Academic Year :2014-2015

Department :English Language and Literature

Filire :TEFL Master program
Semester :2
Course : SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Faculty Of Letters

SOCIOLINGUISTICS
History and Overview
 Academic Year :2014-2015
Department :English Language and Literature
Filire :TEFL Master program
Semester :2
Course : SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Faculty Of Letters

SOCIOLINGUISTICS
History and Overview
1. SociolinguisticsAntecedents
2. Emphasis in Sociolinguistics
3. The Micro / macro Distinction
4. Major Topics in sociolinguistics
5. Some Key Concepts in
Sociolinguistics
6. Chambers (1995) Conversation
Inferences
 On language and
sociolinguistics

no two speaker of a language

speak exactly the same way; nor
does any individual speaker speak
the same way all the time.
(Jannedy, S, et al (eds) (1994:362)

An informal definition of
sociolinguistics ... [would be]
who speaks what, how, using
what means, to whom, when,
and why. If we know all these
factors, we would know a great
deal about social problems.
(Crystal, D. (1971: 253-254)

Prof. AFKINICH Sociolinguistics: History 3

 Sociolinguistics vs
linguistics
It is obvious that different communities
exhibit variation in their speech: people in
Paris speak French while those in
Washington speak English and those in
Montral cope with both; it is equally clear
that children dont speak the same way as
their grandparents, that males and females
are not necessarily identical in their
linguistic abilities, and so on. In short, any
social parameter whatsoever may be the
focus of some linguistic difference.
Unfortunately, nothing of interest to
linguistic theory follows from this.
(Smith, N. (1989: 180)
STOPPED
there is more to the
relationship between sound
and meaning than is dreamt
of in normal linguistic theory
(Hymes 1974: 15).
Prof. AFKINICH Sociolinguistics: History 4
 Some of the questions whose
answers are sought by
sociolinguistics in an attempt to
understand what language is and
how it works:
How is it that language can fulfil
communication despite variation?
What exactly does it mean that
people in Casablanca and in Kuwait
City speak Arabic even though it is
clear for anyone with ears to listen
that there are differences in many
significant ways?
Why do languages change and does
it mean that they do?
And many more questions,

Prof. AFKINICH Sociolinguistics: History 5

 Beginnings
much of our current sociolinguistic
thought has been around for quite
some time before the field
established itself as a subject of
study.
, Pointing to the social nature of
language has been around for quite
some time well before Saussures
Cours de linguistique gnrale,
One of the first observations is
traced back to Whitney (1867)
(Quoted in Shuy (1997:4))
There was also that of Meillet
(1906) who based this conception
on Durkhaims concept of social
fact
Prof. AFKINICH Sociolinguistics: History 6
 Whitneys (1867) quote
Speech is not a personal possession
but a social: it belongs, not to the
individual, but to the member of
society. No item of existing language is
the work of an individual; for what we
may severally choose to say is not
language until it be accepted and
employed by our fellows. The whole
development of speech, though
initiated by the acts of individuals, is
wrought out by the community.
(Whitney 1867:404)

Prof. AFKINICH Sociolinguistics: History 7

 Beginnings
Many sociolinguists agree
that there is an intellectual
passing along of this
concept from Whitney to
Saussure to Meillet to
Martinet to Weinreich to
Labov.
Meillet in a 1905 lecture
(quoted in Labov (1966:15)
is saying

Prof. AFKINICH Sociolinguistics: History 8

 Meillet (1905) s quote

. . . but from the fact that

language is a social institution, it
follows that linguistics is a social
science, and the only variable to
which we can turn to account for
linguistic change is social change,
of which linguistic variations are
only consequences. We must
determine which social structure
corresponds to a given linguistic
structure and how, in a general
manner, changes in social
structure are translated into
changes in linguistic structure.
Prof. AFKINICH Sociolinguistics: History 9
 Beginnings
Neither Meillet nor his
colleagues and students seem to
have followed up on the idea that
social and linguistic phenomena
were interrelated.
The reason for this is obvious
when we examine the theoretical
development of the period in
which he worked.
In the 19th century, language
change, etymology and language
origins dominated the thinking of
linguists. (MTEFL STOPPED HERE)

Prof. AFKINICH Sociolinguistics: History 10

 Beginnings
However right Meillet was in his
assessment, the technological
and social contexts were simply
not yet appropriate for the
development of his ideas.
As Labov (1966) points out, little
was accomplished until the field
had developed a more explicit
theory of phonological structure,
the development of tape
recorders, spectrograms, ampling
procedures and, even more
recently, computers, that were
equipped to process large
quantities of data
Prof. AFKINICH Sociolinguistics: History 11
 Beginnings
By the 20th century the major
interest became the structure of
language.
With Bloomfield, Sapir, Bloch,
Hockett, Pike and others, the
focus of linguistics turned inward
to the basic outline of languages
in general rather than upon
variation within those languages.
There was nothing essentially
wrong with such a direction, for
linguistics probably needed to
develop in this manner.

Prof. AFKINICH Sociolinguistics: History 12

 Academic Year :2014-2015
Department :English Language and Literature
Filire :TEFL Master program
Semester :2
Course : SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Faculty Of Letters

It took some time before the

term sociolinguistics could take
root eversince the publication in
1949 of A Projection of
Sociolinguistics : The
Relationship of Speech to Social
Status by Haver Currie,
LSA Institute 1964 in California
on the topic;
Two courses:
Sociolinguitics, taught by
Gumperez, and
The Sociology of
Language, taught by
Fergusson