1. LANGUAGE, SOCIETY AND CULTURE
By Camilo Saavedra

2. Language
variation
Speaker Situation
Factors that belong to
the speaker, the
person who speaks a
certain dialect’s
features
Factors that come
from the situation
or context of
communication

3. Sociolinguistic
s
Language
Important to form
social organisations
Society
Anthropology Sociology Psichology

4. Social Dialects
Variety of language used
by groups defined
according to
Class
Education
Age
Sex
Other
parameter
s

5. Prestige
Overt prestige Covert prestige
Positively valued
in social
communities
Non-standard
forms and ways of
speaking
Not very valued
by the larger
community

6. Social Class
and Education
Important factors to
determine social
variety or dialect
Upper class
and more
educated
Lower class
and less
educated
Tend to use
more
complicated
forms
Tend to simplify
they way of
speaking
Differ in form and
pronounciation

7. Age and
Gender
Are also factors that can
determine language
variety or dialect
Age
Elders may
speak a bit
different from
youngers
Gender
Female
speakers
Male
speakers
Tend to use more
sofisticated
language
Tend to use simpler
ways of speaking

8. Ethnic
Background
Important factor to
determine dialects
People living in a place that
is not where he/she was
born has a special way of
speaking
Is easy to identify people’s
belonging place

9. Different geographical areas may affect the
language causing a variation of a language

10. Idiolect
A personal dialect or
way of speaking a
language
Voice
quality
Physical
state
Help identifying an
individual’s speech
features

11. Style
Formal
Informal
Spoken Written
A job interview
A talking with a
friend

12. Register
A variation
according to
use in specific
situations
Legal Religious
Jargon
Technical
vocabulary
associated with
a special activity
or group