Sociolinguistic variables

Studies in the field of sociolinguistics require a random choice of informants and a procedure of interview to evaluate certain variables, i.e. the symbols that are liable to change unpredictably. Some examples of phonetic variables are: the frequency of the glottal stop, the front or back position of a vowel, or the use of word-endings. The frequency of, say, using double negative, perfect passive forms, prescriptive rules, full sentences, etc. will make grammatical variables. Sociolinguistic interviews are defined as the means of getting the data for sociolinguistic studies. Two persons are engaged here: the scholar conducting the research; and the informant who is supplying the data.

In order to get an idea on the use of a specific linguistic form a variety of methods is applied. The methods represent a synthesis of linguistic and social procedures which are divided into methods of field research, i.e. gathering data, and methods of material analysis. Field research includes: questioning, interviewing, face-to-face interrogation.

Selective questioning essentially differs from the sociological one by the character and number of questions, and also by the strategy of interrogation. Its task is to receive the authentic data about the situational pa'rameters stimulating a natural speech, or, for instance, a conscious adherence to the prestigious standard. The informant’s speech must be supervised to exclude or reduce a casual influence of the noise (of speech) to the minimum.

Fundamental concepts in sociolinguistics

Speech community  is a concept that describes a more or less separate group of people who use language in a mutually agreed way among themselves. They can be:

• members of profession using a specialized jargon;

• distinct social groups (like high school students, or hip hop fans);

• or even tight-knit groups (like families and friends).

The members of speech communities will often develop slang or jargon to serve their interests.

The collocation of high and low prestige varieties means that certain speech habits are given positive or negative values to the verbal behavior of the speaker. It can be realized:

1) on the level of the individual sound, as, for example, W. Labov discovered the manner of pronouncing the post-vocalic [r] in the North-Eastern USA;

2) Or on the macro scale of language choice, as realized in diglossia (high and low status) that exists throughout the world, of which, for example, Swiss-German - High German are, perhaps, the most well-known antecedents. An important finding in the sociolinguistic theory of today is that the speakers choose the variety when making a speech act, be it consciously or subconsciously.

A social network is a social structure made up of individuals or organizations, called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige. Nodes are the individual actors within the networks, and ties are the relationships between the actors.

The social network is another way of describing a particular speech community in the terms of relations between individual members in a community. The network can be loose or tight depending on how members interact with each other. For instance, an office or factory collective can be considered a tight community because all members interact with each other. A large university course with 100+ students is a loose community because students may only interact with the instructor and a couple of other students. Recently, social networks have been formed by the Internet, through chat rooms, my space groups, and online dating services.

Differences according to class

In the process of wishing to be associated with a certain class (usually the upper class and upper middle class) speakers who are moving in that direction socially and economically will adjust their speech patterns to sound like their patron’s ones. However, not being native upper class speakers, they often hypercorrect, which involves new distortions into their speech to the point of introducing new errors. The same is true for individuals moving down in socio-economic status.

Class and occupation are among the most important linguistic markers found in society. One of the fundamental findings of sociolinguistics is that class and language varieties are closely related. Members of the working class tend to speak a less standard language, while the middle and upper-middle class will in turn speak closer to the standard. However, the upper class, even members of the upper-middle class, may often speak 'less' standard than the middle class. This is because not only the class, but class aspirations, are important.

Basil Bernstein, a well-known British sociolinguist, put forward the idea of elaborated and restricted codes. He claimed that members of the middle class have ways of organizing their speech which are fundamentally different from the ways adopted by the working class.

In B. Bernstein's theory the restricted code was an example of the speech patterns used by the working-class. He stated that this type of code allows strong bonds between group members, who tend to behave largely on the basis of distinctions such as 'male', 'female', 'older', and 'younger'. This social group also uses language in a way which brings unity between people, and members often do not need to be ex‘plicit (точный) about meaning, as their shared knowledge and common understanding often bring them together in a way which other social language groups do not experience. The difference with the restricted code is the emphasis on 'we' as a social group, which fosters greater solidarity than the emphasis on 'I' as an individual.

Basil Bernstein studied what he named the 'elaborated code' explaining that in this type of speech pattern the middle and upper classes use this language style to gain access to education and career advancement. Bonds within this social group are not as well defined and people achieve their social identity largely on the basis of individual disposition. There is no obvious division of tasks according to sex or age and generally, within this social formation members negotiate and achieve their roles, rather than have them there ready-made in advance. Due to the lack of solidarity the elaborated social language code requires individual intentions and viewpoints to be made explicit as the 'I' has a greater emphasis with this social group than the working class.