sociolinguistics

Status
Not open for further replies.

yousrati

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Arabic
Home Country
Algeria
Current Location
Algeria
Hellow, i am Yousrati from Algeria

as you have noticed my question is about sociolinguistics, so if you can help me I will really appriciate it.:)

The question is :

1: What do we mean by language varities ?

2: what are the main criteria with which we can distinguish a language from dialect ?
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
Hellow, i am Yousrati from Algeria

as you have noticed my question is about sociolinguistics, so if you can help me I will really appriciate it.:)

The question is :

1: What do we mean by language varities ?

2: what are the main criteria with which we can distinguish a language from dialect ?
We can't do homework here. We could possibly discuss it if you gave your opinions first.
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Welcome to the board, yousrati.

I agree with Raymott.

'Sociolinguistics' is a term I would have to look up if I wanted to know what it meant.

If you are that far advanced in English, you should be able to spell hello, I, appreciate and varieties.


Rover
 

yousrati

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Arabic
Home Country
Algeria
Current Location
Algeria
Thanks so much for your help and Sorry for the spelling mistakes :oops:
Language varieties is :

Idiolect: the person’s own language and vocabulary and way of speaking.

Dialect: A variety of language spoken in one part of a country –Regional- or by people belonging to a particular social class.

Accent: The way of pronouncing words in a particular region.

Slang: informal lexicon that have not gained widespread acceptability.

This is what does it mean for me language varieties, and for the main criteria of distinguishing a language from a dialect all what I know is that there is:
Vitality: the existence of living community of speakers.

Historicity: It refers to a particular group of people find a sense of identity through using a particular language, it belongs to them.

Autonomy: a language must be felt by its speakers to be different from other languages.

This is what I know, so if anyone can help me in enriching my knowledge I will be very thankful.
 
Last edited:

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
Thanks so much for your help and Sorry for the spelling mistakes :oops:
Language varieties is :

Idiolect: the person’s own language and vocabulary and way of speaking.

Dialect: A variety of language spoken in one part of a country –Regional- or by people belonging to a particular social class.

Accent: The way of pronouncing words in a particular region.

Slang: informal lexicon that have not gained widespread acceptability.

All of the above are relevant, but they are only a list of definitions of something else. If you are saying that, "The following are language varieties: idiolect, dialect, accent ...", then that is wrong. All of those things can distinguish one variety from another.

This is what does it mean for me language varieties, and for the main criteria of distinguishing a language from a dialect all what I know is that there is:
Vitality: the existence of living community of speakers.
This doesn't distinguish a dialect from a language. Do you mean that a language has vitality or that a dialect has vitality?

Historicity: It refers to a particular group of people find a sense of identity through using a particular language, it belongs to them.
This applies also to dialect.
Autonomy: a language must be felt by its speakers to be different from other languages.
This is more relevant. A person who speaks English believes they are speaking a different language from a person who speaks French; while a person who speaks Australian believes they are speaking the same language as someone who speaks British. This is a sign that Australian and British are both dialects of one language - English. (Or "Australian English" and "British English" to be more precise. But phrasing it that way makes it too easy to assign them both to the same langage.)
Have you searched for these terms on the web?
Try these - there are simpler sites if you search for them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_(linguistics)
Dialect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

yousrati

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Arabic
Home Country
Algeria
Current Location
Algeria
British pronounciation

Thank you very much for the information and the links.

I have got another question concerning Phonetics more precisely British phonetic:
We have learnt that British people pronounce the “Glottal Stop” in the case for example: /t/ sound be followed by /b/ sound, for instance: Don’t be.

So, would you please explain this case for me? Thank you.
 

yousrati

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Arabic
Home Country
Algeria
Current Location
Algeria
British prononciation

Thank you very much for the information and the links.

I have got another question concerning Phonetics more precisely British phonetic:
We have learnt that British people pronounce the “Glottal Stop” in the case for example: /t/ sound be followed by /b/ sound, for instance: Don’t be.

So, would you please explain this case for me? Thank you.
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
Re: British pronounciation

Thank you very much for the information and the links.

I have got another question concerning Phonetics more precisely British phonetic:
We have learnt that British people pronounce the “Glottal Stop” in the case for example: /t/ sound be followed by /b/ sound, for instance: Don’t be.

So, would you please explain this case for me? Thank you.
You'd be better to post a new thread for a new question. I'm not an expert on British glottal stops, since I'm Australian. So, In general, you should not expect that a person who answers one question is the best person to ask another.
If you get no responses here, you could start a thread with your new question.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top