Style and Register

Politeness strategies

According to Brown and Levinson (1990) politeness strategies are developed in order to save the hearers' "face" Face refers to the respect that an individual has and maintenance that "self-esteem" in public or in private situations. Or simply we can say that 'face' refers to the image that a person projects in his social contacts with others. Usually you try to avoid embarrassing the other person, or making them feel uncomfortable. Since every participant in the social process has the need to be appreciated by others and the need to be free and not interfered with. The need to be appreciated is called 'positive face' and the need to not be disturbed refers to 'negative face. Face Threatening Acts (FTA's) are acts that infringe on the hearers' need to maintain his/her self esteem, and be respected.

• The bald on-record strategy does nothing to minimize threats to the hearer's “face”

• The positive politeness strategy shows you recognize that your hearer has a desire to be respected. It also confirms that the relationship is friendly and expresses group reciprocity

• The negative politeness strategy also recognizes the hearer's face. But it also recognizes that you are in some way imposing on them. Some other examples would be to say, “I don't want to bother you but...” or “I was wondering if...”

• Off-record indirect strategies the main purpose is to take some of the pressure off of you. You are trying to avoid the direct Face Threatening Act of asking something.

Code Choice

Key terms:
• Diglossia
• Bilingualism
• Multilingualism
• Code-Switching,
• and Code Mixing

Diglossia vs. Digraphia

Charles Ferguson (1959)

“Situations where two varieties of the same language are used for different social functions”

Janet Holmes defines diglossia as having three crucial features:
1. In the same language, used in the same community, there are two distinct varieties. One is regarded as high (H) and the other low (L).
2. Each is used for distinct functions.
3. No one uses the high (H) in everyday conversation.

• The "High" form (called "Modern Standard Arabic") is normally used in FORMAL situations.
• The "Low" form (referred to as "dialects," such as Cairene, Levantine, etc.) is used in INFORMAL situations, such as conversations, etc.

Digraphia??

Bilingualism??
Multilingualism??

It is important to note from the outset that "diglossia" and "bilingualism/multilingualism" refer to different, although similar, sociolinguistic situations.

• The key difference is that in a bilingual situation certain INDIVIDUALS (communities, etc.) will use Language A, while other INDIVIDUALS (communities, etc.) will use Language B, but EVERYONE will use the SAME LANGUAGE for all situations.

• Code-Switching??
In conversation
• Code Mixing??
In single utterance

Language, Dialect, and Varieties

Key terms:
Language variations
Language
Dialect
Accent
Idiolect
Sociolect

Internal Variation: the property of languages having different ways of expressing the same meaning. Importantly, this refers to within language, not across language, differences. (Phones, words, sentences)

External Variation?

Always remember DIALECT is NOT synonymous with accent

Regional Dialect

What are Isogloss, Dialect boundary, and Dialect continuum?
Criterion of mutual intelligibility

 Language issues and non linguistics factors
Prestige (standard vs. non-standard) Overt Prestige vs. Covert Prestige
The standard dialect is the dialect that is associated with prestige in the society at large.

Register (Class)
Politic

 Kinds of variation
• Phonological variations
• Morphological variations
• Syntactic variations
• Semantic variations


Can you give the examples for each?

What is Sociolinguistics?

Key Terms:
What is Sociology?
What is Linguistics?
What is the different between Sociolinguistics and. Sociology of Language?
What is Sociolinguistics concerned about?

Sociology: a study of the characteristics, behaviors, and developments of society. The branch of Social Science which studies about a society and its influences to the human life.

Who is August Comte?

Language:
Linguistics:
Who is Ferdinand De Saussure? (Structuralism)
Language
Langue
Parole

Sociolinguistics vs. Sociology of Language

Sociolinguistics: Language  Society

Sociology of Language: Society  Language

Sociolinguistics (Currie, 1952)

The Areas of Sociolinguistics
1. The influence of society as institutions and its members on the use of language.
Internal vs. External Variety
Internal  Phones, letters, morphemes, sentences
External Dialect, Sociolect, Chronolect.

2. The functions of language in society
- Instrumental
- Interaction
- Personality
- Problem solving
- Imaginative
- Informative

3. The way the language is used by and in society
How language develops culture.