Sociolinguistic Concepts Research Articles

Näkymättömyysviitta ja tuntoisuuskysymys – kielenomistajuus, kehollisuus ja tila kielikeskusopiskelijoiden kertomina

This article examines university students’ experiences with the embodied and spatial aspects of language learning and use, along with the concept of language ownership. Bridging sociolinguistics, cognitive science, and the phenomenology of embodiment, the study is based on 11 thematic interviews with students who have taken at least one language course at a Finnish university language center. Our data illustrates how language users describe their bodily and spatial language experiences. We also demonstrate that language ownership, akin to grounded cognition, exists at the intersection of sensory perception, the external body as the object of perception, and the material and social environment. This research enriches the discussion on language learning environments and practices in higher education, while providing an interdisciplinary perspective on sociolinguistic concepts.

Code-Switching and Code-Mixing in Sesotho Accordion Music: A Sociolinguistic Perspective

This article explores the use of code-switching/mixing in Sesotho accordion music within a sociolinguistic framework. Code-switching/mixing is one of the sociolinguistic concepts that is mainly highlighted in conversation. It refers to switching or mixing between two or more languages in the context of a single conversation or situation. Just like a conversation, Sesotho accordion music also exhibits the phenomenon of code-switching/mixing. The Basotho accordion music (’mino oa koriana) is one of the forms of the oral tradition from Lesotho whose singing is accompanied by a homemade drum, and it has its own unique and acceptable taste. This music is seen as both captivating and complex. We observe that its fascination and its complex features are a result of the incorporation of code-switching/mixing in a single song. We know how the songs are generated, and they are part of the generic culture and popular culture of the people. We purposively selected four songs from recorded tapes that used code-switching/mixing. Using critical discourse analysis, the results reveal that code-switching/mixing in the accordion music of the Basotho reflects intertextuality, which includes borrowing, inclusion and exclusion, literary and conversational intertextuality. The study also shows that code-switching/mixing reflects repetition used for emphasis, clarity or amplification. The findings further express affirmation of class/age identity and the intention of clarifying the speech content for the interlocutor. One of the emerging issues is that change in pronunciation may reflect tone and register in the accordion music of the Basotho.

Αξιοποιώντας το «ρίζωμα» στην κοινωνιογλωσσολογική και την εκπαιδευτική έρευνα

Focusing on people who experience multilevel invisibility and social inclusion, such as unaccompanied minors, literacies research often fails to map and understand the fluidity of their needs and the disruptions they experience in their everyday educational and social lives including school drop-out and radicalization phenomena. Therefore, it is important that we experiment with new ways of thinking and researching. In the present paper, drawing on multiple literacies theory, I showcase how deleuzoguattarian philosophy, and specifically the concept of the rhizome may influence sociolinguistic thought and provide new tools for literacies research. Specifically, applying rhizomic thinking, in order to re-imagine a non-formal second language literacy classroom interaction in a hosting center for unaccompanied minors, I build on the sociolinguistic concept of translanguaging space (Wei, 2018), so as to describe a becoming classroom and becoming learners through the interaction of smooth and striated space. Thereby, I point out how power relations unfold among language users and linguistic features that re-/de-/territorialize in the linguistic landscape of the becoming classroom. Based on this example, I reflect on what counts as literacy and discuss the implications of a deleuzoguattarian approach for a rhizomatic language education inspired by a sociolinguistic justice perspective, and what I call ‘rhizomatic hope’.

LANGUAGE AND INFORMATION SPACE IN THE CONTEXT OF UKRAINIAN LEGISLATION: SOCIOLINGUISTIC ASPECTS

The article focuses on the functioning of the language and information space as a marker of the state and on the choice of the language of information. The relationship between language and information is taking on new forms in the context of globalization and the intensive development of information dissemination. The information society is formed in the system of legislative, quantitative and qualitative dimensions of the language and information environment. The author outlines the prognostic prospects of the impact of the language and information space on the dynamics of the language situation, attitudes towards language and information security in general. A promising goal of the study is to determine the parameters of the language and information space as a sociolinguistic concept. The key issues of the relationship between language and information from the point of view of sociolinguistics are the choice of the language of information and the possibilities of this choice, the balance of the legislative and regulatory framework on language and information issues, and the orientation of language management in the information space. The variability of language-information relations in this context is traced in terms of national, community and individual information needs. Language-information relations in the parameters of language choice and the principles of current legislation are measured by sociolinguistic categories such as language power, language consciousness, communicative convenience, language rights, language strategies, etc. The spread and power of languages is usually related to their communicative and demographic characteristics. In the context of the study, we also talk about the information power of a language as an indicator of the language’s presence in the information space. The importance of the influence of language policy and language planning on the formation of the language and information space of the state is emphasized. Considerable attention is paid to the problems of choosing the language of information in the context of information security.

LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY: SOCIOLINGUISTIC MEANING OF THE CONCEPT

The article discusses the sociolinguistic concept of language ideology against the background of the international and Ukrainian research of the subject. Language ideology is usually treated a set of widely held beliefs about the language articulated by users as a rationalization or justification of perceived language structure and language practice. Language ideologies are not always clearly articulated and often include all kinds of assumptions about the nature of language and its use. Language ideology is shaped in the public discourse that involves a wide range of participants and it plays a significant role in the processes of language standardisation and in the formulation of language policy. Also discussed is the standard language ideology which refers to the belief that the variety that has its roots in the speech of the most powerful group in society is superior to other ways of speaking the language. Language ideology may be quite influential at the grassroots level and in the absence of formal law it can work as «policy with the manager left out». The article also addresses the issue of the structure of language ideology as a complex multidimensional construction consisting of a set of ideologemes. It is assumed that the influence of individual ideologemes may increase or go down, depending on a variety of socio-political, economical, demographic and other variables. Presumably language ideology has a core part and a periphery where new ideologemes are generated some of which gain influence and some decline. Top-down language ideology is determined by the government policy while bottom-up ideology is generated by the civil society institutions, scientific and academic community, language activists, the media etc. Ukrainian and international experience demonstrate that top-down and bottom-up language ideologies may alternate or combine simultaneously or at different times.

Allostructions and stancetaking: a corpus study of the German discourse management constructionsWo/wenn wir gerade/schon dabei sind

AbstractThe paper reconciles the sociolinguistic concept of stance and stancetaking and Construction Grammar (CxG); it shows that overlapping allostructions may differ in terms of the stances they convey. Drawing on a corpus study of Wikipedia Talk pages, the paper presents a case study of German discourse management markers such aswo wir gerade dabei sind‘speaking of which’ orwenn wir schon dabei sind‘while we’re at it’. By statistically comparing the observed frequencies of the filler items with the expected ones (using Hierarchical Configural Frequency Analysis and Distinctive Collexeme Analysis), I will argue that there are two different collocational types, namelywo wir/ich gerade beiNPsind/bin‘as we are/I am just at NP’ andwenn wir/du schon beiNPsind/bist‘as we/you are already at NP’. Both serve as discourse management markers, topic orientation markers in particular, whose purpose it is to shift the topic. They involve the same fixed pattern, combining the same categorical slots. However, they diverge in collocational preferences. I will argue that these collocational preferences are indicative of the stances the allostructions conventionally convey: While the allostructionwo wir/ich geradePPsind/binseems to be neutral in terms of stance (face-less stance),wenn wir/du schonPPsind/bistis often used to express negative evaluation of a previous utterance made by an interlocutor, thus marking disalignment. The expression of disalignment seems to be related to the construction’s propensity to reference utterances made by an interlocutor.

Positive vibrations – voice, sound, and resonance as insurgency

ABSTRACT The very idea of ‘critical language studies’ encourages one to develop a sense of criticality; that is, to interrogate the concepts that one uses, to explore the boundaries of one’s professional practice, and to push one’s thinking, if necessary, into new directions. This is typically done with the aim of contributing to epistemic as well as socio-economic justice. In this article, I think with, and through, the sociolinguistic concept of ‘voice’, seeking to move beyond its metaphorical use (as an index of agency) and linking it, explicitly, to sound and resonance, to materiality, affect and the senses. In doing so, I move beyond language, and include different sonic expressions and perceptions. The aim is to develop the broad contours of a ‘sonic criticality’. A ‘sonic criticality’ is also an ethical project: it encourages one to engage in new forms of listening (Robinson 2020), and to explore sound’s insurgent potential, its ability to unsettle and to change the world.

Perfection, hybridity or shutting up? A cross-country study of how language ideologies shape participation in international business

Employees’ participation in professional international business (IB) communication has important consequences for knowledge transfer and processing, a crucial function for multinational enterprises (MNEs). Research suggests that participation is shaped by language, but prior research has focused on firm-internal language dynamics, meaning that less is known about the influence of external context. We help redress this balance by drawing on the sociolinguistic concept of “language ideologies”. Language ideologies, or shared sets of beliefs about language(s) amongst social groups, are societal-level phenomena that employees bring with them to work. As such, they are part of the external social, political and historical context of IB activities. Our analysis of 82 interviews in three countries indicates that some language ideologies block participation and create friction, while others support participation. Implications for the conceptual understanding of language in IB and the management of internationally active firms are discussed.

