so far in this course we have examined
language the way it is and we have
examined how language changes through
time but our basic perspective has been
language as it is used by an individual
within an individual's head in this and
the next two lectures we're going to
turn to looking at language from a
different dimension and that's the
social one namely we're gonna see that
phonology morphology and syntax
semantics pragmatics change in
systematic ways according to social and
sociological factors because after all
that's what language was originally for
now we use language in a solitary way
when we for example read but language
was actually designed to allow us to act
as social animals and so we're going to
look at how language is quite malleable
according to social factors as well as
the grammar internal factors that we've
looked at so far and in this lecture
we're going to look at one sub area of
socio linguistics and this is the study
of what's called variables in language
use and again a sense of what we're
looking at because when it comes to how
English is spoken particularly in first
world contexts like ours it can be
difficult to perceive this it's a matter
of degree
but in for example arabic-speaking
societies there is a massive I mean to
us almost counter-intuitively massive
difference between the language that's
used on the page and in formal settings
and then the way normal people actually
talk and so for example let's say that
we're dealing with Egypt and this is you
know the way life is in Egypt for
everybody including Anwar Sadat all
Sunni Mubarak this is not some Street
phenomenon this is the way an Egyptian
Arabic speaker experiences their
language there is modern Standard Arabic
which is pretty much the same across the
Arab ofone territory
that is derived from the language of the
Koran etc then in Egypt there's Egyptian
Arabic which is not just colloquial
Arabic it is really a different language
entirely than modern Standard Arabic and
so for example if you want to say he saw
a shoe if you wanted to say that
then in modern Standard Arabic that is
rahi da and that is how you say it now
you don't have to know Arabic to just
see those two words in Egyptian Arabic
it's Schaaf Kozma now it's quite
different it's a whole different
language you will often hear in the folk
sense Arabic speakers saying well yes I
have a hard time understanding people
from Morocco because I'm from Jordan or
something like that that's the folk
conception Jordanian Arabic and Moroccan
Arabic are as different as French and
Italian all of the people are united by
say a Latin so this is a situation where
the quote/unquote high language and the
quote/unquote low language ie the formal
language and then the way that everybody
actually talks are very different now in
English there is no gap this vast not in
the English that probably those of us
who are experiencing this set speak but
there is an analogous difference between
formal and casual English and the
variation between the two is more
systematic than it might appear and so
what we're talking about is the study of
variables or variation and this is the
investigation of individuals alternative
usage of words or constructions that
have the same meaning now there are two
kinds of variables or variants and the
difference is crucial in terms of what
is significant versus what isn't one
kind of variable is called an indicator
and an indicator has no social
significance it doesn't convey any
particular flavor to use one alternate
over another and so for example in
modern American English there are many
people
who pronounce all as aa and so I would
say I'm one of the all people and so I
would say that sushi is raw fish there
are other people who would say that
sushi is raw fish and we don't have to
carry caricatured it's not raw fish
it's just they say raw fish and they
would say I would say don't break the
law they would say don't break the law
yes you might be one of these people or
just listen that's the way a lot of
people pronounce it when I was teaching
linguistics at Berkeley I remember
because this was particularly common in
California that when I was trying to
teach the IPA a lot of the students had
trouble with the all sound that that
lacks rounded back mid vowel because
they didn't have it for them sushi was
raw fish or I was in a kind of a clique
way way way back in California it was me
John then there was my friend dawn her
boyfriend Sean don't miss him and then
this other guy named Ron and so in my
English it was John Sean Ron and dawn
most people in California said it as
John Shawn Ron and Don now I'm character
chewing a bit but that is something that
is a variation you might not have
thought about it it is of moderate
interest and the fact of the matter is
that if somebody says I'm going to go to
law school so that I can make laws
it doesn't seem low-class it doesn't
seem ridiculous you probably don't
notice it it's just a matter of
variation but then there are markers
what are called markers I'm sorry that
these two terms are a little wan and not
very indicative so to speak they're
indicators then there are markers the
markers are the ones that have social
significance and so for example you can
say singing you can say singing as I've
emphasized it's not as if a letters drop
it's just a difference in sound one of
them ends in and one of the man's an
onion and so one of them is a matter of
alveolar nasal one of them is a velar
nasal nevertheless it is felt that to
say singing is wrong in some way or kind
of 6-pack in some way that is something
you associate with a garage with shag
carpet in it and really kind of kind of
kicking back as opposed to singing which
is supposed to be proper and so that
is a marker now the markers are more
interesting to sociolinguists because
they are the harbingers of a change in
the whole language so for example it
might be that over time more American
English speakers are saying raw fish
instead of raw fish and that maybe in
five hundred years it'll always be odd
could could not probably won't be or for
example you
