UNIVERSITY OF MOSTAR

Department of English

SOCIOLINGUISTICS

Student: Anita Madunović

The Scope of Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics is defined as a study of language in relation to society. The interest in this

branch of linguistics has increased since the 1960's because of the different discoveries made

in the field of systematic research projects.

At this point, it is important to mention two American linguists; William Labov and Noam

Chomsky, who showed their interest in the nature of the language, but from two different

positions.

Labov focuses on the change of the language, while Chomsky is interested in the nature of a

language system, and those parts of a language that are universal and do not change. Labov’s

approach is not completely different from Chomsky’s, and the even agree at some point. The

most obvious difference between these two linguists can be seen considering the method of

gathering the evidence.

There is a big difference between Labov’s work and the earlier studies; he managed to record

the speech during his research. This may seem as something trivial, but it was a big change-

making a permanent record of an ordinary speech. Important factors in Labov’s research are:

-selecting speakers

-collecting the texts

- identifying the variables

-processing the figures

-interpreting the results

In the first stage, the linguists must pay attention to age, gender, social status and the

education of the speakers.

After the speakers have been selected, it is important to record their natural kind of speech.

Labov has developed some methods in favor of recording the most natural speech of the

speakers.

The problem with the third stage is to decide which words should be examples of some

variables. This may lead to problems with interpreting the results of the research.

The stage of processing the figures includes comparing the numbers of the identified variants

with different texts. In the following stage, it is important to find significant differences

between the texts.

However, it is significant to point out that the individual speaker is just as important for the

research as the community-first we must be familiar with the way in which an individual

behaves, so that we would be able to understand the behavior of groups of individuals. It is

certain that two individuals do not speak a language in the same way because they do not have

the same experience with the language. Each individual possesses a unique experience with

the language. This is the reason why everyone should have an equal chance to be interviewed

within a speech research.

Sociolinguistics concerns with social problems involving the language and the use of the

language, the analysis of meaning and speech acts within a social context, it concerns with

social, as well as referential meaning and with language as means of communication within a

society.

The aim of sociolinguistics as a study is to understand language as a part of life within a

society, to develop concepts and methods which can enable us to approach language from the

linguistic side-this does not involve grammar only, it involves social structure, language in

use cultural patterns and values, etc.

Other aims of Sociolinguistics are to reinforce the linguistic studies and to adjust these kinds

of language discussions to student research.

The connection between the language and the society can be seen in different situations; for

example, the choice of words we use depends on to whom we are talking to-friends, family,

etc, language used gives information about the social relationship between people, language is

used to receive and give information, to express feelings, and to show how well we know

someone. It is a tool that shows the interaction with the society.

Linguistics studies the way in which language makes it possible to show our ideas and

feelings to others. It is concerned with the development of different styles and dialects and

their usage in everyday life, with the level of skill that speakers have, with the process of

learning the language, and with the social nature of language.

Sociolinguistics observes the ways in which language is used in real life, and it is not

concerned with the grammatical point of view of a language.