Topic 3 Language and Varieties
Intended Learning Outcomes: At the end of this chapter, the students are expected to:
1. Discuss language and varieties.
2. Analyze language and its varieties.
3.1 Sociolects
Sociolects refer to a form of language (non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a set of lexical
items used by a socioeconomic class, a profession, an age group or other social group. It is a dialect
of a particular class.
3.1.1 Factors to Determine Social Position
The following are the factors to determine social position: Occupation, Place of
Residence, Education, Income, Racial or Ethnic Origin, Cultural Background, Caste,
Religion, and the like. Such factors as these do appear to be related fairly directly to how
people speak.
Gumperz (1968) maintains that separate languages maintain themselves most readily in
closed tribal systems in which kinship dominates all activities; on the other hand,
distinctive varieties arise in highly stratified societies. He points out that, when social
change causes the breakdown of traditional social structures and the formation of new
ties, linguistic barriers between varieties also break down.
Labov (1970) says that we have not encountered any non-standard speakers who gained
good control of a standard language, and still retained control of the non-standard
vernacular. Dialect differences depend upon low-level rules which appear as minor
adjustments and extensions of contextual conditions. It appears that such conditions
inevitably interact, and, although the speaker may indeed appear to be speaking the
vernacular, close examination of his speech shows that his grammar has been heavily
influenced by the standard. He may succeed in convincing his listeners that he is speaking
the vernacular, but this impression seems to depend upon a number of unsystematic and
heavily marked signals.
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3.2 Regional Dialects
Regional dialect refers to a distinct form of a language spoken in a particular geographical area.
It is spoken in one particular area of a country. Regional dialect is also known as regiolect or
topolect.
Example If the form of speech transmitted from a parent to a child is a
distinct regional dialect, that dialect is said to be the child's
vernacular and mother tongue, like Ilonggo, Ilocano and the
like.
3.3 Style and Register
Style. The study of dialects is further complicated by the fact that speakers can adopt different
styles of speaking in which style refers to a linguistic variants with specific social meanings. A
speaker may use different styles depending on context. You can speak very formally or very
informally, your choice being governed by circumstances. Ceremonial occasions almost invariably
require very formal speech, public lectures somewhat less formal, casual conversation quite
informal, and conversations between intimates on matters of little importance may be extremely
informal and casual. Different speech situations influence the speaker's choice of a language
variety. Style is also occasionally used to refer to situational variation. However, it includes
variation in grammatical structures, too. It is less predictable and more dependent on personal
preferences than register (Kortmann, 2005).
Example One is tasked to open a program or gathering or to welcome
guests at a party. S/he may have a style of speaking which
depends on a situation. It could be formal, less formal or
comedy talk whichever s/he prefers.
Register. Registers are sets of language items associated with discrete occupational or social
groups like surgeons, airline pilots, bank managers, sales clerks, jazz fans, and pimps that employ
different registers. Ferguson (1994) states that people participating in recurrent communication
situations tend to develop similar vocabularies, similar features of intonation, and characteristic
bits of syntax and phonology that they use in these situations. Also, registers are usually
associated with a particular speech situation (Kortmann, 2005).
Example Legal language, or Legalese, is an example of a register
normally used in the field of law and justice.
[The choice of register in different types of speech situations
is termed situational variation.]
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Example For formal and informal register; 'Would you mind passing
the salt?' is appropriate for a formal situation with strangers,
whereas 'Pass me the salt' would be used for a situation
where friends are talking, or possibly when being rude.
There is a terminological distinction between register and style. Both are associated with a specific
speech situation but whereas register often refers to the specific vocabulary chosen and expected
in connection with a particular speech situation (Kortmann, 2005). Dialect shows who or what you
are, while your register shows what you are doing (Hudson, 1996).
The following are the types of register:
Frozen/Static Register. This register rarely or never changes.
Example the Pledge of Allegiance or
the Preamble to the Constitution.
Formal/Academic Register. This register includes academic language from speeches,
proclamations and formal announcements.
Example Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome our guest of
honor speaker.
Consultative Register. This register is formal and acceptable speech often used in professional
settings. Some examples of this register include discourse between teachers and students, judges
and lawyers, doctors and patients, and between a superior and a subordinate.
Example Ma’am, may I ask how my performance is?
Casual Register. This register is used among friends and peers, and includes informal language
including slang and colloquialisms. Casual register is often used among friends, teammates, etc.
Example Girl, send me the pepper.
