Hello, this is an introduction to socio linguistics but before we start, we'd better have a look at some terms attempted a definition or intended to show that for the most part, we all have a rather hazy and Ill defined notion of just what is meant by language, we use of word of course, and take for granted that we know what it means, but like everything else, it has different meanings depending on context. Not surprisingly, I have no definitive answer myself, but I understand it to approximate to, and as a quote, the system of human communication by means of a structured arrangement of sounds or their written representations to form larger units. Such as words and sentences. That's a dictionary definition in fact that long in Dictionary of Applied Linguistics if you're interested, consider here something as simple as colors. White can communicate the idea of fear, cowardice, cleanliness, virginity.

Red, the idea of danger blood overdrawn in the red. And how many blue blooded conservatives still believe that there are reds lurking under our beds? And what about green, black and yellow, and the others? I'll leave you to think about it. Consider also the International System of signs and symbols used at airports and hotels to indicate places and services. Although judging by some of the expressions I've seen in various parts of the world, I'm not always convinced that effective communication takes place.

And how about sounds, alarms and sirens communicate? Can you think of any others and touch consider someone on the other side of the door when you are working. A gentle tap on the door generally communicates that someone wishes to enter. And an impression is often given about the attitude and personality of the person who is knocking. For example, polite shy, lacking aggression timid even then what about the sharp Hard Knocks and impatience, frustration, anger, and smell? Can you think of situations where smells have some kind of communicative value?

Think of coffee or breakfast in the morning for example. The main form of nonverbal communication is body language and facial expressions. This is where the word para linguistics comes in. There's a whole new field of study here in the systematic analysis of how such things as head or eye movement, gestures, body stance etc. may add support emphasis or particular shades of meaning to what people are saying. The study of this aspect of communication is also called kinesics.

Proxemics is the study of the physical distance between people when they are talking to each other, as well as their postures, and whether there is physical contact during their conversation. These things are looked at in relation to the sex, age and social and cultural background of the people involved and also their attitudes to each other, and their frame of mind. In the Middle East, for example, physical distance when speaking differs from General, Northern European cultures, and one can identify other similarities and differences between those and Southern European ones. What about subcontinent Southeast Asian and African cultures? Are you able to comment? Maybe you know something about those areas.

One of the most most readily sorry, one of the most readily noticeable traits to British speakers of English, at least of non native speakers using English is their apparent abruptness and lack of politeness Give me the book is considered quite rude in British English, but that is only because English has built up a fairly sophisticated range of expressions to express different varying degrees of politeness. Other languages retain the simple use of the imperative, even without please, and it is not considered in the least bit rude. Consider also the extent to which American culture has influenced British culture over the last 15 to 20 years. without realizing it, my inbuilt spellchecker has just underlined. Realize, with the letter Zed instead of S. British English has been very greatly influenced by American movies, or should that be films, television and more recently by computers. And why should baseball caps especially when worn as if heads have been turned to 180 degrees be so much a part of the language and the culture of people Written who don't even play the game of baseball.

You might find it useful on a broad practical note to have a look at cultural awareness. It's a book by Barry Tomlin and Susan Stan pesky. It's published by Oh up Oxford University Press in the resource books for teachers series. It has some interesting ideas for promoting cross cultural interaction in the language classroom. There are no right or wrong answers here. But the exercise has been designed to show that language can change according to who is speaking, age, sex, social class, regional background, education, race, etc.

And who they might be speaking to. It is interesting to compare your mental image of the person producing the utterance with others in the group, if only to expose your own personal preconceptions and prejudices, about use of language. The main reason behind the choice of utterance is context. So that's it. is not just the agent background of the person who is speaking that is important, but who it is they're speaking to, and what it is they're speaking about. The main question to ask here is, is the language appropriate to the situation.

It is at this stage that one might re examine the main arguments for the use of descriptive and prescriptive grammars. I have no comment to make about a particular exercise, except first, it's useful kind of thing to do in a language classroom to stimulate discussion and can be used for both pair work and group work when general feedback is being controlled by the teacher. And secondly, when that most important consideration context is missing. Now we're going to look at some terms, some terms that will be some of them familiar to you, some of them not. But as we move on, I will take more of a backseat and there will be more words on the side of the screen. Let's, let's continue.

Okay, here are a couple of important terms Pidgin and Creole. Remember that the person the language that you learn to speak as your first language as your mother tongue is usually referred to as l one. And any language that you learn thereafter is L two, l three, etc. Now English is for the most part for foreign students, l two. Although if you come from a country like Lebanon, where the second language first language is Arabic in the first language is often French, English becomes our three. Now, pidgin English or Pidgin of any language is when there's a mixture when there's some interference between languages.

That's what we're seeing in the first example here. Pidgin morphs into a creole when it becomes a wholly new language. becomes an L one. The classic example of a creole, I would say is Africans. Dutch settlers went to South Africa three 400 years ago whenever and they were speaking Dutch and Dutch has morphed into a new language. Afrikaans, which is a creole of Dutch.

Okay, moving on. Here we've got a difference between people who speak more than one language on a regular basis, bilingualism and die glossier. Now, the example of de glossier is German speaking Switzerland, or there are various other places. I can think of Russia, certainly in the ruling class of the 19th century where Russian and French were spoken side by side. But bilingualism is in fact comparatively rare. It's where one person is equally at home in two languages.

And he has, she has the equivalent of two mother tongues. It's extremely rare. Usually it happens when a child is born of mixed language parents and learns both languages from the cradle. And then let's say for example, as a German speaking mother and an English speaking father, he or she will then tend to speak English to the Father in German to the mother. And that is what genuine bilingualism is. People often confuse the two terms accent and dialect.

Accent is is the sound of the language, whereas dialect actually involves specialized words. As a native British English speaker, I have a British accent. I can discriminate between various accents in the UK and various accents in the US as well as Australian and if I'm very very lucky New Zealand or Canadian although New Zealand and Australia are very close and Canada and the US are very close, unless you're listening very, very carefully indeed. But that's accent dialect is where specific words are used and they could be quite baffling. The example that I quote there is, is one that was was riff was given to me and I had no idea what was what was being said. But it's important to learn the difference between the two.

These are two very important terms in sociolinguistics social act or social dialect, it is what we can say, is the sort of register of words within a social class within a social grouping. And you know, the sort of thing I mean, you might you might find a socio lecture example, within a particular band of people such as the military idio lect. Is something personal to you. How you choose your words how you pitch, the sound of the word which high or low, how fast you speak. It's worth considering your own language utterances and whether in fact, you are aware of what makes your own use of language unique. And finally, looking at style or stylistic variety, this may range from formal to informal use of language register is what is restricted to a particular group of people, maybe professionals.

And I'm finishing today by asking you to have a look at some other terms that I haven't covered, just to make you go and look for things yourselves. And those words are you see at the bottom of the screen here to boot in formal colloquial, non standard derogatory And slang, slang is an interesting one. Because one of the most important things about slang is it dates. If you've got any responses to any of these that you'd like to share with me, I'd be happy to hear from you. Thank you very much for listening