This PowerPoint presentation is a summary by Nikki Allen and Rob Van Vorst of the O'Grady (2010) chapter titled "Language in Social Contexts".

2. INTRODUCTION
• Our word choice, syntax, and pronunciation reveal us to be members of a
particular speech community, a group of people who share social conventions about
language use. (p.485)
• Some features are noticeable (salient) and are recognized within the community
as having a particular social meaning. Other features are sociolinguistic indicators
that can be associated with certain social characteristics. Different speech
communities may reflect subsets of the same language called dialects (p.486).

3. LANGUAGE VARIATION & SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS
• Social distinctions will often show up in linguistic distinctions.
When we look at the connections between these distinctions we are
looking at the variation theory, or variationist sociolinguistics.
• We come across variables which are sounds that can be
produced in more than one way. For example, the „th‟ sound in
„brother‟ can be pronounced „brudder‟, „bruvver‟ or „bro‟er‟
(p.487). Social factors will affect these variations, such as the
speaker‟s age, sex or degree of education (p.489).

4. PLACE
The oldest branch of sociolinguistics is dialectology, the study of regional differences in
language. This type of study looks at the settlement patterns of settlers years ago. This
can help explain the regional differences in language in North America. For example,
people from East Anglia settled in the New England area. People who settled along the
coast came from the south of England. These people brought speech patterns of their
home areas with them (p.490).
Lexical items show differences by region as well. Soda is called „tonic‟ in eastern New
England, „pop‟ in the Northwest and „soda pop‟ in parts of the southern Midland. (p.492).
We‟ll notice regional differences in phonology too, especially in the pronunciations of
vowels. The vowels <e> and <a> following an [r] can be pronounced differently making
words like „merry‟, „Mary‟ and „marry‟ all sound the same.
Differences in morphology and syntax can arise in different regions as well. For example,
„you‟ is often pronounced „y‟all‟ in the South.

5. TIME
Apparent-time hypothesis looks at the differences that occur in a language over
time. Looking at the differences between old and young speakers is a good example
of this. For example, older speakers have less phoneme merger, while younger
speakers almost always merge the two sounds (p.495).

6. ISOLATION
Speech communities can be isolated by physical isolation (isolated from everybody),
linguistic isolation (isolated from speakers of the same language) or social isolation
(isolated by conventions or attitudes).
Physical isolation
A local dialect stays intact when the members of a speech community are isolated
physically. This is rare nowadays because of modern transportation and communication
(p.497).
Linguistic isolation
Language varieties cut off from their sources, have kept some older features and
developed some of their own innovations (p.499).
Social Isolation
This is when a smaller speech community is in some way restricted in social interaction
with a larger speech community that shares the same language. A good example of this is
African American Isolation (p.499).

7. CONTACT
Contact with speakers of other languages or
other varieties is called language contact. New
experiences can occur when speakers of
different languages meet and move towards
bilingualism (p.500).

8. CONTACT
CODE SWITCHING & BORROWING
Code switching is when people use two or more languages to communicate.
Speakers who code switch are often fluent in both of their languages;
monolinguals think it happens because the speaker is not competent in one of his
or her languages (p.501)
Borrowing occurs when a single language is dominant but single words from a
second language will be inserted. If the borrowed word is used enough, it will
eventually be corrected by the users and used correctly in the dominant language
(p.501).

9. CONTACT
CONTACT LANGUAGES: MIXED LANGUAGES, LINGUA
FRANCAS, PIDGINS AND CREOLES
Mixed languages occur when there is heavy code-switching occurring in a
language. This is rare and many linguists argue it does not exist. Lingua
francas occur when people from two different languages, who
communicate often, choose a language to consistently use to communicate.
This is an attempt to level the playing field for both groups. A pidgin is an
undeveloped language with few grammatical rules and limited complexity.
It is often used as a lingua franca and does not have native speakers. When
a pidgin‟s lexical items and grammatical rules increase, it can transform
into a creole.

10. DISTINCTIONS WITHIN A COMMUNITY
Language varieties can often tell us about distinctions (class, ethnicity, gender,
situation specific factors) within regional communities.

11. DISTINCTIONS WITHIN A COMMUNITY
CLASS
Studies have shown a close relationship between class and careful
speech patterns. Higher class speakers usually use more prestige
variants (p.507). Members of a second-highest class may
experience linguistic insecurity through hypercorrection of their
speech. They pay close attention to their speech trying to strive
for social heights/acceptance.

12. DISTINCTIONS WITHIN A COMMUNITY
ETHNICITY
African American English is an ethnic variety gaining attention
from linguists. It has its own phonological features such as
consonant cluster reduction and the way final consonants are
voiced. Some of its features are shared with other dialects of
English, such as the use of the verb be (p. 508).

13. DISTINCTIONS WITHIN A COMMUNITY
GENDER
Differences in language use can also depend on one‟s gender role. For example,
when the language in a community is stable, women will often use the more
standard form of the language whereas men will use nonstandard forms more
often. These differences may be attributed to linguistic insecurity or gender
expectations (p. 512).

14. DISTINCTIONS WITHIN A COMMUNITY
SITUATION SPECIFIC FACTORS
This will happen when the members of a community come together to
develop shared language practices. An example of this is when speakers
will exaggerate distinctive features of their local dialect to reinforce their
local identity (p.514).

15. SOCIAL INTERACTION & LANGUAGE
Discourse analysis looks at the structure of a
conversation and what it reveals about the roles of the
participants (p.514).

16. SOCIAL INTERACTION & LANGUAGE
Ethnography of Communication:
This pulls apart speech events into their component parts. In a speech situation,
cultures have developed conventions governing interactions. It can look at the
sequencing of a conversation, jargon and openings & closings of conversations (p.
516).
Solidarity and Power:
Speakers express closeness or shared status through solidarity. They may also
maintain differences and identify social standings of participants through the
power relationship. Solidarity and power relationships often show themselves
through address terms (i.e. “Do the participants use reciprocal name calling such
as friends who call themselves by their first name, or does one participant call the
other „sir‟?”).

17. HOW SOCIETIES DEAL WITH LANGUAGE
• Societies can approach language as a social object. For example, one
variety of English may be considered the standard over another. Some
societies even have academies established to maintain the purity of a
language. The belief in the correctness of a language variety can have
social impacts regarding education or employment opportunities (p.
519).
• Some governments may declare an official language. The official
language will often benefit the political and economic power of the ethnic
group that speaks that language. This may occur by majority groups
perceiving itself as having increased power over a minority group , such
as groups attempting to make English the official language in the United
States.