Intimate Register. This register is reserved for close family members such as parents and children
and siblings, or intimate people such as spouses.
Example Darling, dinner is ready.
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3.4 Standard and Non-Standard English
Standard English. It refers to the form of the English language widely accepted as the usual correct
form. It is written and spoken by educated users.
Non-Standard English. It refers to any dialect of English other than Standard English and is
sometimes referred to as nonstandard dialect or non-standard variety. The term nonstandard
English is sometimes used disapprovingly by non-linguists to describe bad or incorrect English. It
also refers to the use of English especially regarding grammar but also including other aspects of
language that is considered by convention to be sub-standard or not proper.
Example If I was you. (Non-standard English)
If I were you. (Standard English, Subjunctive Mood)
We was robbed. (Non-standard English)
We were robbed. (Standard English)
It’s cold today, innit? (Non-standard English)
It’s cold today, isn’t it? (Standard English)
It be agreed. (Non-standard English)
It will be agreed. (Standard English)
She’s got a ticket to ride and she don’t [doesn’t] care.
Ain’t, no am not no, I’m not
Gonna = (be) going to
Gotta = have got to
Kinda = kind of
Outta = out of here
Sorta = sort of
Wanna =want to
Y’all = You all
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3.4 Slang
Slang. It refers to a nonstandard type of language that consists of words and phrases that are
regarded as very informal, new and not polite words and meaning, are more common in speech
than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context or group of people.
Cockney rhyming slang. The working-class speech in London
Example apples and pears to mean stairs
army and navy to mean gravy
basin of gravy means baby
bees and honey means baby
Internet slang. The various kinds of slang used by different people on the internet. Internet slanf
has generated a whole new slang language which can make some sites and forums almost
unintelligible to those not in the know.
Example Lolspeak, emoticons, initials like ROFL, LMAO BTW
Deliberate misspellings. Intentional misspellings. Can be thought as written slang.
Example wot what [first recorded in the OED in 1829]
luv love [first recorded in the OED in 1898]
It is also common to hear words finishing in –ing pronounced as /In/ where the final
–g is substituted by an apostrophe.]
Example goin’ (going) We gone fishin’ (fishing)
Slang is also most common in pop, rock, jazz and rap music, as well as in films.
Example coke cocaine
grass marijuana
cop policemen
gimme give me
lemme let me
lotta a lot of
yeah OK alright
wotcha gonna do when get there?
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3.5 Jargon
Jargon. It refers to a set of vocabulary items used by members of particular professions, that is,
their technical terms which are difficult for others to understand. It can be similar to a slang or it
can be highly technical like that of legal jargon, medical jargon; police jargon and the like.
Examples Linguists have a large vocabulary that is not well understood by non-
linguists
Lawyers have legal jargon which layperson has difficulty
understanding it
BBC speak, tech-speak, legal-speak, military speak, computer-speak,
media-speak, marketing-speak, corporate-speak
Restraining order is a legal jargon that people of different fields other
than law have no full knowledge about as to what, how and when to
use such term.
Curtain as a word commanded by the stage director has such a
different implication other than the curtain most people know.
Curtain as the stage director commands implies that the show must
end.
3.6 Pidgin
Pidgin. A pidgin is a language is language with no native speakers (Wardhaugh, 2018). It is a
language that is grammatically simplified as a means of communication that develops between
two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most employed in situations
such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the country
in which they reside (but where there is no common language between the groups).
Fundamentally, a pidgin is a simplified means of linguistic communication, as it is constructed
impromptu, or by convention, between individuals or groups of people. A pidgin is not the native
language of any speech community but is instead learned as a second language. A pidgin may be
built from words, sounds, or body language from multiple other languages and cultures. They
allow people who have no common language to communicate with each other. Pidgins usually
have low prestige with respect to other languages.
Example Pidgin begins in the early 19th century in the South China city
of Guangzhou. Chinese merchants interacting with English
speakers on the docks in this port adopted and modified the
word business in a way that, by century’s end, had become a
pidgin.
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3.6 Creole
Creole. It refers to a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose
native language are different. Once pidgin has evolved and has acquired native speakers (the
children learn the pidgin as their first language), it is then called as Creole.
Example Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea has become a National
Language. Tok Pisin IS derived from the English words talk
pidgin
Creoles have fully developed vocabulary and patterned grammar. It is a stable natural language
developed from a mixture of different languages at a sudden point in time. Creoles differ from
pidgins in that, while pidgin has a highly simplified linguistic structure that develops as a means
of establishing communication between two or more disparate language Groups, a creole
language is more complex, used for day-to-day purposes in a community, and acquired by children
as a native language, therefore have a fully developed vocabulary and system of grammar.
