123 School Work

The Elements of Sociolinguistics

• This is a preview of the essay.
  To view the full text you must login!
  
  Simplifying the Matter:
  
  
  When looking into the term sociolinguistics, it is important to simplify what the word really means. Social situations influence the way an individual communicates, the words he or she uses, how the person pronounces, the kinds of accents we hear, and others. Where the person is from, whom he spends time with, and the level of education also constitute an important aspect of sociolinguistics. These are the basic situations a sociolinguist studies.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Difference Between Dialect, Idiolect and Language
  
  Language: is communication with others, no matter how. It is a symbolic system made up of :
       a phonological system (sounds)
       a semantic system (meaning)
       a syntactical system ( meaning and sound)
  
  LANGUAGE IS ALSO CULTURALLY TRANSMITTED****
  
  Idiolect: is the distinct way an individual speaks
  
  Dialect: refers to a specific variety of some language. Everyone speaks a dialect, whether prestigious or not; we normally say we speak a language but this is not exactly true because within a language there are dialects. Lets look at these examples:
       American English and British English
  
  Look at these differences:
  
       British English               American English
  
  biscuits                      crackers
  sweets                               candy
  bobby                               cop
  
  As you can see people from England as well as from the United States speak English, but there is a distinct dialect within the language. This type of phenomenon occurs because of Geographical Isolation, and they are Lexical Variations.
  
  
  
  Language Variations:
  
       Geographical Isolations: refers to the variations that occur within a language because there was not frequent contact between the speakers of these countries...