽聽．．．）
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