Other examples a mixture of Italian with French, Greek, Arabic, and Spanish
Haitian Creole, which is based on 18th-century French but
absorbed elements of Portuguese, Spanish and West African
languages
[It is a creole, which is a natural language developed from a
mixture of different languages]
Afrikaans
[Semi-creole languages which share even more traits with
their vocabulary-source languages]
Pidgins and creoles have generally been viewed as uninteresting linguistic phenomena, being
notable mainly for linguistic features they have been said to lack articles, the copula, and
grammatical inflections among others rather than those they possess, and those who speak them
have often been treated with disdain, even contempt. Hymes (1971) has pointed out that before
the 1930s pidgins and creoles were largely ignored by linguists, who regarded them as ‘marginal
languages’ at best.
Moreover, pidgins and creoles are invaluable to those who use them. Not only are they essential
to everyday living but they are also frequently important markers of identity. With pidgins and
creoles we can see processes of language origin and change going on around us. We can also
witness how people are attracted to languages, how they exploit what linguistic resources they
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have, and how they forge new identities. Creoles have own legitimacy like its own history,
structure, array of functions, and the possibility of winning eventual recognition as a proper
language.
Bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or
link language is a language or dialect systematically used to make communication possible
between people who do not share a native language or dialect, particularly when it is a third
language that is distinct from both native languages. It has developed for commercial reasons
trade language.
3.7 Lingua Franca
Lingua Franca. It refers to a bridge language, common language, trade language or vehicular
language. It is a language or dialect systematically (as opposed to occasionally, or casually) used
to make communication possible between people who do not share a native language or dialect,
when it is a third language, distinct from both native languages.
Lingua francas have developed around the world throughout human history, sometimes for
commercial reasons (so-called “trade languages”) but also for cultural, religious, diplomatic and
administrative convenience, and as a means of exchanging information between scientists and
other scholars of different nationalities. The term originates with one such language,
Mediterranean Lingua Franca.
Example Urdu is the lingua franca of Pakistan, as well as the national language.
Indonesian has the same function in Indonesia; even though Javanese has
more native speakers, Indonesian is the sole official language and spoken
(often as a second language) throughout the country.
Filipino
[A lingua franca of people in the Philippines. Philippines is a poly-lingual
country where people speak different dialects which as unintelligible to
others. However, when they speak Filipino, the communication amongst
them is successful as they understand each other.]
Plains Sign Talk
[The only documented, widespread lingua franca that happened to be a
sign language. Palin Sign Talk was spoken across much of the North
American continent and used as a second language across many
indigenous National boundaries. Alongside, or possibly a derivation of,
Plains Sign Talk existed Plateau Sign Language which is now extinct.]
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3.8 Cultural Ethics
Cultural ethics. It refers to the certain values, morality, integrity, principles and the like of a
certain culture. Ethics however is code of moral standards of conduct for what is good and right
as opposed to what is bad or wrong. Proponents of cultural ethics embrace the idea that moral
doctrines are just the rules, beliefs, and customs of specific communities. Doing the right thing
within a culturalist framework relies less on traditional ethical reasoning and more on detecting
local habits. Cultural ethics usually differ form culture to culture. Despite that, certain values
remain the same simply because they are ethically and morally justifiable. Cultural ethics reflect
the values and morals of a society and therefore, it plays a vital role in the government of that
society. Culture is an integral part of ethics and vice versa. The culture of a community impacts it
progress, development, laws principles and to some extent, its policies. Different cultures have
different rules of conduct. Some cultures view certain ethical practices with different levels of
condemnation.
3.8.1 Determinants of Culture
The values and norms of a culture evolve over time and it may be patterned from the
following:
✓ Religion
✓ Political and economic philosophies
✓ Education
✓ Language
✓ Social structure
3.8.2 Effects of Culture
Cultures and cultural ethics can determine the following:
✓ How people communicate;
✓ How people interact;
✓ How people relate to one another;
✓ Day-to-day working relationships;
✓ What is appropriate behavior;
✓ How power and status are allocated.
3.8.3 Common Unethical Acts
✓ Lying and withholding need information
✓ Abusive or intimating behavior
✓ Misbehaving in public
✓ Misreporting time worked
✓ Discrimination and sexual harassment
✓ Falsifying records
✓ Drug or alcohol abuse
✓ Giving or accepting bribes
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