Emergency Language Services in a Zhuang Village in the China-and-Vietnam Borderland

As a localized sociolinguistic concept, emergency language services (ELS) have gained an increasing importance during the Covid-19 pandemic in China. Despite the nation-wide promotion of ELS, previous studies seem to center on the language practices in the cosmopolitan cities whereas our knowledge about the peripheral regions remains poorly understood. Given that China has the largest number of bordering countries, it is of significance to conduct ELS in the borderlands. Adopting ELS (Li, Rao, Zhang, & Li, 2020) as a theoretical framework, this study investigates what ELS have been available to a Zhuang-centered minority village in Yunnan bordering Vietnam and how local people respond to the Covid-19 related messages. Based on the semi-structured interviews with two village chiefs, one rural Zhuang doctor and six Zhuang people of different ages and language backgrounds, the study finds that there are insufficient language services available to Zhuang people who are lack of proficiency in Putonghua. The grassroots efforts yet play critical roles, including rural Zhuang doctor who provides emotional support and medical treatment, and village chiefs working as language broker translating Putonghua-mediated messages into Zhuang oral language through the multiple social media. The findings and results of the study can shed lights on providing effective language services for Chinese multilingual population from peripheral regions.

A Sociolinguistic Assessment of Language Shift in Hyam

This paper dubbed “A Sociolinguistic Assessment of language shift among Hyam speakers”
 examines the sociolinguistic concepts of language shift and its resultant effect of language death or extinction. This is against the backdrop that like many other minority languages, the Hyam language is still in competition with other more sophisticated and standard linguistic codes. To achieve this aim, a total of two hundred (200) structured questionnaires are administered to both the home and the Diaspora populations respectively. findings reveal that even though people speak the language with their children and still have native-like competence, a greater number of them still speak or prefer other language varieties. They equally do not use the language with their friends or non-native speakers because it is not mutually intelligible. Nevertheless, the degree of solidarity and loyalty for the Hyam language are still very high regardless. It is however disturbing to say that the language is not standardized, literatures are very much lacking in the language, making teaching and learning in it somewhat challenging; and it is still incapable of performing modern functions typical of a metropolitan variety. It is on this light that this research is quick to state, and also by way of recommendation, that if something is not done soon and fast particularly in the area of instruction, documentation and standardization, the shift though gradual for now, may become irreversible and language death may therefore become inevitable.

СОЦІОЛІНГВІСТИЧНІ ПАРАМЕТРИ БАГАТОМОВНОСТІ: ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКІ ЗАСАДИ Й УКРАЇНСЬКА ДІЙСНІСТЬ

The concept of multilingualism has gained considerable spread in linguistic and political discourse. It causes the need to concrete the sociolinguistic parameters of the term in the context of the Ukrainian language situation, taking into account the experience of pan-European theories and practices. The feasibility of the research is also caused by the expansion of approaches to the problems of multilingualism in the 21st century and some differences in the interpretation of multilingualism in different countries, which is caused by differences in implementation of policy and practice of multilingualism in different state and regional contexts. Theoretical approaches to the definition of multilingualism and the classification of its types allow us to consider the policy of multilingualism and the practice of multilingualism in the coordinates of social types of languages - state (official), minority, immigrant, foreign. This research is also an attempt to give some answers for questions: “What is the difference between multilingual society and multilingual state?”, “How does the practice of multilingualism influence on language policy or language policy on language practices of multilingual territories?”, “How do the concepts of language diversity, multilingual communication, plurilingualism and language education differentiate in sociolinguistic concept of multilingualism?” The sociolinguistic dimension of multilingualism is defined in terms of systemconceptual connections: multilingualism and globalization, multilingualism and territorial linguistic identity, multilingualism and the status of languages, multilingualism and the functionality of languages, multilingualism and language education. The description of the language situation in Ukraine is presented in the coordinates of the theory of social and institutional multilingualism as a monolingual state with bilingual and multilingual territories. The basic sociolinguistic concept of multilingualism is proposed; it is based on the distinction between the policy of multilingualism and the practice of multilingualism and the principles of coexistence of linguistic identities and linguistic practices of individuals and communities.

The Problem of Term Choice for the Linguistic Description of the Concept of Easy Language

The article describes the options for designating the sociolinguistic concept of Easy Language, which appeared in Europe in the second half of the last century. The concept includes rules and norms on the basis of which modified texts are created. The recipients of the modified texts are readers with cognitive peculiarities. Now the concept has different names: "clear language", "plain language", "easy language", "easy to understand language", "easy reading", "simplified language". The article examines the reasons for the diversity of terms in European countries. The relevance of the problem of choosing terms to describe the concept of an easy language in Russia is also grounded. The author draws attention to the experience of creating adapted texts in the field of teaching Russian as a foreign language. It also analyzes the use of the term "clear language" in Russian linguistics in the sense in which it is used in the international concept of Easy Language. The article gives examples of overcoming terminological diversity: the creation of international reference books and bilingual dictionaries.

