# Sociolinguistic Fundamentals ### Will Styler - LIGN 42 --- ### Sociolinguistics is the study of the intersection of language and social factors - Linguists often think of simplified speakers ('Just an American English Speaker') - We think in terms of 'what's true about language for everybody 'who speaks the language' we're studying?' - Sociolinguistics brings people back into things, taking everything that sociology does, intersected with everything that linguistics does --- ### Sociolinguistics is a huge field - We could spend a whole quarter on the sociolinguistics of memes - We'll just focus on some core concepts --- ### Please be kind - Social identity is often a very sensitive topic - You don't need to share anything you'd rather not (remember, we're Podcasting) - Let's avoid stereotypes, and speak to our own identities where we have more nuance --- ### Today's Plan - Speech Communities and Social Networks - Sociolinguistic Variation - Indexicality and Identity - Intersectionality --- ## Speech Communities --- ### Language is a social construct - Different groups of people language differently, in agreed-upon ways - We call these different groups 'speech communities' --- ### Example Speech Communities - Social Groups - People who hang out together regularly - Geographical Groups - People from Chula Vista - Identity-based groups - Folks who identify as pansexual - Interest-based groups - Folks who love mechanical watches - Clubs and other socially-affiliated people - People who attend meetings together on a weekly basis --- ### What are some examples of speech communities that you're a part of? - Remember, you're likely a part of many! --- ### Sociolinguists also think about these groups in terms of prestige - Some groups are more respected by society than others - What's a speech community, which, rightly or wrongly, is given prestige in the US? - What's a speech community, which, rightly or wrongly, is of lower prestige in the US? --- ### Prestigious isn't always the 'right' choice - What's a context in which a 'prestige' dialect would be awkward? - This relates closely to 'register', with high registers often incorporating elements of prestigious language - We *manage* our prestige, by varying our language - Variation is everywhere! --- ## Sociolinguistic Variation --- ### Language features differ among people - Sometimes it's truly random - Sometimes, it's based on language use (e.g. how often you say things) - Often, it's *socially conditioned* - We call individual variations which are socially conditioned and informative **sociolinguistic variables** --- ### Any language variation can be sociolinguistically informative - Changes in spelling or emoji use - Changes in pronunciation or rules governing sound patterns - Changes in words which are used - Changes in sentence structure or grammatical differences - Changes in meaning of words or sentences - **Any language difference can be a sociolinguistic variable as long as it's socially conditioned!** --- ### Different people language differently - Give me a language difference which *gives you no social information* about the speaker - Give me a language difference which *gives you some social information* about the speaker - Give me a language difference which *gives you excellent and reliable social information* about the speaker --- ### Our language use varies in *context* - Give me two social contexts *with the same level or formality* in which you speak differently. How so? - Give me a word which is *which is only used in one social context in your life*, and the context --- ### Sociolinguistic Variation tells us about a person's social identities - We learn social things by observing sociolinguistic variables - **What kinds of social things can we tell from somebody's language?** --- ## Indexicality and Identity --- ### We exist at the intersection of many social identities - Gender, Sexuality, Ethnicity, Age, Region, Hobbies, Fandoms, Communities, Beliefs, and more - These can be facts about you, communities one belongs to, and more - All of those elements of your identity contribute to how we act and function and live in the world - We may not be *outwardly expressing* all of these identities at any given moment or context, but they're always a part of us --- ### Social identities place us within speech communities - Speech communities have clusters of *sociolinguistic features* which are indicative of that community - They can also be more or less 'obvious' or detectable by listeners - Some are only obvious to people in that group - Our sociolinguistic features *tell the world* about our identity --- ### Indexing Identities - Once folks know that a feature indicates an identity, those features can be said to **index** that particular identity - Indexing is, effectively, showing or highlighting our identities for others - Indexing our identities using sociolinguistic features can be intentional (performative), or unintentional --- ### Why would we want to index our identities consciously? --- ### Our language can index our identities, consciously or unconsciously - What variables, if any, do you *consciously use to index one of your identities*? - How do you speak to *show others you belong* or *show your identity to a stranger*? - Can you think of something you've said which expressed one of your identities *without you intending to do so*? - What did somebody pick up on, without your intention to do so? - This can be *strategic as well* - See [Wright 2023 on Linguistic Profiling](https://muse.jhu.edu/article/900094) for a nice example of why that can be useful --- ### What are other sociolinguistic variables that you look for in others to find folks similar to you? --- ## Intersectionality --- ### Intersectionality was formalized in the early 1990s - Although referenced by W.E.B Du Bois and others earlier, first introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw <img class="r-stretch" src="people/kimberle_crenshaw.jpg"> --- ### Intersectionality - We all have many identities - Those identities all affect our language, social approaches, etc - **Those identities all interact!** --- ### Simple links <img class="r-stretch" src="dalle/squirrelages.jpg"> --- ### Interactions! <img class="r-stretch" src="dalle/squirrelgiraffe.jpg"> --- ### Our identities and their expressions are *intersectional* - Each person is complex, and likely has many different identities - These identities may also have different levels of privilege and power - Our identities are not isolated, instead, they mix and interact - Your features for 'nerdy' might be different from mine because of your other identities - Two people may 'share an identity', but have different experiences with it - For one, it may be a core part of their identity, for another, it may be less important or an afterthought - **Failure to account for intersectionality causes major analytical problems!** --- ### Treating a single identity as homogenous makes you do dumb things - You're unlikely to find one set of features for one identity consistent across all speakers - ... and it'll be noisy even if you try! - The linguistic expression of identifying as a woman may be different for white, black, latine, and trans women - Consider interactions between identities when exploring these variables - Some elements of identity can be more or less independent - The interaction between identities can be weaker or stronger --- ### Treating a person's identity as simple and all-important also causes dumbth - Collapsing the complexity of individuals' identities into single 'groups' often leads to stereotyping and poorly fitting models - 'All black people say...' - 'You're Bi, so you must...' - Identities can (outwardly) appear to apply, but matter less to the individual - Not all X people identify strongly as X - Not all people from the South speak Southern English - [Paul Reed](http://paulereed.com/) has shown that a person's 'Rootedness' to a region is a better predictor of linguistic variables than location or place of birth --- ### All aspects of your identity are reflected in your 'positionality' - Your positionality refers to the unique combination of identities, experiences, values, opinions, and perspectives that you have. - It's also worth considering areas where you have social power, and areas where you experience social oppression - This highlights the fact that the same situation, statement, or question will be seen and addressed differently by folks with different positionalities - Your positionality will strongly influence your interactions, language use, and sociolinguistic features --- ### We now have a vocabulary for thinking about social variation in language - **Speech Communities** are groups of people who language similarly - **Sociolinguistic variables** are socially meaningful variations in language usage - Our **social identities** are **indexed** by our specific patterns of language use - Our social identities are **intersectional**, and thus, the patterns of variation associated with those identities are complex - These intersecting identities and associated experiences form our **positionality**, which we should contemplate as we think about our language use --- ### How does this play out online? --- ### There's a *lot* to be done here - Internet sociolinguistics could be a three quarter sequence - Sociolinguistic meme projects are very, very welcome - We're just barely scratching the surface here!