Pedagogical Potential of Linguistic Landscape for English Teaching and Learning: An Analysis of Pre-Service Elementary School Teachers’ Activities in a Multimedia English Course

With the growing interest in linguistic landscape in sociolinguistic studies, many language educators and researchers have begun to consider how the sociolinguistic concept and analytic methods can be mobilized for language learning and teaching. To explore the pedagogical potential of linguistic landscape, this study examines how pre-service teachers understand the concept and implications of linguistic landscape for English education. For this purpose, 35 South Korean pre-service elementary school teachers taking a multimedia English course attended a session about linguistic landscape and engaged in two activities using multimedia resources and online platforms: a virtual linguistic landscape task and a linguistic landscape fieldwork project. The analysis of the learning outcomes of these two activities revealed that linguistic landscapes helped pre-service teachers increase their language awareness of public language use. However, their engagement with language awareness was affected by the spaces they chose to collect public signs. In their reflections on the activities, the pre-service teachers indicated that linguistic landscapes could be valuable resources for authentic English and cultural learning. They also stated that the levels of linguistic difficulty and cultural contents of public signage should be controlled. This article concludes by discussing how linguistic landscape can contribute to improving English teachers’ critical language awareness.

Voices heard. Autobiographical accounts of language learning after forced migration

Learning a new language after forced migration has hardly ever been studied from the perspective of children. Their viewpoint, however, gets even more important, if we want to understand the lifelong consequences of their early experiences. With this aim, we use autobiographical accounts of persons who were rescued from Nazi Germany and brought to Great Britain in 1938 by an operation known as Kindertransport. The Kindertransportees’ memories of learning English are precious also with regard to the 21st century, where the share of minors in forced migration is steadily increasing, and where language teachers are struggling with the task of successfully teaching the newly arrived students. Our contribution aims to inform teacher education by building on the sociolinguistic concept of Voice, and exemplifying what a favourable context for language learning might look like in times of increasing forced migration.

‘I am sorry, but I have to speak Korean’: stancetaking through apology in public speech at an ‘English only’ Korean university

ABSTRACT This paper explores the ways in which apology functions as a stance act at public speech events. Rather than focusing on speakers’ intentions, in this study I pay attention to indexical meanings associated with apologies in a specific context. The study primarily analyses apology sequences that involve code-switching, which were drawn from ethnographic data gathered in a Korean university where English has been adopted as its official language (EOL). Data analysis shows that the use of apology allows speakers to take a stance towards their language choice and the institutional language policy. Both apology and speakers’ metalinguistic articulations prior to code-switching reflect and reinforce the two language ideologies: (1) the language policy is intended to serve for international members of the university, and (2), Korean can be used when needed. A closer look at the way in which apology is used in specific contexts suggests that speakers’ main purpose of apology is self-presentation in a public event. Apology functions to index speaker’s defiance of an institution’s language policy while avoiding their responsibility for the action. The sociolinguistic concept of stance allows us to better understand speakers’ positioning with respect to norms and expectations informed by institutional language policy.

Mastery Of Sociolinguistic Concepts Of Pragmatic Skills By Junior High School Students

Abstract. Skilled in pragmatic language, means skilled in using language forms ( words, phrases and clauses appropriately according to the conditions, situations and social contexts behind it. Such pragmatic skills may be established if the situation, conditions and social context behind the use of the language can be adequately mastered. This study aims to describe the percentage of contributions to the mastery of sociolinguistic concepts with pragmatic skills. In line with the purpose of the study, sociolinguistic mastery data with pragmatic skills of 28 sample people netted with test instruments and analyzed with statistics r¬2.From the results of the analysis conducted, obtained a determination index of 0.78 which means; mastery of sociolinguistic concepts contributes 78% to the achievement of students' pragmatic skills. In accordance with the results of the above analysis, it can be concluded that mastery of sociolinguistic concepts is a variable of criteria that contributes very meaningfully to the improvement of pragmatic skills. Thus, the research hypothesis yaang said that the mastery of the concept of sociolinguistics contributes meaningfully to the development of pragmatic skills of students of SMP Negeri 1 Nias Selatan, the truth is proven

“It’s not the same thing as last time I wrote a report”: Digital text sharing in changing organizations

Abstract In the communications of modern organizations, text sharing and knowledge management are mainly digital. The digital systems that frame many types of communication consist of, e.g., intranets and document sharing software that are occasionally exchanged for new systems. Employees have to adjust to modified routines and learn new systems, and management has to make decisions about digital systems and how these are to be integrated with work processes and knowledge management. In this article, we contribute to research on work-life literacies by highlighting the increasingly frequent issue of digital text sharing in modern workplaces through the study of commercial companies, mainly through ethnographic observations and interviews. The theoretical framework comes from New Literacy Studies where literacy practices, i.e., common patterns of using reading and writing, form a key concept. Moreover, the sociolinguistic concept of metadiscourse is applied in order to uncover the reflexive orientation of participating professionals towards digital text sharing. The results show that these professionals relate the combination of digital text sharing and technological and organizational change to problems, obstacles and potential risks; ambitions of enhancing digital text sharing may exclude certain groups, and changes in digital text sharing systems per se may cause professionals to lose control. These risks are often associated with access to information: a person who cannot access information in their organization has a lower degree of agency or power over their situation. The results are discussed in light of theories concerning modern work life from New Literacy Studies.

Sociolinguistics Study of Aravind Adiga’s White Tiger

This paper comprises the sociolinguistic concepts which are hidden in the Aravind Adiga’s novel White Tiger. And it will let us know how Aravind Adiga managed to reach his audience effortlessly. Aravind Adiga is a Man Booker Prize Winner of 2008, for his debut novel ‘White Tiger’. White Tiger is the story of a common man, who manages to attain tremendous success, later starts working as an Entrepreneur. The protagonist, Balram Halwai, narrates this novel, he sends letters to Premier of China, who will soon be visiting India. Moreover, this novel comprises of sociolinguistic elements such as the names are mostly of Indian origin, prestige feature. Aravind Adiga is being chosen as a writer to be tested on sociolinguistic grounds because there is an apt amount of sociolinguistic elements (code switching, high prestige, low prestige, etc.) in his novels. Aravind Adiga reaches the reader's heart, by using appropriate language in the manner his target audience can understand. This paper also verifies the sociolinguistic impact on Aravind Adiga, in the midst of this we realise the importance of sociolinguistic theories. Society and culture play a vital role in our language acquisition, and it shapes our respective roles in society. Ultimately, this can let us know how language variation occurs and impacts the users. Language is like a river, it changes its directions with time, place, communities, etc, and certain meanings avert or change slightly from the original meanings.

Maritime Pedagogies of The Spanish Language: Or, How Much Spanish Did Melville Know?

This essay approaches the question of Melville's engagement with things Spanish and Spanish American not by analyzing cultural representations and stereotypes, but by asking: what was the kind and degree of Melville's competency in the Spanish language? How did he learn it and deploy it? The essay draws on corpus-driven evidence and theories arising from three overlapping subfields of linguistics: bilingualism, code-switching, and second-language acquisition. Further, it applies the sociolinguistic concepts of language attitudes and language ideologies to nineteenth-century contexts. Elaborating on scholarship on Melville's reading and what can be inferred from biographical evidence about his interactions with living Spanish speakers, it speculates on adjacent cases of Spanish-language acquisition by English speakers during the period. Richard Henry Dana's account of his self-study program in Two Years Before the Mast (1840) provides one example; Spanish-English textbooks, including John Emmanuel Mordente's New, Easy, and Complete Grammar of the Spanish Language, Commercial and Military (1810) provide others. By framing Melville's written and spoken interlanguage play within the prior, unrecorded context of his acquisition of Spanish, this essay expands outward from a single man's biographical record into the ambient conditions of maritime life in the Latin Pacific of the mid-nineteenth century.

Scaffolding Literacy Learning Through Talk: Stance as a Pedagogical Tool

AbstractScaffolding serves as an important instructional tool for supporting students’ literacy development. To be effective, however, teachers must continually adapt the scaffolding offered to students to provide appropriate levels of both support and challenge. In this article, the sociolinguistic concept of stance is used to conceptualize how elementary teachers interactionally scaffolded their students’ literacy development. Highlighting the findings from a discourse analysis of 48 reading and writing conferences between six teacher–student pairs, the author identifies four stances taken by teachers and students in their interactions—feedback, instruction, collaboration, and management—and describes the different kinds of scaffolding made possible by each stance. Through two vignettes of teacher–student literacy conferences, the author also illustrates how teachers strove to avoid overscaffolding by shifting stance within these interactions. These findings situate stance as a useful instructional tool, illustrating how different stances allow not only different levels of scaffolding but also qualitatively different kinds of support and challenge.